What is the true definition behind the word “Beautiful”? Is it owning the skinny thin model-like fab bod, or is it simply accepting yourself for who you are and choosing to own a healthy body?

The video below explains it all.

What is Beautiful? - The best videos clips are here

When Bulimia strikes, a teenager’s life could be altered forever. Behind the façade of a binge eater could be an individual struggling from peer pressure and discrimination; and the only answer she knows to keep herself from being ridiculed is by pressuring herself to lose weight by self-induced vomiting or medicines. However, this harmless act could lead to a life-threatening health condition.

Bulimia Nervosa starts off with a very misleading image: a person with normal body weight (or some could start off overweight) indulges in food and everything in between. From sweets, to spicy food, to junk food, he or she will splurge on anything edible. However, at the end of the day, she doubts her eating habits and this is where the real danger begins—she will do anything to compensate for what she ate hoping this would prevent her from gaining any more weight.

After a meal, she could pop a laxative or two, or some other medication which she believes could help her rid of the excess and unwanted calories. This dream to stay slim and slender could turn into a teen’s worst nightmare as she is pulled even further into the dangers of Bulimia Nervosa.

Other than laxatives, a Bulimia sufferer could turn to other ways of purging the food through self induced vomiting, too much exercise, and fasting. Abuse of the use of enemas, diuretics, laxatives and other medication are common as well.

Although bulimia is an eating disorder and therefore a physical health condition, it also has psychological bearings. The act of engaging in binge eating followed by purging his/her food intake is a developed fear of discrimination, peer pressure and other factors. Although minding one’s weight is a healthy decision, demonstrating signs of bulimia shows a wrong and destructive way of gaining control.

A person with bulimia often shows the following signs. By observing your child or friend intently, you will be able to identify is she is a sufferer before it is all too late.

• Binge eating. Bulimia sufferers develop a bad habit of binge eating—from junk foods to sweets to certain delicacies, he/she will consume a great amount of food, and in some cases, more than what a person of the same age and weight would consume. Most times, this casual trait could turn into a daily habit and the patient will not have control over his/her “addiction” for food.
• Losing Weight. After a heavy meal or a food fest, he/she decides to lose the intake by taking laxatives, excessive exercising or worse, vomiting. This could turn to a daily habit until he/she is satisfied that her weight has decreased greatly.
• Obsession with staying thin. Most patients will complain about their weight and body frame wishing they were thinner even when they are extremely thin themselves already. They will show desperation and obsession for staying thin.
• Excessive Exercise. Exercising is a good habit—when it’s for the good cause, but for those with Bulimia, excessive exercise could be dangerous. This could make them lose great amounts of weight until it leads to extreme thinness.

If you know someone showing these unusual symptoms, he/she could be a victim of Bulimia Nervosa and a visit to an internist or a doctor is advised. Bulimia, when untreated could lead to your child’s health’s vulnerability or worse, death. Your intervention could bring hope to your child and save her from Bulimia.

The United States has often been considered the number one country with the highest obesity rate but this does not mean anorexia nervosa is a rare case. In fact, a lot of teenagers and pre-teens are victims of the fear of gaining weight and of being discriminated for being obese. While obesity itself is a major concern in the country, so is Anorexia Nervosa.

Anorexia Nervosa usually occurs among women, although some men could fall victim too, who refuse to eat believing that doing so could make them fat and slimming down is impossible. Although there is no problem with their current body weight and proportion, they tend to eat less until their eating habits become absolutely imbalanced.

Who is to blame for the cause of this serious eating disorder?

A lot of parents and doctors say that the depiction of the perfect model—someone who is skinny thin, tall, and slender has made young teenagers desire to own the same skinny thin body regardless of what extreme thinness can do to their health. Due to the fame and fortune that models and actresses get, teens believe that their idols are displaying the right body frame when the truth is: no.

Other than mass-media influence, peer pressure and discrimination could also lead to Anorexia Nervosa. Some teens fear being treated like an outcast if she is not thin just as her friend is and for some, they believe they will be rejected by people if she does not possess a head-turning figure.

How do you spot a victim?

Not all thin people are anorexics. Some teens might just be born with petite frames and slim bones or if his/her metabolism is faster than her peers’, she might not be anorexic at all but simply thin. On the other hand, those who show the following signs could be anorexic:

They miss meals or they skip meals. Some teens will give out excuses to not eat a heavy meal while some would do everything they can to not eat at all.

1. They constantly and frequently check their weight. Even if not a single fat is visible on a victim, she would still refer to the weighing scale for her real weight. This could be a frequent activity or could happen every morning as soon as she wakes up.
2. They keep on complaining about their weight. They tend to say “I’m so fat!” even when they’re not and they look all gloomy if someone tells them they have gained weight in a good way or bad.
3. They exercise as much as they check their weights. They are so obsessed with burning fat that they tend to constantly exercise everyday. They believe fat would sink in if they don’t exercise so much; hence, they do things to sweat and to eventually, lose fat.
4. They eat foods that are said to be of low fat ingredients or low-calorie.
5. Some, after eating could spit what they have just eaten or some would show boring or a tired look at the sight of a meal.
6. Any obvious quick loss of weight could also be a sign of anorexia or an internal health problem.

By understanding the reason why your child, friend, or even, your wife has slowly started to become anorexic, you will be able to identify and find a solution that could lead to her recovery. At this difficult challenge, one of the ways to help her return to a balanced diet is by persuading her and by convincing her that absolute thinness is downright ugly—not just physically but internally as well.

Observe your teens if they are showing any abnormal eating-related problem and help them recover from this psychological and physical dilemma before it is too late. By taking down steps and by making sure that they follow a balanced diet, you will be able to stop anorexia before it is too late.