English final paper 1600-2000 words

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Thesis, Introduction and Outline

Alex Liang

ENGL 135 A03

Thesis Statement

Initial thesis statement: It is problematic that orthorexia nervosa is a little known mental health

issue due to the increased prevalence, the excessive pursuit of healthy lifestyles and the shared

symptoms with other eating disorders.

Revised Thesis statement: Orthorexia Nervosa is a mental health issue that little is known about.

It is necessary to increase an individual’s awareness due to increased prevalence, the excessive

pursuit of healthy lifestyles and the shared symptoms with other eating disorders.

Introduction

With one’s increasing awareness of healthy lifestyle and body images, people are encouraged to

adopt healthy diets to achieve certain goals. However, it is problematic if individuals apply

extreme approaches, for example, starvation and food restrain in order to achieve their ideal body

types and lifestyles. Students may show symptoms of Orthorexia Nervosa while maintaining

their lifestyle. Orthorexia Nervosa is a type of mental health disorder where one tends to have an

obsession with eating healthfully. (Tremelling, K., Sandon, L., Vega, G. L., & McAdams, C.

J., 2017, para. 1). Individuals are only willing to consume food they considered “perfect” and

“pure” for their bodies. Such delusions lead to harmful results (Marta Plichta, 2020). People

struggling with O.N. might seem similar to those with Anorexia because their goals are both to

achieve their ideal body weight, however, Anorexia tendency is to limit the quantity of food

consumption; whereas O.N. tendency focuses on the quality of the food. Research demonstrates

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that individuals with O.N. tendency show less awareness than other disordered eating patterns

such as Anorexia since O.N. is sometimes seen as a lifestyle choice (Simpson, C. C., & Mazzeo,

S. E., 2017, para. 4&5). Orthorexia Nervosa is a mental health issue that little is known about. It

is necessary to increase an individual’s awareness due to increased prevalence, the excessive

pursuit of healthy lifestyles and the shared symptoms with other eating disorders. My research

paper will be discussing the importance of spreading awareness of this matter, its correlation

with other eating disorders, and the over-emphasis on a healthy lifestyle.

Outline

· Argument 1: increasing prevalence

1. The research suggested that a higher number of females are into

compensatory behaviors compared to males, and the ratio is

31% females and 29% males (Dunn, 2019).

2. Research also declared smaller gender difference in eating

disorders.

3. Certain personalities put individuals at risk of O.N. (Parra-

Fernández, M., Rodríguez-Cano, T., Onieva-Zafra, M., et al., 2018)

- Quote “their drive for thinness (17.1% vs 2.1%), bulimia

(2.6% vs 0%), body dissatisfaction (26.3% vs. 12.4%),

perfectionism (14.5% vs 4.8%), interoceptive awareness

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(13.2% vs 1.3%), asceticism (15.8% vs 3.7%) and

impulsiveness (9.2% vs 1.9%)”

· Argument 2: excessive pursuit of healthy lifestyle and body-image

1. According to the experts by neglecting food one cannot

concentrate, always have negatives vibes about his/her own

body, is attracted by skinny people, becomes introvert and is

surrounded by many diseases instead of saving time and

maintaining an ideal weight (Marta Plichta, 2020).

2. Disordered eating habits like Orthorexia nervosa of school-going

often take over when students are busy in activities of daily life

or sometimes their priorities. By neglecting food, they think that

they can save time and can maintain an ideal weight (Dunn,

2019).

· Argument 3: correlations with other disordered eating patterns

1. College students are the most careless about their diet. Lack

of healthy food options in campus may lead to anorexia which

could be fatal. (SK Lipson, 2017).

2. Patients who received treatments for anorexia and bulimia

nervosa shows high prevalent O.N. symptoms which is a less

severe E.D. (Segura-Garcia C, Ramacciotti C, Rania M, et

al., 2016)

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· Conclusion

References

Dunn, M. (2019). Eating Disorders at School. Accredited schools :

https://www.accreditedschoolsonline.org/resources/student-eating-

disorder-resources/

Marta Plichta, M. J.-Z. (2020). Orthorexic Tendency and Eating Disorders

Symptoms in Polish Students: Examining Differences in Eating Behaviors.

MDPI : https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/1/218

SK Lipson, K. S. (2017, January). Eating disorder symptoms among

undergraduate and graduate students at 12 U.S. colleges and

universities. Science Direct:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S14710153163025

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Tremelling, K., Sandon, L., Vega, G. L., & McAdams, C. J. (2017). Orthorexia

nervosa and eating disorder symptoms in registered dietitian nutritionists

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in the united states. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,

117(10), 1612-1617. doi:10.1016/j.jand.2017.05.001

Simpson, C. C., & Mazzeo, S. E. (2017). Attitudes toward orthorexia nervosa

relative to DSM - 5 eating disorders. The International Journal of Eating

Disorders, 50(7), 781-792. doi:10.1002/eat.22710

Segura-Garcia C, Ramacciotti C, Rania M, et al. (2016) The prevalence of

orthorexia nervosa among eating disorder patients after treatment.

Eating and Weight Disorders, 20(2), 161-166. doi:10.1007/s40519-014-

0171-y

Parra-Fernández, M., Rodríguez-Cano, T., Onieva-Zafra, M., et al. (2018).

Prevalence of orthorexia nervosa in university students and its

relationship with psychopathological aspects of eating behaviour

disorders. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 364-8. doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1943-0

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Index of comments

1.1 Of what?

1.2 comma splice

1.3 The basis of your thesis statement is ok, Alex, but you need to rephrase it to make it comprehensible. The "due to increased prevalence. the excessive pursuit" still doesn't make sense. The increased prevalence of what? Eating disorders? Healthy lifestyles? Mental health? The comma adds to the confusion because it shouldn't be there. Also what does the shared symptoms with other disorders have to do with the need to make orthorexia more prominent?

1.4 list some symptoms. "...such as..."

1.5 Explain the obsession with "perfection and pure" in this context.

1.6 "...harmful results, such as..."

2.1 See my previous comments

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