How Many Calories Are in That

Dworak 1

Sara Dworak

Ms. Reimers

Language Arts, Period 5

24 January 2011

Problem-Solution Paper: Anorexia

Dear Mr. Obama,

Imagine that you are sitting at your usual grey lunch table. Your friends are spilling what they have for lunch and are trading for better food. All of a sudden, you see your best friend sitting in the corner of the table not talking. You see she is not eating anything and is gazing at the pile of tantalizing food before her eyes. You see the desperation in her eyes, but something is holding her back. You try to talk to her but she appears not focused and distracted. She isn’t very overweight, so you worry a little bit.

When you ask her why she isn’t eating anything, she makes up the excuse that she will eat later. You think it is nothing because she is your best friend. The same event happens the next day. Then you begin to wonder, “When is later?”

As a friend or family member, if this situation has ever happened to you, I would be worried. The probable reason is that that person is suffering from Anorexia. Anorexia is a psychological illness that makes you see a whole new you, in a very dire way

("Anorexia and Bulimia"). It makes you believe you are overweight and that everyone is perfectly skinny. This makes you become obsessed with eating the least amount of food that you can, preoccupied with calorie count, and can cause serious health issues. Do you Dworak 2 believe that Anorexia only affects teen girls? In fact, Anorexia affects men, women, girls, boys, and people of all races ("Anorexia and Bulimia"). Anorexia’s health effects are depression, feelings of shame, a lowered body temperature and blood pressure, slowed reflex, irregular heartbeat (which can lead to cardiac arrest), and death ("Anorexia and

Bulimia"). This is a very serious illness which can affect not only the anorexic person, but the family and friends even more.

In a society in which the perfect way to be is skinny, the percentage of anorexic people grows rapidly every day. In reality, more than five million people are affected by

Anorexia just in the United States ("Anorexia and Bulimia"). We need a solution for this problem, and we need it fast. My futuristic solution is an intervention where people see themselves, as themselves, and nobody else. As claimed by Amy Baker Dennis, a medical psychologist, “When it comes to adolescent eating disorders, it is usually the parents' responsibility to seek help. The girl with the eating disorder is often the last to know she is ill” (Chollar). Amy Baker Dennis is insisting that we should find a mental

“cure” for Anorexia. We need to start now. I propose that we have an intervention with both a middle and high school, which will hopefully end most of the soon-to-be teen

Anorexia cases.

Initially, we will create a video that describes both the causes and risks of

Anorexia. This will show the kids how it is so easy to become Anorexic. In the video, it will show both a doctor describing the illness, anecdotes from teens their age, and pictures of anorexics. Once they realize how serious it has become across the world, they will grasp the concept of how they are the people it starts with to stop Anorexia. Then there will be a question and answer session if they have any questions. Dworak 3

Thereafter, we will rent “fat suits” from an education company. Then each person will have a chance to put one on and look at themselves in the mirror. Then, when they close their eyes, they will take it off them and they will see what they really look like and how they are not overweight. Then they can see the difference and realize not to always believe what our manipulative mind is telling them. It will hopefully tell them not to listen to people, but listen to the facts!

Lastly, we will have a discussion on how to fix anorexia. If students are afraid because they feel that they have the disease, they can feel comforted by the fact that there is a solution, They will also feel relieved that many other students are going the same feeling they are. We will inform friends of anorexic teens to not compliment their anorexic friend’s “thin” appearance, to practice friendly non-judgment, and other helpful tips (Alcantara).

Just one of this solution’s many advantages is that it prevents negative influences from impacting a student – in this case, an anorexic teen. This is desirable because there are many anorexic or skinny people that attend a school. If teens are a little insecure about themselves, this could definitely affect them. This program will not eradicate the negative influences themselves, but it will inform teens about why they shouldn’t allow themselves to be impacted by these detrimental influences.

Another reason why this is an excellent solution is that it improves emotional and physical health in teenagers. This is because we will provide information on how to reduce the risk of getting anorexia, how to deal with an anorexic friend or family member, and other important factors. My program could be the difference between a healthy life and an unhealthy one. Dworak 4

Imagine you are sitting at your usual lunch table again – the day after you had confronted her about her anorexia symptoms (which you learned about from the program). When you sit down, she is talking up a storm about these little pink shoes she saw at the mall yesterday. She is eating her favorite food, a ham and cheese sandwich.

When she sees you, she asks if she can talk privately with you. She pulls you aside and smiles at you, showing her big metal braces. She gives you a hug and whispers a thank you in your ear. Oh yes, your friend is finally back.

Sincerely,

Sara Dworak Dworak 5

Works Cited