I'm sure most women have heard the saying, ' You can never be too rich, or too thin'. I won't comment on whether or not you can be too rich, but I do have some words on the too thin part of the statement.

'Ana-Mia', refers to Anorexia, and Bulimia, two of the most widespread eating disorders affecting our society. We constantly hear about teenage girls succumbing to these disorders. Our girls grow toward maturity, and find their bodies changing, developing toward womanhood, and there everywhere, are the images of ad models, female celebrities, with bodies starved, with waist, hips, legs, bearing a resemblance to those of a child. Our girls are being taught they should strive to retain, at all costs, their 'little girl' bodies. They are being infused with fear, at an early age, of not fitting in, not looking like the model of acceptable feminine beauty, set forth by a sick society.

What we do not hear about is the problem of more mature women, falling victim. As usual, the mature segment of our society has been overlooked, as far as research concerning yet another health issue for women. Yet, from my own personal research, I've discovered it is definitely a serious problem.

At a time in life, when it is so important for women to maintain a healthy diet, many mature women choose to follow rigid weight-loss plans, bordering on self-starvation. Often they adopt strenuous exercise regimens as well, in an attempt to either lose weight, or keep it off, or to achieve an unrealistic 'perfection', as to their body. A hoped for return to the body they possessed, ten, twenty, thirty, years ago.

There is no one cause associated with developing an eating disorder. Psychological factors are often mentioned as triggers, such as a dysfunctional family or relationship, or individual personality traits, such as a penchant for perfection. Emotional negativity, traumas such as rape, abuse, or the death of a loved one can result in triggering these disorders. Most women with eating disorders suffer from these three basic factors- low self-esteem, a feeling of helplessness, and extreme dissatisfaction with the way they look.

Society

Present-day society may be to blame for more than a few cases of eating disorders. This fashion and image obsessed culture bears no resemblance to reality. We are persistently brainwashed by the visual media. Daily we are bombarded by enhanced images of what are touted as 'perfect women'. These women are too often alarmingly underweight, even to the point of emaciation. 'Thin' is perceived as the only possible acceptable look. Grown women, starved, often to the point of resembling pre-pubescent girls, and then cosmetically enhanced, sporting breast implants, butt implants, etc., these women are presented as the symbols of 'perfection' to the masses. So ingrained in our society has this image become, it now negatively affects every aspect of our lives, even permeating our workplaces. No matter how unrealistic it is to believe the average female can, or for that matter, would want to abuse her body in the manner mentioned above, society seems to have come to the point of no return, on this issue.

Thin Equals 'Looking Young'

For mature women, society's knife of influence is double-edged. Not only are we being told women must have a certain perfect body type, we are also being told that being overly thin equals looking young. 'Lose weight, look younger!’ we see ads for diet aids promoted thus, everywhere. In such an atmosphere, even emotionally well balanced, intelligent women may be won over to the dark side!

Jeannine Schenewerk is a freelance writer residing in Atlanta, Georgia. She maintains an inspirational, informative website for mature women, In Touch With Jeannine.

http://www.intouchwithjeannine.com

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