Bulimia is an eating disorder that involves more than strict dieting and a unrealistic body image. Characteristics of people suffering from this disorder also include binging on too much food at least 2 times each week and subsequent inappropriate ways of trying to prevent weight gain. People with bulimia will use laxatives, induced vomiting and excessive exercise to try to prevent weight gain.
Many times people with bulimia will be of normal or near normal weight and therefore their disease process isn’t as obvious as it might be if their succumbed to only a strict dieting regimen as people with anorexia.
The history of bulimia is found back as far as the ancient Greeks. It wasn’t uncommon for them to binge and purge at least once daily. However, this wasn’t a process that was hidden or that caused guilt. It was rather, a way of life and partaking of the excess foods that were available to the rich.
Doctors in England first described anorexia in 1870 when they treated Catherine of Siena who ate only herbs and sometimes would use a twig to induce vomiting. However the discovery of women and men who suffered from bulimia wouldn’t be described until much later.
Anorexia is an eating disorder whose signs and symptoms are much more apparent. While a person suffering from bulimia may eat a normal meal and purge later out of sight of their companions the person with anorexia won’t eat at all.
Resources:
British Journal of Psychiatry: Reliability of Lifetime History of Bulimia Nervosa
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10945092
National Alliance on Mental Illness: Bulimia Nervosa
Science of Eating Disorder: History of Anorexia or Bulimia Nervosa
University of Rochester Medical Center: Bulimia Nervosa
University of Maryland medical Center: Bulimia Nervosa
http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/bulimia-nervosa
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