by Izamary Rios
If you walk through a college campus you will see a mass variety of students. You might see some students who are American, some who are Hispanic, some who are African- American, some who are thin, some overweight, some happy and some sad. You will encounter pretty much any type of student you could imagine, but you won’t really know what’s behind them.
On a college campus, eating disorders are major problem. According to Walden Center for Education and Research, 40 percent of college females suffer from an eating disorder and 91 percent of college females have attempted to control their weight by dieting one way or another. If this doesn’t scare you then I don’t know what does.
I have never been diagnosed with an eating disorder, but I fall into the 91 percent of women who have tried to control their weight by dieting. There have been so many times throughout my college career that I feel fat, and sometimes it is a feeling that stays with me for a while. I feel as if I have to control what I eat, and I always have to eat healthy. I feel guilty eating something fatty when I have not worked out. Even though I know it is not a diagnosed eating disorder, I know it is not healthy and I am not the only student who feels this way.
As college students, we have so much going on all at once that it ties up our health. Society and media play a big role in the way we perceive ourselves. I love to read glamour magazines such as “Cosmopolitan,” but I know it affects the way I perceive myself. Magazines, books, movies and TV shows have really built an image of what the perfect body should look like. I feel as if I need to be
thin, with tan lines, nice curled/ straight hair, nails done, toes done, etc. If society and media had not put that type of perception of a perfect body image in my head, I would probably love myself a little more.
I think eating disorders among college students, especially females, are very common and don’t necessarily get enough attention. There are a lot external factors affecting the perception of our body. Not only is it important to know the signs of an eating disorder, but also to know ways to prevent it.
