Ecological approach /Culture
The ecological approach can be defined in a few different ways. You have political ecology which examines the historical interactions of populations and the effects of economic and its social changes and then cultural ecology which examines how cultural beliefs and practices influence the ecological relationship between humans and diseases (Lecture 2.1). The ecology approach is very helpful when talking about health because it includes your environment and to me that is one of the main aspects of health. No matter what happens or where you go you are constantly surrounded by some type of environment. The ecological approach is very helpful when it comes to studying bulimia for numerous reasons. When someone wants to lose weight and go on a diet it is pretty expensive. When it comes to buying healthier food, for starters you might not have complete access to certain foods depending on your environment and your finances. A lot of organic grocery stores or foods are pretty hard to get in contact with depending on what neighborhood you live in and how far you can travel to get to them. Also, the healthier food items you want to purchase just so happen to be more expensive than the non-healthy items. If you do not have the finances to purchase healthier food then how can you start to eat healthy to lose weight the correct way? Now, think about a membership to a gym, not saying that this is the only way a person can exercise but with all of the machines and equipment in the gym, financially it would be your best bet and your body can benefit better if you have one. If you cannot afford a membership to a gym with all of this awesome equipment, it is hard to fully exercise your body. You could even go ahead and buy diet pills, not only are the pills not healthy but they tend to be pretty expensive as well. On the other hand you have culture which is the number one reason most people become bulimic. Go to the mall and walk around, what do you see on those advertisement photos? Nine times out of ten you see fit healthy people who look like they fit in the smallest size being advertised, most of the mannequins are very skinny to where an extra small is still too big. On the television you are constantly seeing commercials about diet pills, losing weight or everyone is pretty thin and in shape. You go to your doctors and they constantly tell you if you’re in the right weight range for your age and height. When you go to school everyone likes the skinny girl or your friends are on some diet, your family members could be doing the same thing or even telling you that you are overweight. There are plenty of reasons for why someone could turn to bulimia to answer all of their problems. One of the main premises of this approach is how modern human adaptations like civilization and technology can impact the balance, positively or negatively between humans and natural resources, plants and animals. With these premises, if one cannot simply afford to lose weight the natural way by eating the right types of plants and animal at the correct proportions that is your main reason there. The key to losing weight is your diet and if you cannot afford to eat healthy how can you remain healthy? Also, think of today’s technology, there are so many things you can do on a computer now a days. You can change, modify and correct anything on the computer including a person’s body. The video I posted below is showing you how you can Photoshop a complete body. In today’s advertisements not even the models are perfect in real life so they have ways and tools to make them perfect and you have people out here turning bulimic so they can achieve that perfect look of the person in the magazine who is not even as perfect as they look. The media is deceiving and forcing you to believing that what you see is real.
biological approach /Culture
The biological approach on the other hand is mainly focused on humanity. The main focus is how humans adapt to changes over time within different societies and cultures and how that affects the development and health in humans. With the biological approach you have a person’s genotype hypothesis and within that there is your genetic makeup which determines who we are and that is genetic determinism. Genetic determinism is how we can explain health, bodies, behaviors and even intelligence (Lecture 2.2). Everybody has their own genetic determinism and nobody’s is the same. We are all supposed to be different meaning that just because you see how small, skinny and fit one person is does not mean that your body is made to be the same way. You have people trying to be as thin as that other girl but maybe genetically your body is not meant to be that small. Bulimia Nervosa can be influenced by your genes, hormones and chemicals in your brain as well as culture and family. The change over time started with culture. In today’s culture being skinny, fit and in shape is highly advertised and it is looked down upon if you are not fit. Sometimes women want to take the easy way out to fit into today’s society and they turn to Bulimia Nervosa for help. On the other hand Bulimia Nervosa affects your health. Below is a picture which points out all of the ways being bulimic can affect your body.
"How to Use Liquify Tool in Photoshop | Body Shape Editing | Photoshop Tutorial." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 14 July 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVqC9j11c1o
"Publications." Bulimia Nervosa Fact Sheet. Office on Women's Health, n.d. Web. 8 July 2014.
http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/bulimia-nervosa.html
"Publications." Bulimia Nervosa Fact Sheet. Office on Women's Health, n.d. Web. 8 July 2014.
http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/bulimia-nervosa.html