Health Matters! Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds

Severe weight loss may lead to development of an eating disorder, e.g. anorexia nervosa or bulimia.

Measuring body weight

Comparing weight relative to height is a quick and easy way of finding out if someone is a healthy weight for their height.

A useful way to judge if a person is overweight or obese is to calculate their body mass index (BMI). BMI should only be used for adults, i.e. after 18 years of age when growth has stopped.

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A difficult decision

• In our first lesson you were asked to give Joy advice as she was unhappy with her body and wished she looked like the people she saw in her magazine.
• Joy has been looking at ways to make herself thinner and has been on a diet that restricts the amount of calories she eats a day. Within a few weeks she lost some weight but now her mum is worried that she is getting too thin. Her mum has given her some information on eating disorders and asked her to look at this before continuing on her diet.

Am I normal?

• After reading the information that her mother has given her Joy has decided to check her weight to see if she is in the healthy range.
• Joy weighs 9 stone and is 5’5. Look at the chart and see if she is in the healthy zone.

anorexia

• People who are anorexic are addicted to losing weight, dieting and sometimes excessive exercising.
• Anorexics usually keep their excessive dieting a secret and sometimes wear baggy clothes to hide their weight loss.
• Anorexia is a dangerous illness as reducing the amount of food you eat puts parts of your body, especially your heart under lots of strain, and can be life threatening.

anorexia

• Many anorexics find that their hair is limp and lifeless and may fall out as they are lacking in vitamins.
• Skin may become pale and look dull.
• They will often be tired as they are not getting enough energy to lead a healthy lifestyle.