by Ruby Divine

Created on: June 03, 2008

Enjoying a meal out or even just a piece of chocolate is a luxury that many of us let ourselves have every day. For a large amount of us, this is one luxury that is seen as the ultimate failure.
Eating disorders are a growing problem and in the UK alone, it is estimated that there are over 60,000 sufferers, nine out of ten being female.
The disorder usually starts from the individual feeling insecure about their looks it could be a simple trigger, such as a dress being too tight for them in a store. This insecurity then begins to get bigger and bigger and the individual will start to think of themselves as ugly, fat and disgraceful. Eventually, the concerns blow up out of proportion and cutting out meals or making themselves vomit after food becomes an every day routine.

It is all too easy to blame the media and magazines such as Vogue and Elle for making young adults feel this way. But the blame cannot wholly be put down to them. Alexandra Shulman of Vogue stated: "All we are doing is showing images of women we regard as interesting or beautiful or fashionable. But we are not actually saying you have to be like this."
Often the disorder is beaten, but in some tragic cases, death does occur. A Uruguayan model died from heart failure whilst making her way back from the catwalk towards the dressing room. Luisel Ramos, 22, died even after receiving medical attention. It was later reported that the young model had gone for days without eating. It also came to light that the model was told she needed to lose weight and so favoured a diet of green leaves and diet coke for an apparent three months.

Only six months after the death, Eliana Ramos, Luisels' sister also died of an eating disorder.
Since the outcry after Luisel's death, Madrid fashion organisers decided to ban any models who had BMI ratio lower than 18 to take to the catwalk. They stated that they wanted to project an image of beauty and health and that they didn't want a waif-like' look. This meant that Spain's well known model, Esther Canadas who has a BMI of 14 was not able to take part in the event.

Eating disorders are beginning to affect ever younger audiences and girls as young as 12 are becoming paranoid about their body image. Australian website, Miss Bimbo has caused uproar by targeting 7-9 year old children into making a fictional character to compete and have the provocative title of Miss Bimbo'. Young girls are told that they must keep their bimbo' within a certain desired weight and have challenges

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