by DirectorLet us share two short anecdotes with you before we begin.
Miss A was a young girl studying in college; while she was an A+ student, she often felt extremely nervous about her weight and body shape. She restricted her food to severely small amounts, weighed herself thrice a day, and became dangerously underweight. She observed her reflection in the mirror frequently, and often complained of being fat, even though she was just 39 kgs at age 18.
Miss B was also a young girl studying in college and was a shy and introverted teenager. While her roommate often found her binge eating (eating large amounts of food frequently), one day she
found Miss B forcing herself to vomit. Even though Miss B was not overweight, she always complained of “looking unworthy and feeling fat”. Her roommate even found a box of laxatives in the bathroom cabinet.
Miss A and Miss B are two fictitious examples of individuals suffering from Eating Disorders. Miss A was suffering from Anorexia Nervosa, and Miss B was suffering from Bulimia Nervosa.
Eating Disorders are not lifestyle choices, but critical and fatal mental health illnesses, where an individual’s perception of their body, weight, and shape is seriously distorted. They often have a preoccupation with food, where they may eat too less or eat too much, and then compensate it through purging behaviours (vomiting, using laxatives, extreme working out). The three most common Eating Disorders include Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, and Binge-Eating Disorder.