Latina Girls & Eating Disorders

I came across an interesting article that cancels out the myth that only white girls have eating disorders and explains how Latina women are also affected by eating disorders. In fact, Latina women tend to express a higher dissatisfaction towards their body compared to girls from other racial backgrounds. Since Latina women seem to be the most unrepresented women in this country this article explains how Latina women are also affected by eating disorders. It caught my attention because it reminded me of a friend who had an eating disorder. I had mentioned it to a couple of my friends at the time, which were all hispanic, and no one seemed to believe me. Everyone would say only athletes have eating disorders or the most common answer of all she's fat no way she has an eating disorder. Apparently she wasn't skinny enough for them to have an eating disorder. It shocked me see how unaware a lot of these girls were regarding this problem.  Perhaps it had nothing to do with our ethnicity but nonetheless  it seemed like a problem no one wanted to believe existed. To learn more about about how eating disorders affect Latinitas, check out this article by the National Office for Women's Health...

LatinaGirls.pdf