Eating disorders, illnesses that are damaging both physically and mentally, have become a serious issue in modern society. Essentially, the importance that our culture places on body image has grown significantly over time, and as a result, eating disorders have become more and more common, with individuals all over the world obsessing over achieving an unrealistically perfect body. Of these eating disorders, the two that are most well-known are anorexia and bulimia. While these two disorders are often confused for one another due to the fact that they share certain qualities, it is important to understand that they are two very different illnesses with distinct symptoms and consequences. In particular, anorexia and bulimia differ in terms of eating habits, characteristic body type of sufferers, and health consequences.
The main feature of any eating disorder is clearly having irregular eating habits; however individuals suffering from anorexia have extremely dissimilar eating habits from those who suffer from bulimia. Specifically, individuals with anorexia have a constant fear of gaining weight, and therefore have an intense fear of food. In fact, it is not uncommon for someone suffering from anorexia to completely cut food from their life, or at the very least, eat in extremely small portions. In order to hide the fact that they are limiting their consumption, many people with anorexia cut their food into small pieces and arrange their food in certain ways to give the impression that they are eating enough. In general, anorexics fall way below the recommended calorie intake for the average person of their age group and gender. On the other hand, people who suffer from bulimia do not have this same fear of food. In fact, bulimics actually have a bit of an obsession with food, consuming a large amount of food in a short time, followed by an attempt to get rid of the food by vomiting, taking a laxative or an excessive amount of exercise. During an average binge, one may consume from 3,000 to 5,000 calories in one short hour. Principally, those with bulimia tend to have a lack of control over eating; that is, they eat until the point of physical discomfort or pain.
In addition to irregular eating habits, anorexics and bulimics differ in their characteristic body types. Because anorexics dread becoming fat, most people who suffer from this illness have an abnormally low body weight. More often than not, it is quite straightforward to identify someone with anorexia as these individuals have a distinct weak and frail body type, often looking like simply skin and bones. Sadly, while people who suffer from anorexia are clearly much too thin and malnourished, they see themselves as overweight, and consequently continue to starve themselves. Far from this, individuals with bulimia vary greatly from one another in terms of body weight. In contrast to those with anorexia, many people with bulimia are of normal weight or even slightly overweight. As a result, bulimics are much more difficult to classify in terms of body weight as individuals with this eating disorder do not have such a strict diet.
Moreover, due to damaging lifestyles linked with these illnesses, both anorexia and bulimia have many health-related consequences. However, due to the fact that their eating habits are so different, anorexics and bulimics experience very dissimilar health problems. In particular, the potential health consequences linked with bulimia include tooth decay from stomach acid, dehydration, rupturing of the esophagus, and an abnormal heartbeat. It is important to note that the health-related problems associated with bulimia range from mild to severe, depending on the type of purging behaviors and how long they have continued. In contrast, while anorexia also leads to potentially serious, long-term health problems, these problems differ from those associated with bulimia, and are actually often more serious than those connected to bulimia. The health risks associated with anorexia include becoming extremely thin, developing brittle hair and nails, dry skin, lowered pulse rate, and constipation, as well as occasional diarrhea. These health issues are essentially due to the fact that anorexics do not intake enough vitamins and minerals to maintain a strong, healthy body.
Consequently, although one might incorrectly think that anorexia and bulimia are basically the same disorder, this is not actually the case. While both of these illnesses are serious and affect many parts of a person’s life, anorexics and bulimics differ in their eating habits, body types, and health problems. Therefore, because they have such unique features, there is no question that anorexia and bulimia are two very different eating disorders.