Teenagers and Bulimia (Final)

Over this school year I have been reading the series of books called "Gossip Girls". There are entertaining and I think they include many hidden life lessons. Blair is one of the main characters. She is beautiful, has everything, and ever girl wants to be like her. However, Blair is bulimic. The sad thing is the book makes it seem like it is okay. It is definitely not. Her friends know that Blair has this problem but do nothing to help her. Bulimia is a very dangerous disorder and is not healthy for anyone. Even though it was Blair's fault for choosing to be bulimic, her friends are also the problem because they don't do anything to help her. There are several things that you do do for a bulimic friend. Here is a list of what you can do.

1. Talk to your friend privately about their problem.


2. Tell your friend that you are worried about their heath.


3. Don't get angry even if your friend denies it or gets defensive.


4. If your friend refuses to do something about it on their own tell your parents, the school counselor, the school nurse, or your friend's parents.

Some of you may wonder, what is bulimia? According to dictionary.com bulimia is a habitual disturbance in eating behavior mostly affecting young women of normal weight, characterized by frequent episodes of grossly excessive food intake followed by self-induced vomiting to avert weight gain. Sometimes it can be hard to tell if your friend has bulimia. There are 10 main symptoms:

• Your friend is obsessed about their weight and food.


• Your friend constantly is looking at food labels and knows exactly how many calories are in the foods they eat.


• Your friend exercises all the time.


• Your friend avoids hanging out with you during meals.


• Your friend begins to wear extremely baggy clothes to hide the body that they aren't happy about.


• Your friend goes on extreme diets and plays with food on plate instead of eating it.


• Your friend goes to the bathroom a lot especially after meal and you think you may have heard them vomiting.


• Your friend has lost weight and still calls herself fat.


• Your friend constantly takes laxatives, diet pills, or steroids.


• Your friend faints, bruises easily, is unusually pale, and complains about being cold often.

Overall, bulimia is a very serious disorder and should not be taken lightly. It is important for people especially teens, to feel good in the body that they are in. Never stop eating or make yourself vomit to lose weight. It is so much healthier to go on a diet and exercise if you want lose weight. It is a lot more rewarding to lose weight from being healthy than to lose weight from an eating disorder. If you want to learn more about bulimia and other eating disorders, go to this link.