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Anorexia Nervosa Health Center

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which people have an intense fear of gaining weight and can become dangerously thin. Signs of anorexia include less than normal weight, negative body image, and obsession with food.

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Skinny Sweepstakes
In a culture where the young are pressured to succeed even before birth, the achievement package has come to include, especially for girls, a "perfect" body. Starting at puberty, sometimes before, the mounting pressure launches girls into the stratosphere of fat fear.

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Symptoms

Symptoms of bulimia include:2

  • Repeatedly eating large amounts of food in a short period of time (less than 2 hours).
  • Frequently getting rid of the calories you've eaten (purging) by making yourself vomit, fasting, exercising too much, or misusing laxatives, diuretics, ipecac syrup, or enemas. Misuse of these medicines can lead to serious health problems and even death.
  • Feeling a loss of control over how much you eat.
  • Having binge-purge cycles.
  • Feeling ashamed of overeating and very fearful of gaining weight.
  • Basing your self-esteem and value upon your body shape and weight.
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