No one ever said being a teenager or a young adult is easy. From hormones to becoming independent, teenagers and young adults have many changes in their lives. While most changes make us better people, there are some changes that are unhealthy for us, physically and emotionally. An example of these changes is eating disorders. An eating disorder is “a condition characterized by irregular or abnormal eating habits.” There are many types of eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, and pica. Anorexia is a condition in which the person will try to lose weight in unhealthy ways. This includes eating very little, forcing to vomit, taking laxatives to lose weight, working out way too much, and checking their weight quite often. Bulimia is when a person binge eats or eats too much in a short period of time, and then cleans out all of that food intake. Again, this is done by forcing regurgitation or taking laxatives to expel all the waste. Binge eating is when someone eats a lot of food in a very short period of time. People with binge eating disorder do not purge their food, which results in putting on weight in an unhealthy way. Pica is a disorder where someone eats substances that are not nutritional. Such items include their own hair, ice, paint, sharp objects, etc.

One myth I would like to talk about is that eating disorders are the same as dieting. No, eating disorders are NOT dieting. Dieting is when someone loses weight in a healthy way and they do it in a systematic manner. For example, someone can create a diet in which they lower sugar intake, carb intake, exercise more, and slightly lower their consumption of food. Basically, if that person ate a plate of rice for dinner every day before dieting, they will reduce it to ¾ of the plate. Anorexia does not fall under the same category. Anorexia is when someone eats very little or stops eating altogether. Let’s go back to that plate of rice. Someone with anorexia might skip dinner altogether or they might eat ¼ of the plate. Anorexia also involves hyperactivity, meaning that they exercise more than they should, which burns them out. They also force regurgitation to occur and take laxatives, which later on causes teeth decay and other issues.

Statistics show that 95% of people who have eating disorders are 12-25 years old. In that percentage, 75% of females are affected by eating disorders while 25% of males have them. These eating disorders are primarily caused by body shaming. Body shaming is when someone makes remarks or mocks someone for their weight. These remarks can be directed towards themselves or it can come from someone else. Before I continue, I would like to urge readers to stop making remarks and jokes about people who are fat or skinny. Just because someone weighs more or less than you, it doesn’t mean you can joke about them. The media and the entertainment industry often make jokes about fat people, which isn’t fair. We need to stop making such remarks and embrace them for who they are.

Like I have said before, body shaming comes from within as well. Some people may compare themselves to others and constantly put pressure on themselves to become more “beautiful.” I would like to say, I know what you are going through. In the past, subtle comments about my weight and not so subtle comments about my weight were made. It made me wonder, “am I really not that pretty?” I used to talk about it with my mom and she told me that I look beautiful and that the beauty within matters. While some people have made those sorts of comments, a lot of people have also said I look beautiful just the way I am. You see, 10 people will always criticize you about the way you look, but there are also 90 other people telling you that you look beautiful no matter what. I chose to listen to those 90 people and tuned out those 10 people. I listened to the majority and I am happy about the way I look. As in, this is how my body is and I am proud to be like this. I know I am more on the chubbier side of the scale, but I realized that it doesn’t matter. Your weight says nothing about your personality. It doesn’t talk about how worthy you are and how unique of a person you are. Outward appearances don’t say anything about the wonderful soul you are inside.

All of this realization came through during the summer of 7th grade, or the Summer of Inner Realization as I like to call it. Prior to that, I didn’t understand what self-love and self-respect meant. I let people get under my skin and I didn’t make an effort to stop it. You need to understand that you are a person too. You deserve all the love and respect in this world. During the summer, I started to feel ashamed that I wasn’t able to stand up for myself. It meant I didn’t respect myself and I didn’t love myself that much. I wanted to stop it. Harnessing self-love comes in different forms. For me, it was quiet contemplation, for you it could be doing your favorite hobbies. Just like how everyone comes in different shapes and sizes, building self-love comes in different flavors as well. I realized I hurt myself more than I should by letting people get to me. I also understood that being human means you wear your imperfections and flaws and you flaunt it! Being human means you make mistakes. You aren’t perfect, but that’s what is so wonderful about being a human because you learn from those mistakes. You understand where you went wrong, you pick up the pieces, and you move on. Learning to love yourself is a life-long journey. A journey that has some bumps in it, but at the end of it, you will realize you are absolutely beautiful and worthy. I also understood that the way I look doesn’t matter! A true friend or a true lover doesn’t come to love you because you look beautiful, they love you because they see the beautiful human inside of you. I want you to understand that if you ever feel low about yourself, your appearance, or your weight, you should talk to someone you trust. Talk to them and I assure you that you will feel so much better.

All in all, our society needs to stop mocking, bullying and criticizing people on their weight. A small comment about someone needing to drop or gain a few pounds can cause a wave of emotions that leads people to eating disorders. I keep on emphasizing this, but we need to accept people for who they are and look at them deeper. We should love people for their awesome personality and not if they fit the bill for conventional beauty or not. If everyone can love each other this way, then we can have a society of young people who feel proud of who they are.

“Next time you think of beautiful things, don’t forget to count yourself in.” – Anonymous

One last thing before I sign off: Proud2Bme is a social media platform on Twitter that talks about eating disorders and how it doesn’t matter what your weight is. They also focus on LGBTQIA+ individuals who have eating disorders as well. Please check out their Twitter account for more information on what they do and how to attend their online social events! You can also check out the National Eating Disorders Association which also helps people with eating disorders. They have a national helpline to help people who are struggling with these disorders. Remember guys, self love is the best kind of love. Peace!