Exposing Pre-Bulimia

For the purpose of this article, whatever is said about bulimics is also very true about people who suffer from anorexia nervosa. My focus for this article however will be mostly on bulimia.

Bulimia isn't as common as the media makes it out to be. But two percent of all adolescents and young women are suffering from bulimia in a severe way. Bulimia is a eating disorder where a person will binge on large amounts of food, feel guilty about it, and use methods of removing the consumed food by either vomiting or using laxatives. It's a severe nutritional and psychological disorder that, if left undetected, can potentially kill you.

Most people who are not bulimic are repelled by people who are clearly (and unnaturally) skinny, and will easily snub a hurting person, that only longs for love and acceptance. Without that, a young teen can easily be persuaded to starve themselves in order to fit in or feel loved; they believe a lie that if they only lose a certain number of pounds, a guy will love them more, their friends will accept them, they can look in the mirror and feel "healthy", etc.

What people don't realize is it starts in the mind.

Nearly 64% of bulimics are near normal body weight, so for months family members and friends can be completely oblivious to the victim's pain and hurtful eating habits. It's actually quite easy to hide it. 70% of the girls/adolescents are also depressed [either mildly or severely]. Depression is one of the symptoms of the condition, and can be one of the earliest detected symptoms, if you're paying attention.

But there is something much more common than bulimia...and just as deadly. It's what I'm calling "pre-bulimia." It all starts in the mind, and directly affects the person's self-confidence. Once the attack on the person's mind is completed, or their self-esteem is depleted, the condition becomes one of the reasons why the person wants to earn acceptance or love from a loved one. They will start to experiment with forced vomiting, long fasting, and excuses that "I'm just not hungry, okay?" Pounds start to drop, energy loss sets in, and before long, that person can be headed towards a serious case of bulimia or anorexia.

But why do they do this, you ask. Why would they purposely harm themselves? Why do people do anything that harms them? They want to earn something. Acceptance. Love. Trust. Beauty.

Pre-Bulimics are all around us. The "normal" sized friend that feels fat around slimmer girls and stops eating snacks/food with excessive calories, and cuts down dramatically on her food intake for weeks, then looses the steel and binges on ice cream and chips, harmfully confusing her malnourished body. Or maybe it's that stunning girl that you see in class, that secretly starves herself in hopes of keeping her football star boyfriend but occasionally eats large amounts of food around her friends and family as to not worry them. Or the girl that's less pretty than the "popular" girls and was told so by a loved one, a parent, or a friend, and the writhing thought that she's fat creeps into her sub-conscious and "pre-bulimia" scores another hit.

Prevention for this condition is not just helping the ones around you that are clearly in desperation. Some people just need support and someone to come along, give them a hug, and whisper in their ear, "You are beautiful just the way you are." But it's also about encouraging the others, the quiet ones, the already "beautiful" ones, the perceived "normal" ones. They all need to know that they are amazing, unique, and gorgeous; That they are good enough, and that they should never let anyone define who they are. You must stick with them, even if it's extremely tough. It might feel like you're talking to a brick wall, but keep cheering them on.

All it takes is someone to say, "You're beautiful, inside and out, and you should never do anything harmful to yourself because you don't feel loved or accepted. You are loved. You are accepted."

Once you decide to believe that one day you will believe that, you are already one step closer to truly being the person you are meant to be.

Don't let anyone ever tell you anything different. You are beautiful. You are good enough. You will never be worthless.

For you,