Health and healthy living require a balance of many ideas and behaviors, that need to be taken into consideration in order to realize the totality of the situation. One of the more pressing issues in today's world deals with the ability of the younger generations to practice good and healthy eating habits. While this may appear easy at first glance, the many circumstances that may contribute to such a problem can create a situation where more research is required.
The use of diet aids within college populations is a serious issue within the health care arena. The purpose of this essay is to explore the many intricate details that correlate with the use of diet aids amongst college students and how this practice may become harmful and provide unintended circumstances. This essay will first define key terms and gather the necessary literature to help guide the discussion. Next, this essay will illuminate how education about this topic is eventually the best approach to combating the many facets of this argument.
Background Information
The stresses that accompany the everyday college student are wide and varying. This includes physical, mental and emotional stressors that play a role in the collective health of that student. Eating disorders become a way to cope with this stress many times and the use of diet aids and diet pills often go hand in hand with such disorder. here are many misconceptions about eating disorders. Eating disorders may develop as a way to gain control over and cope with emotional problems, stress, self-hate, shame and/or trauma. For some young adults the stress of heading off to college and adapting to a new and competitive environment can lead to an eating disorder - if left untreated, can lead to complex medical and psychiatric symptoms.
Contributing Factors
The social pressures that are present in college aid people are very hard to resist. Students, trying to adjust to a new and powerful social situation are often left...
The peer pressure to look thin and healthy, especially on a college campus should not be underestimated as a driving force behind this behavior.
The media uses the accepted cultural values of thinness and fitness for monetary gain. Americans spend billions of dollars trying to achieve an unrealistic ideal. Societal and cultural norms and mass media marketing impact our concepts of what beauty looks like. These external influences are so widely accepted that most of us never stop to challenge them or ask how they came to be.
Warning Signs
It is important for people to be aware of the warning signs that may accompany such abuse. These may include: Frequent changes in weight or severe weight loss, wears baggy, loose fitting clothes, makes many trips to the bathroom, skips meals and isolates oneself. While these signs to don't always point to this problem, there are indeed good indicators of warning signs that there may be a problem.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Draft
The essay written above is a work in progress with strengths and weaknesses. The topic I have chosen is a strength of this essay as it is a very applicable problems that needs more understanding from students and others alike. The essay is written with emotion and purpose and incorporates many different angles of the issue at hand. Another strength of this essay is that it is written with a strong attitude that demands the reader's attention.
Since this is only a rough draft there are problems with this essay that need to be addressed. There are some ideas that need to be more fully developed to help create a better context for the argument. The essay is written in a tone that needs to be altered as well to help present a more professional essay that can be targeted to a more educated audience.
Part 2: Unit 9 Assignment
Celio's (2006)…
