Body image
A girl at 18 wakes in the morning and hops out of bed straight onto a pair of scales located next to her bed. The needle moves slightly up and she burns inside, fat fat fat! She looks into the full-length mirror; it's her worst enemy. The way she looked in it made her feel like dying. Even when she wasn't looking in the mirror, she felt as though the whole world was a mirror, showing her, her disgrace. How could she let this happen? She couldn't go out like this "I am so fat and ugly", she thinks "I hate myself." She has let herself down. She hasn't eaten in days and plans her starvation tactics, from lies to skipping breakfast, lunch and dinner. Everyday her body screams at her in hunger but her mind forces these feelings out of her head; she's hungry, she's happy. Who will like her if she eats? No one. She focuses on how flat her stomach will look tonight and how good she will feel. All she has to do is keep fasting. She puts her baggy clothes on to hide her obesity. At school no one has mentioned her appearance but she's convinced that everyone can see her new kilos and is making comments about her, which makes her feel even worse. She finds herself glaring at her plate each day at dinner. She could never bring herself to eat
What will happen to this girl continues to starve herself? The cold hard facts are that anorexia can kill and shockingly the mortality rate for the disorder is estimated at about one in ten. This means that every one in ten young women starving themselves to look better, one of them will die trying. One of the most common causes of death is heart failure because starvation causes a loss of muscle and one of the vital muscles in the body is the heart. Other costs of anorexia are less dramatic than death. It can cause gastrointestinal problems, sensitivity to cold, fainting, and hair loss. The side effects are not only physical but mental also. Not only does the anorexic restrict food, they restrict everything and their world narrows to a single point of interest weight and food and nothing else matters. Eating disorders kill thousands of people every year. People are dying to be thin, and dying to be something they cannot be, dying to fit the mould that not only the media promote but society too. it. She hates food; she knows it can easily ruin her life. With the fork not only comes instant fat but the loss of everything she has gained, friends, popularity and control. If she can't control anything else in her life at least she could control her food. To avoid food she has to lie to those who love her. At the end of the day she feels noble because she is able to deny herself what most other people cannot; food. Carissa Marie died Oct. 7th 2000 of Anorexia. The illness had caused her heart to weaken and eventually lead to cardiac arrest.
Some common words found in the essay are:
, Magazines TV, Chinah Craig, Jill Weston, Carissa Marie, Howard Johnson, poor body image, food intake, fit mould, fit mould media, fat fat, mould media, self worth, body shape, poor body, people dying, intense fear, weight loss,
Approximate Word count = 1047
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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