Anorexia, The Beautiful Disease

Eighty percent of American women claim to be dissatisfied with their appearance and shape; consequently, this unhappiness motivates Americans to spend an average of $109 million on dieting and diet related products each day (Collins, 1). This excessive dieting can lead some Americans to develop compulsive dieting attitudes and eating disorders. Research suggests one out of every one hundred young women between ten and twenty have anorexia (Statistics, 1). Anorexia nervosa is defined by a refusal to maintain body weight within 15 percent of an individual's minimal normal weight and is characterized by self-imposed starvation. Although people with anorexia nervosa crave food, they deny their hunger due to an overshadowing fear to gain weight. This fear continues even as the person grows dangerously thin (National Alliance, 1). Because this life-threatening disease affects more Americans everyday, experts find it imperative to find the cause of anorexia in order to defeat it. Althou...