All in Her Head
(Article dated Jan. 20, 2005…Unknown source)

No one chooses Anorexia. It is said to be just as much a disease as cancer. On average there are about 7 million women and 1 million men diagnosed with anorexia. In other words, there is one boy for every ten girls who suffer from anorexia. In today’s society, with there being an abnormally high number of skinny models and such an emphasis on thinness of people, there is the perception to the world that this is normal and better yet attractive. Anorexia does many things to your body. It makes you heart rate drop and it causes brain cells to die because your body is lacking proper nutrition. Your body has no energy to get from calories in your diet so it uses the fat stored in the body as fuel. Once the fat is gone, it starts eating away at your organs. This causes the heart, kidney, liver and stomach to be damaged. Once this happens your skin becomes orange and yellow. Your gums begin to erode as well as the teeth. Females will stop menstruating. The bones in the body become weak and ultimately the body will begin to shut down. Your brain will actually begin to shrink. All these physical changes are due to starvation of the body. Most people with anorexia are in denial. They do not see themselves as someone who is starving themselves. Again, no one choses this, it is a disease. By the time the individual admits or accepts that they have this disorder it is too late. Being a