EATING DISORDER

Eating Disorder

Eating Disorder

PART 1

The disorder selected for the purpose of this part of the assignment is obesity. Obesity also called CORPULENCE, or FATNESS, excessive accumulation of body fat, usually caused by the consumption of more calories than the body can use. The excess calories are then stored as fat, or adipose tissue. Overweight, if moderate, is not necessarily obesity, particularly in muscular or large-boned individuals. In general, however, a body weight 20 percent or more over the optimum tends to be associated with obesity.

The body's ability to adjust food intake to body needs can be disturbed by numerous factors. Of these, hormone imbalances and glandular defects are believed to be of least importance, being demonstrable in only bout 5 percent of all obese individuals. (Williamson, 2008, pp.140-141)

Although obesity may be familial, suggestive of a genetic predisposition to fat accumulation, there is also evidence that early feeding patterns imposed by the obese mother upon her offspring may play a major role in a cultural, rather than genetic, transmission of obesity from one generation to the next. More generally, the distinctive way of life of a nation and the individual's behavioral and emotional reaction to it may contribute significantly to widespread obesity. Among the affluent populations, an abundant supply of readily available high-calorie foods and beverages, coupled with increasingly sedentary living habits that markedly reduce caloric needs, can easily lead to overeating.

The stresses and tensions of modern live! In also cause some individuals to turn to foods and alcoholic drinks for "relief." Obesity may be undesirable from an aesthetic sense, especially in parts of the world where slimness is the popular preference; it is also a serious medical problem. Generally, obese persons have a shorter life expectancy; they suffer earlier, more often, and more severely from a large number of diseases than do their normal-weight counterparts. They are also more likely to die prematurely of degenerative diseases of the heart, arteries, and kidneys. (Wardlaw, 2007, pp.74)

A person of a particular age, sex and height having more body weight than normal is said to be obese. Obesity in other words is an excessive accumulation of body fat when total body weight is more than 25 percent fat in boys and more than 32 percent fat in girls. Childhood Obesity is usually defined as a weight-for-height in excess of 120 percent of the ideal whereas skin fold measures are more accurate determinants of fatness. Obesity of adults is often calculated using the BMI method. BMI stands for Body Mass Index. This is the measure used by the health professionals to estimate the effect of person's weight on their body. For instance if your BMI is less than or equal to 20, you are considered as underweight, and if it is between 20 to 25, your weight is desirable, similarly, if your BMI is greater than 25, you are considered to be overweight. For children, there are several different methods that health professionals follow to estimate whether a child is underweight, overweight, obese ...