“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”- Hippocrates, 460 B.C
With all the hue and cry over establishing a lifestyle to be fit and fabulous, we have as human beings have forgotten the extremely satisfying and divine pleasure obtained by consuming food that fills not only our stomach but also gratifies our mind. Even though binging on snacks and overeating are damaging to our health, there are also issues such as crash diets and long fasting hours that cause the body to get severely malnourished.
To eat or not to eat- That is the question!
With size zero being an absolutely desirable figure for most women, the stress and compliance required to achieve it may prove to be mentally traumatic. It is a common trend for females, especially those in their teens and twenties to take up this serious challenge of weight loss by developing eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.
Anorexia caused by starvation may lead to osteoporosis, anaemia, seizures, kidney problems, amenorrhea, multi-nutrient deficiency and early loss of hair and teeth. Bulimia, on the other hand, is characterised by overeating and then compensating by forced vomiting and may cause infertility, internal bleeding, heart attack and also severe erosion of teeth and the gastro-oesophageal tract. These above-mentioned problems are only the physical adversities experienced by those who are plagued by the disorders and one cannot begin to comprehend the damage it inflicts on the psyche of an individual.
The psychological impact of eating disorders is exhibited by various changes in the person’s personality such as mood swings, lowered self-esteem, poor performance at work or college, lying to their friends and family and also becoming aggressive and anti-social. Various researches have been conducted over their aetiology and the most acceptable cause has been proved to be psychological trauma. People develop anxiety towards being overweight or disproportionately figured and take up extreme measures to attain their goals. The difficulty is that they generally cannot draw the line even when they have surpassed their target weight and continue their unhealthy and detrimental practices. Most of them are afraid to regain their calories while the rest have become slaves to the vicious cycle.
The entire ordeal, however, can be met with patience and compassion from spouses, parents, friends and other loved ones. In a recent study, it was shown that the most common cause for people going on dramatic diets is was that they were body shamed or teased by peers or their family members. With competition increasing at the speed of light, we as homo sapiens, strive every day to make sure we are better than the next person in every way and forget to live each day to the fullest, both physically and emotionally. It is very well said that “A healthy outside starts from inside” and to achieve that homeostasis, we need to be self-confident and receive the love and respect from all those who surround us. What our bodies ultimately need is not food for our stomach alone, but also food our “SOUL”.
