What causes people to diet excessively, use diet pills, or even develop an eating disorder?
The exact cause is unknown. Current theories suggest that a combination of psychological, physiological, and environmental factors may predispose a vulnerable person to develop an eating disorder. In our society women, more than men, are subjected to pressures to be unnaturally thin. They are encouraged to attain a body weight that is lower than the body’s natural set point. The female body is programmed to have 20 to 26 percent body fat. To get below the weight that provides that percentage, a woman must battle her body’s regulatory mechanisms, which are designed to keep her weight stable and ensure survival during times of deprivation. In misguided efforts to trick the body, people may try any of a number of ineffective, harmful, or nonsensical techniques to achieve weight loss. Phony diet clinics, false advertising, popularized fad diets, and schemes by charlatans out to make money from America’s obsession with weight control give many people access to harmful dieting techniques. Th
