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| Men and Food Addiction | People might be astonished to get to know that older woman and even children suffer from food addiction, but they would almost certainly be shocked to get to know that men also can become a victim to this dreadful disorder. Why is it so? It is for the reason that people is still very much in the dark about what eating disorders really are and why someone may develop one.
Eating disorders are not a fuss issue and people do not do this so that they can fit into a smaller dress size. Lots of people also discover this difficult to believe, but eating disorders really have nothing at all to do with food. Whether you are anorexic, bulimic, or a compulsive eater, those are just the signs of deeper, emotional issues. Just like some people seek for alcohol or gambling as a way to cope, numb themselves, and block out painful emotions, food is also used in the same way.
People that suffer from anorexia can become so obsessed with counting calories and wanting to be thin, that they spend the most of their time thinking about it. This leaves them no time to think about the actual problems in their lives. For such people, it is much easier to think about calories, then it is to face the issues that they may not know how to manage. Lots of bulimics and compulsive eaters report that when they binge, all the negative feelings, whether they are anger, sadness, stress, loneliness, inner pain, etc., will disappear. When bulimics purge, they usually feel relieved.
These people do not binge for the reason that they are hungry or have no willpower. They do it for the reason that it is the only method they know how to get some relief from the pain that they feel. There are numerous reasons why a person can develop an eating disorder. For example, they may have been a victim of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. They may have been raised in a bad family where alcohol drugs and or gambling were abused, or in a family that did not allow emotions to be expressed. No matter what the reason may be, it is significant for people to know that eating disorders are not a vanity issue and people usually develop them as a way to cope with very intense negative feelings and emotions. Considering aforesaid, it should not surprise anyone that men also can develop eating disorders.
It is supposed that about 10% of eating disorder sufferers are men. It is very complicated for men to seek help because eating disorders are still very much considered a “women's disease”. Men may also not want to come forward for fear that people will think they are gay. A lot of people automatically suppose if a man has an eating disorder, then he must be gay. Remember that is not true at all.
The reasons men develop eating disorders are the same as for a woman, child, or anyone else. For instance, they may have been victims of abuse, come from bad families, were subjected to teasing from their peers, etc. They have low self-esteem, suffer perfectionism, are over achievers, do not know how to express emotions, avoid conflict, put others needs ahead of their own (co-dependents), feel unworthy and hate most everything about themselves. Many hate themselves so much that may even think they deserve to die. When someone feels that way, they typically begin to avoid the very thing that keeps them alive, which is food.
The amount of women that suffer from eating disorders is much higher than men. The reason for this is simple – men are not under the same pressure to be thin. It is more common for men to try and cope with their problems by becoming workaholics or turning to alcohol, drugs, gambling or sex, but the number of men developing eating disorders is increasing. It can also be complicated to know if some men do in fact have an eating disorder. Bulimic men are more prone to try and purge their bodies of unwanted calories by exercising compulsively, rather than by vomiting or laxative abuse.
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