“Love your Imperfections” event took place Wednesday, February 28, 2018 in the Water Fountain Area — LAU Byblos from 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. under the coordination of Dr. Rita Doumit and Dr. Nadine Zeeni (LAU faculty members) to raise awareness among LAU staff, students, and faculty about the dangers of dieting and eating disorders.
President of the nursing club, Farah Abou said, president of nutrition club, Lara Assadourian, president of psychology club, and Stephanie Farah worked and assisted in organizing the successful event.
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder marked by intentional self-starvation or semi-starvation, sometimes to the point of death. People with anorexia are extremely afraid of gaining weight and have a distorted body image, seeing themselves as being too heavy even though they are exceedingly thin. Anorexia is a serious disorder that can damage the heart, brain, or kidneys, sometimes cause death. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th edition [DSM-5], APA 2013) identifies two sub-types of anorexia: the restricting type and the binge-purge type, bulimia nervosa. Those with the restricting type eat almost nothing, losing weight by dieting, fasting, exercising, or a combination of these strategies. Those with the binge-purging type may eat large quantities of food and use vomiting or laxatives to purge the food they have eaten. Purging is typical of bulimia, and binge eating occurs in binge eating disorder, but bulimics use purging to maintain a normal body weight. Anorexics purge to lose weight.
Lynn Laz, founder of point a la Lynn Instagram blog, when interviewed claimed “ When I was Anorexic, I never felt as “FAT” as when I was at my THINNEST. It messed with my brain, gave me OCD behaviors, imaginary body flaws, and I became introvert as well as careless. Recovery was my choice, it was hard as hell and I wanted to give up so many times but I never did because I was persistent to recover, to let go of my disorder to the fullest and to live a life with no eating or any other restriction. I will never put my body through torture again but nothing worth having comes easy, and recovery is definitely worth it!”
Lama Kayal, an interview said “we always feel guilty that we ate beyond our normal consumption, but don’t go harsh on yourselves to get that “perfect shape”. Always love your shape and compliment yourself because without your flaws, you wouldn’t be you. After the event I felt so grateful of my body shape and I assured myself that I always will despite my flaws and imperfections”.
Bulimia nervosa is a related disorder. It is when individuals who suffer from this alternate between binge eating periods where they eat uncontrollably and purging through self-induced vomiting or with laxatives. Bulimia is often regarded as a companion disorder to anorexia nervosa. Unlike those with anorexia, who rely mostly on strict fasts to lose more and more weight, individuals with bulimia consume huge quantities of food in an uncontrolled manner and then purge. The frequency of binge eating varies remarkable among people with bulimia nervosa, it can be from a few times a week to more than 20. Anorexia and bulimia are alike in many aspects. both disorders primarily affect females and emerge in adolescence (Wang & Brownell, 2005). Several factors put people at risk for eating disorder; such as heredity and psychosocial factors.
Two unfortunate situations exist concerning treatment for anorexia: this disorder has the highest morality rate of any psychiatric diagnosis, but no treatment has demonstrated a high degree of effectiveness (Cardi & Treasure, 2010). About 75% of anorexics recover, about 3% die from causes related to their disorder (Keel & Brown, 2010). Of those who do not recover, some improve but struggle with eating-related body image problems, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or depression. Between 9% and 18% continue to exhibit symptoms of anorexia: those who are treated on an inpatient basis fare more poorly than those who receive community-based treatment. Treatment for binge eating face the challenge of changing an established eating pattern plus helping binge eaters lose weight. Cognitive behavioural therapy has demonstrated effectiveness in helping people control binge eating, but it is not as effective in promoting weight loss.
