Growing Incidence of Anorexia

For one thing, I want to say that I did NOT make this blog or my tumblr in order to encourage others to develop an eating disorder, but I do realize that some people will take it that way. I don't wish for this to happen, but I think that already anorexic people need things like that. I think that anorexia is a horrible thing and the growing incidence of occurrences shows that people have begun to hate themselves more and more. 
Anorexic people feel happy when they stay on track, and these sorts of things aid staying on track. It's the second best thing to healing, at least as far as feeling good mentally. Personally, I think that I'd rather be happy over healthy. If you can get both, amazing. But for most anorexics, it's one or the other. I choose happiness. So, I use 'thinspiration' and such to stay on track and therefore, lead to my happiness. I know that when I gain weight, I get really upset. I cut for the first time in a long time when I had stayed at the same weight for weeks. And now that I'm back to losing (slowly, but surely) I feel much happier. 
Okay, now on to the actual reason for this post: how I feel about the growing numbers of anorexics and other things pertaining to that topic. 


First of all I want to give you the statics and facts, so that what I'm saying will make sense. 

1 in 10 anorexics are male

24 million people suffer from eating disorders

Anorexia is the third most common chronic ailment among adolescents

95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.8

Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate out of all mental illnesses

1 in 200 American women are anorexic

20% of all cases of eating disorders result in fatality (if left untreated)

3% of treated cases of anorexia result in fatality

60% of anorexics make a full recovery

20% of anorexics make a partial recovery

20% of anorexics stay underweight and frequent emergency rooms

40-60% of all high school girls diet in some way

the average model weighs 23% less than an average women

the average weight for a model is between 108-125, while the average height is 5'8"

the average weight for a women 164.5 lbs, and the average height is 5'3"

the average weight of an anorexic female is 15% lower than an average person

to survive, people require between 600-1000 calories per day

the average intake of an anorexic is between 600-800 calories per day (says Wikipedia)

Here's a list of requirements to be considered anorexic:

A BMI of 17.5 or less

refusal to maintain a healthy weight

intense fear of gaining weight

absence of menstrual cycle (for women)

high levels of ghrelin (the hormone that makes you hungry)

And just a little bit more supplemental information before I get to my point. This graph shows how easily an idea can spread. Imagine if this idea was that your body was ugly.

Scary, right?

While I thing most of that speaks for itself, I have a few things to add. So here are few of my most important points that go along with this information:

ONE

First of all, twenty four million people are anorexic. TWENTY FOUR MILLION. That is a big-ass number of people that hate their body enough to stave them selves. And think about what that means. It means that they fit all the criteria for an anorexic. The people that don't meet every single requirement? Not included in that number. 

TWO

Anorexia has the highest number of fatalities among mental illnesses. 'Mental Illnesses' include depression, alcohol abuse/addiction, pica, schizophrenia, insomnia. This would also include people who are suicidal, as they are classified as 'depressed'. Suicidal people have a lower mortality rate than anorexics. 

THREE

The average weight of a model is 108-125, while their average height is 5'8". This puts their BMI between 16.4 and 19. An underweight BMI is 18.5, while an anorexic one is 17.5. 

While I have many other points, I'll let the information speak for itself.