It is quite natural that when a person imagines eating disorders of any type, it is always associated with women. It is very rare that one can imagine men going through an obsessive workout and making use of starving methods to have a great, lean body, trying to look like the celebrities displayed on the covers of magazines. Nonetheless, this is a big misconception. Where before, a lot of women have been diagnosed with some type of eating disorder and only 10 percent of men and boys of different age groups did suffer from some type of disorder with regards to eating, today, male eating disorders have increased from what studies have shown before. Statistics show that with 3,000 people suffering from anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, 25 percent of them were indeed men. 40 percent of these male eating disorders were mainly the binge eating disorder. Binge eating is described as an uncontrollable consumption of large amounts of food, where a person exceeds his limits and can even be physically sick from what he decides to eat.
What makes male eating disorders different from eating disorders of females are visible in the symptoms displayed. For example, an indication of anorexia that focuses on the female is manifested in its characteristic symptom of the absences of menstruation or amenorrhea, as well as a great fear of gaining weight. This would then lead to a woman’s avoidance of eating. With male eating disorders, it may be a bit different. In spite of the fact that a few men may display some fear of becoming fat, most of them would really be more obsessed with having a muscular build and be fixated with achieving a low percentage of body fat. This would most probably push men to exert efforts in order to do extremely well in a particular sport. The abuse of certain steroids and extreme exercises could be a method of achieving this.
For so many years now, females obsess over having very thin body frames, associating them with beauty as movies, magazines and other forms of media have been displaying. Because men are now pressured to achieve body perfection, male eating disorders have become a lot more common. There are a variety of reasons why male eating disorders such as anorexia may be more rampant. Men may have male eating disorders to avoid weight gain. A lot of male eating disorders are acquired by men who as kids were overweight. Athletes are also more prone to male eating disorders as weight is a critical factor with regards to performance. Acquiring abnormal eating habits is a step to lose weight, which is believed to be one of the most important requirements of any type of sport.
Other male patients also acquire male eating disorders when they begin to diet so that they are able to meet the requirements for certain types of work, and then lose control completely. Homosexual men are also susceptible to developing male eating disorders basically because of aiming for physical attractiveness. It is therefore not a very easy task for a professional to give a diagnosis for male eating disorders, whether it is anorexia or bulimia. Aside from that, men will often be oblivious to the fact that they are indeed suffering from male eating disorders, even while they have abnormal eating habits that can seriously affect their health.
Regrettably, the reasons for male eating disorders cannot be accurately pinpointed. It is quite vague why more male eating disorders are rampant today than they were before. To add to the problem, most men with male eating disorders are very hesitant to seek treatment either because they are embarrassed, being that eating disorder patients are more frequently females; or because of the fact that a lot of treatment centers do not have separate facilities for male eating disorders because the problem of male eating disorders has just recently come to light. Oftentimes, men would most probably get a diagnosis of depression related to male eating disorders.
Male eating disorders may also not be as obvious as eating disorders for women. For one thing, men will never talk about problems with anorexia or bulimia especially with other men since they believe it to be a woman thing. Another reason could be that men will associate physical attractiveness with muscle and body mass, not with losing weight. For men to admit that they are suffering from male eating disorders would show a weakness in their masculinity. This is why they would keep the problem to themselves even if they knew they were in fact suffering from male eating disorders. Lastly, men believe that there are certain expectations society places upon them, such as being strong. Because of this, going for treatment for male eating disorders stemming from emotional issues make them very uncomfortable.
Nonetheless, statistics do not lie. It is a fact that at least 3 percent of males do diet frequently and even more purge through induced vomiting after each meal to keep their weight normal and cope with anxieties. Binge eating is also commonly practiced by 21 percent of men. Clinical psychology studies also show that there are a lot of psychological similarities between male eating disorders and the eating disorders of females. They are both brought about by related emotional issues and develop because of almost the same reasons.
There are certain approaches one could take to prevent or address male eating disorders. First of all, it must be recognized that eating disorders can be acquired by any gender, male or female. One must also be familiar with the symptoms of male eating disorders such as unpredictable changes in weight, an obsession on one’s weight and physical image, changes of moods, caloric counting and continuous checking of food labels, too much fuss about eating certain types of food, and excessive exercising as well as crash dieting. When these symptoms are detected, encouraging treatment would be the next step. This must be done very carefully so that a patient suffering from male eating disorders does not become antagonistic and refuses to admit that he has a serious eating problem.
