Eating Disorders

Day 7

Definition:  An eating disorder is a compulsion where a person's eating habits damage their health.  The eating may be too excessive (compulsive overeating), too limited (restricting), or cycles of binging and purging.

95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.

Eating disorders have been diagnosed in girls as young as seven.  81% of 10 year olds in the United States are afraid of being fat.

The average American Woman is 5'4" tall and weighs 140 lbs.  The average American model is 5'11" and weighs 117 lbs.

A portion of the book..."She thinks the problem is her body, but really it is in her mind.  She cannot see how thin she has become with self-hatred, how the skin of her face pulls tightly over her cheek bones and eye sockets, how her hips have all but disappeared.  She is miserable at the sight of herself. always unsatisfied, seeing herself as "too fat" when in reality, she has brought herself almost to a point of weightlessness.  She cannot hear her body's groaning; she has made it hungry but will no longer feed it.

She remembers the first time she put her fingers in the back of her throat, heart beating anxiously and how the fingers were like a gun and she hesitantly pushed the weapon further down her throat.  Then suddenly her stomach was empty.  She and been afraid at first, but it was simple and she painless, really.  The next day it was easier, she knew what to expect, knew that her stomach would cramp and tighten as she bent over the toilet, that if she ran the water at the sink people at the house could not hear.  It was her little secret.  She told herself she would only do it a few times a week, would continue exercising and only purge occasionally, just as a way to help her body rid itself of calories, to get control of the fat before the fat took control of her." (30 Days of Prayer for the Voiceless)

The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save, He takes great delight in you.  He will rejoice of you will singing and quiet you will his love.  Zeph 3:17

Dear Father, I pray these girls facing eating disorders, would be found out.  I pray people would open bathroom doors and see, really see the pain these young girls are in and help them seek help.  Open ours eyes to see those that are hurting right before our very eyes.  Oh Lord that these girls would see themselves as you see, beautifully and wonderfully made.  i pray that their minds' would be renewed by the power of your word.  Let us not turn a blind eye to the suffering around us, but let us rise up and help those in need.