Look in the mirror. Do you like what you see? Most of us have come to appreciate ourselves for who we are. While others struggle to achieve the perfect body. They strive to be what is depicted in fashion magazines and films. The endless obsession with being the perfect size zero. This can inevitably lead to eating disorders. Eating disorders can cause someone to have an unhealthy image of themselves, and food is the enemy. In a national survey conducted at Mclean Hospital in Massachusetts it was estimated that over 9 million people suffer from eating disorders. They may struggle with anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating. A study conducted by the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders states that the majority of these diseases begin before the age of twenty. Another growing problem in the United States is obesity. Over 60 million Americans suffer from this disease, according to the American Obesity Association (Gale Opposing Views: Eating Disorders 2010). Anorexia is a psychiatric disorder more common in young women. Those who suffer from anorexia are afraid of gaining weight and have an inaccurate representation of their body. They consider themselves fat, even if they are already thin to begin with. They are willing to resort to extreme measures to lose weight, but the only result is a severely unhealthy body weight. To reach their desired weight, they will have to starve themselves or do a huge amount of exercise. Anorexia is a serious and life-threatening condition. It can cause death from starvation, heart failure or electrolyte imbalance. The first step in helping someone suffering from anorexia is to diagnose the physical characteristics attributed to the disease... half of paper... tp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/enBuckroyd, J. (1996). Anorexia and bulimia: the answers to your questions. Shaftesbury, Dorset: Elements.Bulimia nervosa. (n.d.). University of Maryland Medical Center Web. October 25, 2015.http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/bulimia-nervosa-000020.htmBulimia - PubMed Health. (n.d.). National Center for Biotechnology Information. Web. October 23, 2015. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0Eating Disorders." Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library. Detroit: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. October 20 2015. 2015. “Obesity.” Current Issues: Macmillian Social Science Library: Gale, 2010. Gale Opposing Views in Web Context. 21 October 2015. Smith, M., Barston, S., Segal, R., and Segal , J. (2009). Web Guide, 24 October 2015. http://helpguide.org/mental/binge_eating_disorder.htm.