Eating Disorder Research

Prevent Eating Disorders: Top 5 Ways
by Sandra Kim leong

If you are going through adolescence, then this period may be a particularly impressionable one. With no clarity of who you are, you may give in to social pressures to feel accepted. Unfortunately, society places a lot of emphasis on appearance. And you may feel that looking slim is the ticket to looking good and having friends.

It is fine to be watchful of what you eat and to exercise for a fitter body. The danger is when you get overboard with your eating habits. Yes, an overly enthusiastic response to your weight loss regime can cause a lot of damage to your body. You become anorexic and will need pyschological counscelling.

In addition to anorexia, there are other types of eating disorders; including binge eating, compulsive overeating and bulimia. Eating disorders are not just a condition for those who are young or the female. Anyone can have an eating disorder.

Irregardless of their symptoms, all eating disorders pose a challenge for psychologists because they are disorders that are not completely understood. However, what has been identified as a major contributing cause leading to the development of eating disorders that many psychologists has to do with body image. A distorted self body image can cause you to undertake abnormal eating behaviour.

Hence, to prevent eating disorders, you should first have a very confident body image. If you do not, here are a few ideas on how you can enhance it:

1. Be grateful for your body. One way is to make a list of the things that your body allows you to do, no matter how small the task is. For instance, your body allows you to walk the dog, play with the kids, garden, or dance. Start thinking about the less fortunate or handicapped people out there and I am positive that you will feel blessed that you have a well functioning body.

Also, give a thought to the amazing nature of your body. Think about how your body is constantly renewing itself. New cells are born every other day. Every five days, your stomach lining is renewed, your liver renews itself six weeks or so, and your skin cells are renewed on a monthly basis. Gaining respect for your body puts things in perspective and helps to prevent eating disorders.

2. Choose an exercise program that you truly enjoy. You not only lose weight and become more healthy but also generally like how you are spending your time. Very often, those that have eating disoders do not enjoy the sport that they are doing. By enjoying the exercise program that you engage in, exercising is no longer some punishing regime in order to acheive the perfect body shape. Get your loved ones to join in or make some new friends for your new sport.

3. Write down a list of all the people whom you greatly admire and the reasons on why you look up to them. After you are done with your list, ask yourself if the people on this list are there because of their appearance. Do they have a perfect body shape? Or rather, did they make it to the list because they have certain qualities that make a difference to your life and others? Very often, you will find that you admire these people not because of their body shape but because they have inner beauty and are successful in what they do. You will soon realise that while body shape is important, it is not the be all or end all of everything. Prevent eating disorders by being selective of who you wish to emulate.

4. Have an objective to be positive and confident, even if you have to fake these false sense of security initially. Although you may not feel all that great about how your body looks, you should still try to cultivate a sense of inner confidence. Walk with your head held high, your back straight, and make a decision to feel and be confident. Positive thinking can only have a positive effect on your sense of well being. Also determine what it is that makes you feel good. With greater self esteem, you are in a better position to prevent eating disorders.

5. Love yourself. If you love yourself, you will do what is best for yourself. This includes having a well balanced diet and adopting healthy habits. You will not need to feel as if you need to be rail thin to be accepted by your friends. Learn also to open up and communicate with your parents or loved ones if you have problems. You may also wish to help the less fortunate. Sometimes, by helping them, you may realise how priviledged you are. Love every part of what makes up you.

About the author

Disturbed by the increasing trends, Sandra Kim Leong writes on eating disorders. Her site is at http://www.eating-disorder-research.com