Healthy Eating Habits: Nutrition, Obesity, Bulimia, Anorexia

Recommendations for Good Nutrition

• Prefer vegetable fats
• Roast or steam meat
• Replace fatty foods with fruit desserts

A balanced diet requires a greater quantity of nutrients to meet requirements that require continued growth. Eating breakfast is essential. Being empty stomach can cause diseases such as gastritis.

Obesity

Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by excess fat, which in turn results in weight gain, surpassing by 15% the target weight, due to increased fat reserves. Obesity is the most common disorder of developed societies. We must demystify the popular belief that excess weight is determined by the amount of fluid retention.

Causes of Obesity

• Endocrine: Due to a malfunction of the endocrine glands, such as the pituitary, thyroid, or ovaries.
• Exogenous: Due to excessive consumption of food.
• Inadequate dietary habits
• Poor physical activity
• Emotional disorders

Bulimia

Its essential characteristic is that the person has episodes of binge eating followed by a deep sense of guilt, anguish, and loss of control. Often, these episodes alternate with periods of very low food intake, but soon the individual returns to having episodes of binge eating. A binge involves consuming a meal much larger than most individuals would eat in less than two hours. Individuals with this disorder feel very ashamed of their behavior and try to hide the symptoms.

Binge eating is done in secret or as covertly as possible. The episodes are often planned in advance and are characterized (though not always) by rapid food intake. Another key feature of the disorder is

inappropriate compensation to prevent weight gain. Many individuals use various means to try to compensate for binge eating. The most common is self-induced vomiting. This method of purging (cyclical patterns of overeating and purging) is employed by 80-90 percent of patients who visit medical centers for treatment. The immediate effects of vomiting include the immediate disappearance of physical discomfort and decreased fear of gaining weight. Other purging behaviors include the use of laxatives and diuretics, enemas, performing intense physical exercise, and fasting.

Anorexia

Anorexia consists of an eating disorder that involves weight loss caused by the patient himself and leads to a state of starvation. It is a common symptom in many diseases and physiological conditions involving the loss of appetite, which can lead to decreased food intake.

The most common cause of anorexia is the feeling of fullness after eating food. This physiological state is called postprandial anorexia. It may appear in systemic infections, inflammation of the intestinal mucosa (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis), malignancies, dementia, or psychological disorders such as depression or anorexia nervosa, being in itself not specific enough to obtain a diagnosis.