Mental Care Facts & Health Tips

Eating disorders affect thousands of people each year. The majority of sufferers are young females, though men, boys, and older women also suffer from eating disorders. Any unhealthy eating pattern that one permanently participates in could be considered an eating disorder. Many people have an eating disorder for quite a while before they realize it. Here are some common eating disorders explained.

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa is probably the most widely discussed eating disorder. It is the eating disorder that results in the most obvious physical changes for the sufferer. Though sufferers of bulimia may maintain a normal body weight, anorexics are unable to maintain a normal body weight because of their refusal to eat.

Anorexia Nervosa is characterized as a complete refusal to keep body weight above 85% of what is considered normal. Anorexia Nervosa typically involves extreme calorie restriction in one’s daily diet. Many sufferers of this illness go through phases of bulimia.

Anorexics typically have extremely low self esteem. This disease is common in those who are considered “perfectionists” by outsiders. Though many anorexics have an intense fear of gaining weight, a lack of control over life seems to be the determining factor in what creates an anorexic. Anorexia often occurs in the lives of young adults who are struggling with stress and anxiety. They feel that they have no control over their lives and are spinning out of control. Living on an extremely low calorie diet and maintaining an abnormally thin figure becomes a way of controlling their environment.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia is characterized as the binging and purging of food. Many anorexics also go through phases of bulimia. Bulimics may purge through vomiting or overuse of laxatives.

It is important to note that simply purging food would be more a characteristic of anorexia, where the sufferer will sometimes make themselves vomit or overuse laxatives to completely empty the system after a day of barely eating. Bulimics purge after an episode of intense binge eating and this is a very important characteristic of their disorder.

Recent research indicates that there is likely a genetic factor involved in bulimia though it is likely triggered by an environmental catalyst. Bulimics are often people who are overwhelmed by the emotions of everyday life. They have an incredibly difficult time dealing with intense emotions and seek out a means of punishment for what they feel they have failed at. Bulimics may be suffering because of how they feel toward themselves or how they feel toward an event that has occurred.

Compulsive Overeaters

Though anorexia and bulimia are the two eating disorders that seem to get the most attention, eating disorders are not simply related to weight loss. Eating an abnormal amount of food on a regular basis is also considered an eating disorder.

People who use food as a means of hiding their emotions or seem to have a food addiction are considered compulsive overeaters. Compulsive overeaters are sometimes called emotional eaters.  Though many people eat when they are feeling down, compulsive overeaters take it to the extreme. The underlying cause of compulsive overeating, like all eating disorders, is a lack of self esteem. Compulsive overeating is very common in sufferers of sexual abuse.

Reference Something-Fishy

Most people are both enticed and terrified at the proposition of going to a nude beach. The experience can be both rewarding and liberating and is one that all women should try at least once. Here are some tips to make the best out of your first nude beach experience.

Drop That Towel

The biggest fear that most people have about going to a nude beach is that everyone else at the beach will be perfect and will look down on them. Once you’ve been to a nude beach you will realize how laughable this concept is.

For one thing no one really pays attention to you anymore than they would at a regular beach where you are practically in your underwear to begin with. The other thing that you will quickly realize about the nude beach is that there aren’t a lot of perfect bodied super models running around these places. They are full of people with average bodies, just like you. There are old people, obese people, classically unattractive people, and for the most part no one is being judged. Patrons to nude beaches really aren’t the judgmental type.

Taking it All Off

For your first nude beach experience you are probably going to want to slowly ease into the situation. You might have gone skinny dipping once or twice but chances are that you don’t spend a lot of your days naked in public. You probably aren’t going to jump out of the car naked and go bounding to the shore, if you were going to do that you wouldn’t be reading this guide.

Go into the beach facilities and remove your clothes and then wrap up in a towel. After that you can go set up your beach spot and comfortably remove your towel after you have sat down and got a good look at your surroundings. For some women this process has to be a little more gradual. If you are apprehensive about being totally nude from the get go try wearing a bikini at first and removing your top first. For a variety of reasons women are often more comfortable with exposing their chest than their nether regions. This is perfectly normal and you will probably find many other women on nude beaches opt to be simply topless as well.

Skin Care for Sunbathers

The feeling of hot sun on your naked body is relaxing and incredibly comfortable. Getting sunburn in some of those delicate spots that aren’t accustomed to sun exposure is not so great.  When you are preparing for your nude beach trip you should cover your entire body with sunblock of at least 30 SPF one hour prior to heading out and reapply at regular intervals throughout your visit. You might also want to bring a beach umbrella if you plan on spending a lot of your time lounging on the sea shore.  As long as you keep all exposed areas protected with sunblock then you shouldn’t have to worry about getting a sunburn that you will regret for the next few days.