Compulsive Eaters

          As a female growing up in a self-absorbed society, I felt pressured into looking a certain way and this added daily stress. Unlike most females I stuck onto my principles and decided to eat regularly or whatever I felt was regular. As girls started becoming young women they also started changing and were becoming those women I said I would never become. When these females would eat they either served themselves enormous portions or not eat at all. The food they would eat was not the healthiest, but it gave them great satisfaction that they were coping with their stress. Some women couldn't handle the pressures of becoming the perfect women society wants them to be. 

         Overeating/Compulsive eating can be an easy way to escape certain pressures or stresses. This problem can be an eating disorder, which about 10% of female college students suffer from. Compulsive eaters are becoming food junkies and soon enough the become obese with sever health problems. For example, some of these women may have a muffin top or belly fat, this is a trigger to start eating compulsively every time they get a chance. After these compulsive eater have addressed their problem, they want to lose weight. Although this is admirable, it will be harder and could lead to severe consequences, such as: helplessness, guilt, disgrace, and failure. Many of these women relapse to bad habits.




             Entering puberty could be frightening, emotional, stressful, and confusing for young women. As I said before they have an image of the “Ideal” body and although some try to have that kind of body others get so mortified that they begin to eat. Being thin according to friend is being happy, successful, and accepted into society. According to Dr. Kevin Shannon, about 4.2% of females believe they don’t meet these requirements of being thin or having “ideal” and this is when they enter a deep depression. Although I have never suffered from compulsive eating, I have experienced it through a friend. She was chubby when first entering her teens and once we got into high school she decided she wanted to be thin. She was trying out for the cheerleading team as a flyer, but they had mentioned that her weight was a problem. She began to eat numerous times a day in large amounts, but never gained weight. She was very thin, to the point that she looked like a stick and the girls at school would constantly tease her. She first suffered from compulsive eating, but after it had lead her to bulimia. It was hard for her to tackle two disorders at once, but she knew what was occurring to her body and she felt as if she had made a mistake.
            Compulsive eating is addicting, but with the proper help it can be stopped. There are medical centers that not only deal with overeating, but also with other eating disorders. Have any of you ever suffered from any kind of disorder? Please ask me questions or tell me our story. :)