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Eating Disorders : Eating Disorder Essay

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Introduction
There is a commonly held view in the general population that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice. However, eating disorders are a group of serious conditions in which a person is preoccupied with food and weight that they often cannot focus on anything else. Amongst all the eating disorder the main types are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder, which are all psychological illnesses. The disorders vary between eating extremely small amounts of food, to not eating at all, or to severely overeating. Each of these eating disorders can cause serious physical and psychological problems, and at their most severe, can even be life-threatening (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).
Similarly, eating disordered behaviors (EDB) are a heterogeneous group related to overeating and/or extreme restricting of dietary intake (Filaire, Treuvelot, and Toumi, 2012). More specifically, EDB refer to problems in one’s eating behavior that occurs less frequently and less severe, ultimately, not meeting the full criteria for a diagnosis of an eating disorder. EDB can be viewed as an early warning sign for the possible development of an eating disorder (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2005 as cited by Filaire et al., 2012).
Disordered eating behaviors are becoming a growing threat, especially in the western culture (Zysberg & Rubanov, 2010). There is numerous research to suggest that adolescent girls and young woman are affected by EDB due

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