What is an Eating Disorder?

An eating disorder is a serious emotional problem that can lead to serious physical problems. People with eating disorders become obsessed with their bodies, food and how much they weigh.

(1). Eating disorders can affect males and females but mainly affects girls and women between the ages of 14-30 years.

(2). It usually begins in the teenage years.

(3). People with eating disorders believe that life will get better and they will become improved people by gaining total control over their food intake and body size.

Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are two of the best known and most serious eating disorders.

Anorexia nervosa

(1). They may be thinking of food most of the time but they will not eat because for them eating usually would lead to terrifying weight gain.

(2). The fear of becoming fat can override any sense of hunger so they don’t know when they are hungry, or they deny their hunger pain.

(3). People with anorexia nervosa are often depressed.

(4). They decide not to eat despite their hunger and their very thin look.

(5). Not all those with anorexia nervosa are thin all the time. Their weight may vary but the anorexic thinking pattern may stay the same.

(6). Sometimes anorexia nervosa begins with a weight loss after a physical illness or from dieting.

(7). They often ‘feel fat’ even though they may actually be underweight.

(8). They limit their food intake, are very choosy and may not eat many foods.

(9). Many also over exercise to lose weight, or work towards keeping a very low body weight.

Bulimia nervosa

(1). Binge eating is uncontrolled eating of vast amounts of food, usually in a short space of time and is typically done in secret.

(2). Purging is a way of getting rid of the food eaten in a binge. The most common way to purge is to make you vomit. Other ways of purging include laxatives, diet pills, over exercising and going without food.

(3). People with bulimia nervosa often have normal body weight or may be slightly overweight.

(4). This is another serious eating disorder where the sufferer has a similar fear of being overweight. The person gets caught up in a binge, purge, and fast cycle.

(5). This can happen many times a day leaving people feeling depressed, sometimes suicidal, disgusted at them, withdrawn and having a belief that they are not able to control their behavior.

(6). they often feel responsible or to blame for this and may feel extremely embarrassed or ashamed.

(7). the binge, purge, fast cycle is a hard pattern to break. People often binge to get rid of feelings they cannot manage, but this typically leads to more hard feelings of guilt and gaining weight. They may then purge to get rid of these feelings at first and they may experience some relief from purging, but the guilt and self-hatred returns along with a feeling of being out of control.

(8). in an effort to gain control and to feel better, they fast or don’t eat much but then the hunger leaves them more likely to start the cycle over again.

It is important to realize that both anorexia and bulimia are serious problems and deserve specialized and responsive care.

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