We need to have more support for the girls of New Zealand that are going through anorexia or bulimia

Introduction:
More than 50% of teen girls admit to using unhealthy methods to control their weight including, skipping meals, fasting, vomiting, or taking laxatives. How would you react if one of your close friends or siblings was doing this to themselves all because they don’t have “the perfect body”. It is thought that around 70% of girl our age struggle with an eating disorder, that means on average there about 10 girls in this class right now sitting with us are restricting themselves from eating right all to look “perfect” in the eyes of society. Today, I feel it is important to outline the topic of the need to support the girls of New Zealand that are going through anorexia or bulimia and cover the points, Making anorexia and bulimia more known, Why anorexia is becoming more common in younger girls and What is offered to struggling young girls. By the end of this presentation, I hope that you will understand what many people you may know are going through or have gone through and will try to help them through one of the toughest things a young girl can face.

First point: Making anorexia and bulimia more known.
When I was 13 I wouldn’t have had a clue what anorexia actually was any more than it makes you skinny and that’s what everyone wants to be isn’t it?

For me, I have been made more aware of anorexia and bulimia recently for I am one of those 10 girls in this class struggling to eat due to weight insecurities not only this but it is presented to us on many tv shows all over the world making it hard to escape the temptation of anorexia. But hardly anyone would take notice of the fact that this sort of thing not only happens on screens but to many of the girls watching these shows and could be because of watching these tv shows. How many of you listening right now know the definitions of both anorexia and bulimia? We’ll neither did I when I was 13 but now that I am 15 I have grown to become more aware of it and decided that no matter what your ages you should know. Anorexia Nervosa is an emotional disorder characterized by the desire to lose weight by refusing to eat, the lack or loss of appetite also comes with it. Bulimia Nervosa is an emotional disorder characterized by not being happy with your body shape or size very alike anorexia expect instead of withholding eating you overeat then self-induce vomit or purge.

These eating disorders are nothing to joke around with, everyone here today will walk away from this with the knowledge of what the beginning of these disorders starts with. Firstly you’ll notice some weight loss to begin with it won’t be so much but as you get on your weight will drop majorly you can also experience some of the following fatigue, dizziness, dry skin and dehydration. If you notice any of these in yourself or friends keep an eye on them as it only gets worse from there. I think that the lack of education on eating disorders is why they’re getting is out of hand in New Zealand’s young girls. If anorexia and bulimia were more known then everyone would be able to notice if someone was struggling and then we would be able to stop the disorder before it becomes too out of hand.

Second point: Why anorexia is becoming more common in younger girls.
When I was 14 I decided that I want to be skinnier maybe anorexia wouldn’t be that be that bad because everyone online looked way better than me so if that’s what it was going to take then I was ready to do it.

There are girls as young as 8 years old being diagnosed with anorexia or bulimia these days because they see older girls portraying themselves in a bad way there for making younger girls think that they all need to look a certain way. For me, at the age of 8, I was doing sport for fun not to do it to lose weight and I would eat whatever tastes good to me because that’s what being a kid is all about right? But the kids these days are taking their younger days for granted now, growing up too quick, worrying about their weight and trying to fit in in the bad ways. The earlier you start the longer you’re more likely to have these problems, therefore making them unhealthy and more susceptible to the long term damages, for example, it can cause you to become fertile which is most woman’s worst nightmare it can also cause death. For example in a more extreme case, Karen Carpenter was a very successful singer she had it all record deals, albums and more but one thing was slowing her down… her anorexia even though she was happy and successful unfortunately she was a big sufferer of anorexia and that’s the reason her career ended as it eventually killed her at the age of 33 which is far too young for anyone to die. This is just one of the shocking story where anorexia has had a very extreme ending.

I know for a girl at our age there are certain bodily image expectations one might feel the need to live up to I know I do and have for a while but if it means harming yourself and making yourself unwell then what’s the point? What someone else thinks of you should not be the thing that influences you to make yourself sick! So next time you are looking to Instagram feeling bad about yourself being “overweight” then just remember that in third world countries the woman with the most meat on their bones are considered most beautiful and I think that needs to be the way every country is. The worst thing you can say to someone struggling with anorexia would be to comment on how they’re looking because no matter what you say their brain will always play tricks on them getting them to only see them as fat it is unknown why this disease affects the way they see themselves but because of this they will be forever trying to lose the fat that isn’t actually there.

Third point: What is offered to struggling young girls.
Now I’m 15 I have gone through a stage of where i thought i would stop eating to make me skinny where in actual fact i only got sick not skinny now have realized that anorexia isn’t something to be proud of if you ask me you’re better off being plumper because to most people that is what pretty looks like and we need to make everyone that is struggling with anorexia more aware of this that every shape and size is beautiful.

Every girl should be able to seek treatment for what they’re going through but since when did you have to be a certain level of anorexic before they’d help you? I mean yes if you’re not too bad you can get counselling I know for me talking about it to my family was the only way i started to eat normally again but sometimes it takes more than talking to pull you out of something that tough sometimes depending on the girl it can be too hard to discuss and you just want to get better. I believe this needs to change anyone that wants help should have the opportunity to get some. There are multiple levels of these eating disorders but that should be irrelevant once you know the problem is there. But There are many good support centers for male and female in New Zealand some including ANAD, EDANZ and much more that offer round the clock support when you want it.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, I believe we need to have more support for New Zealand girls struggling with anorexia and bulimia. I hope that today I have made you more aware of what anorexia and bulimia are, why anorexia is becoming more common in younger girls and what is offered to struggling young girls. All and all I believe these eating disorders are not being taken care of as they need and now the problem is just getting worst. I want you all to come away from this speech knowing that every girl in our school may be struggling so try use this information I have given you to a good use and help them out.