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Men Get Eating Disorders Too
In the case of the male population, there is less cultural emphasis on males to be slim, but more is expected of them in terms of being powerfully built with good muscle structure. The 6-pack or washboard stomach and massively built arms is much preferred over skinny scrawny types, or overly fat types. Just as many men tend to prefer thin beautiful women, so it seems to be that many women also prefer strong built handsome men.
Says John Henkel, a staff writer for FDA Consumer, "Unlike many women, who acquire eating disorders because they "feel fat", men often are medically obese at some point in the illness and feel pressure to be thin. Sometimes athletic activities induce this struggle to be lean, prompting not only the eating disorder but also compulsive exercising. Men also may adopt disease behaviours when teased or criticised about being fat at critical development stages, such as puberty".
The reasons men develop eating disorders are really no different then why a woman, child, or anyone else would. They may have been victims of abuse, come from dysfunctional families, were subjected to teasing from their peers, etc. They also experience the same feelings as anyone else. They have low self-esteem, are perfectionists, overachievers, do not know how to express emotions, avoid conflict, put others needs ahead of their own, feel unworthy and hate most everything about themselves. Many hate themselves so much, they feel they deserve to die. When someone feels that way, they usually start to avoid the very thing that keeps them alive, which is food. Or abuse it to the point of causing a binge or compulsive overeating disorder.
In the case of bulimic men, whereas bulimic women will tend to purge their systems by vomiting, the men will be more inclined to purge via excessive excercise regimes, which push their bodies to the extreme, and sometimes introduce the use of steroids in the hopes of being able to push themselves harder. The emphasis here is on the praise that is lavished on them because of the weight loss. It's seen as a type of "reward", and when that kind of attention is being paid to you, you tend to go out of your way to ensure it continues by doing whatever is necessary to maintain it. Men, like women with eating disorders like bulimia, feel that they will feel accepted and therefore find happiness by continuing to lose weight via drastic means. Drastic measures such as these are, give a false sense of being in control of one's body, and being in control is of dire import to someone with an eating disorder.
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