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Eating Disorders and Excessive Exercise By Gregory Florez, Fitness First Striving to be extremely thin through exercise and dieting, or overeating and then purging can threaten your life. Ten times as many women suffer eating disorders since the ideal image of women in Western society mimics the slenderness of adolescence. The most common eating disorders include: Anorexia nervosa: A life-threatening condition that occurs when you hardly eat any food and you are obsessed with avoiding weight gain even when you appear skeletal. People suffering anorexia often use laxatives and rigorous exercise to drive their weight down to unhealthy levels. Bulimia: Occurs when you follow a binge-purge cycle - You eat large amounts of food and then eliminate the food by purging: self-induced vomiting or laxatives. May dangerously alter mineral balance in the blood that threatens heart health. Frequent vomiting can irritate the throat and destroy tooth enamel. Compulsive overeating/over exercising: Not as dangerous as anorexia and bulimia, but may eventually lead to physical and psychological problems. More than one out of three collegiate female athletes may at one time or another suffers from an eating disorder. If you or someone you know suffers from these problems, seek medical help. Left untreated, these conditions can become life threatening or cause permanent physical injury.