In our society, the perceived perfect image of women falls right in line with the slenderness of girls 10 to 12 years old. This unrealistic perception spawned by the supermodels seen today in ads for popular clothing and undergarment makers such as Victoria’s secret has caused many women to become obsessed with their own images. In our society, women are ten times more likely to develop eating disorders and compulsive exercise habits that can be life threatening and often do prove to be fatal. Here are the most commonly developed eating disorders: “Anorexia nervosa” is a life threatening disorder that occurs when you eat very little food and become obsessed about your weight even when you are badly underweight. An anorexic person will often see themselves as being fat when they look at themselves in the mirror even though they appear very skinny to everyone else. People with this disorder often turn to laxatives and various diet aids such as fat burning pills to bring their weight down to dangerous levels. “Bulimia” is a disorder that occurs when you go on an eating binge, and then immediately purge it all out. You will eat a large amount of food, even junk food, and then get it all back out of your system by both self-induced vomiting and laxative use. This practice may throw off your body’s mineral balance in the blood and put the health of your heart at risk. “Compulsive overeating” followed by “compulsive over exercising” is a pattern that is not as dangerous as anorexia and bulimia but still can lead to both physical and psychological problems. This is a pattern in which you will eat a large amount of food followed up immediately by exercising excessively hard and for a long period of time. It is estimated that more than one out of three collage female athletes may at one time develop an eating disorder. If you suffer from an eating disorder, seek medical help as soon as possible because if left untreated, these disorders can cause permanent health problems and even death.