Athlekinetix Blog

Anorexia, once thought of as an eating disorder afflicting teenage girls is now becoming prevalent among middle aged women in alarming numbers. The pressure to be thin is taking its toll now, more than ever before, on women’s health.

Celebrity obsession with weight is one factor in affecting how women gauge their own weights. Size 0 was not in existence in past years, let alone the norm for famous actors walking the red carpets. As if this is not troubling enough, there is now size 00. Everyday women with healthy physiques look at these incredibly shrinking bodies and try to recreate themselves in this image.

Adult anorexia is similar to anorexia in adolescents in that it stems from a general lack of self esteem. Women, today, are pulled in so many directions and face pressures to be perfect in all of their roles that they starve themselves because it is the only area of their lives they can control.

The problem that adult anorexia uniquely poses that makes it different from conventional anorexia, is that moms are role modeling unhealthy eating patterns and disordered behaviors for their daughters.

The treatment of adult anorexia should be a family affair, because most likely moms are not the only people affected. Achieving good health, not thinness, should be everyone’s goal.