Eating Disorders

What is an Eating Disorder?

Boys, girls, men and women from all types of backgrounds and ethnic groups can suffer from eating disorders. Eating disorders are a way of coping with feelings that are making you unhappy or depressed. It may be difficult to face up to and talk about feelings like anger, sadness, guilt, loss or fear. An eating disorder is a sign that you need help in coping with like and sorting personal problems.

Anorexia Nervosa

The relentless pursuit of thinness and an attempt to maintain strict control over food intake.

The defining features of this eating disorder are (a) an intense and irrational fear of body fat and weight gain, (b) an iron determination to become thinner and thinner, and (c) a misperception of body weight and shape to the extent that the person may feel or see "fat" even when emaciation is clear to others.

Anorexia and Bulimia may coexist. Many bulimia nervosa patients have a history of anorexia nervosa; others may subsequently lose weight and become anorexic. Approximately half of anorexia nervosa patients engage in bingeing and purging behaviors associated with bulimia.

Specific Type:

Restricting Type: During the current episode of Anorexia Nervosa, the person has not regularly engaged in binge-eating or purging behavior (i.e., self-induced vomiting or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas).

Binge-Eating - Purging Type: During the current episode of Anorexia Nervosa, the person has regularly engaged in binge-eating or purging behavior (i.e., self-induced vomiting or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas).

Bulimia Nervosa

The diet-binge-purge disorder.

This eating disorder is characterized by self-perpetuating and self-defeating cycles of binge-eating and purging. During a "binge," the person consumes a large amount of food in a rapid, automatic, and helpless fashion. This may anesthetize hunger, anger, and other feelings, but it eventually creates physical discomfort and anxiety about weight gain. Thus, the person "purges" the food eaten, usually by inducing vomiting and by resorting to some combination of restrictive dieting, excessive exercising, laxatives, and diuretics.

Binge Eating Disorder

Sometimes called compulsive eating.

Compulsive overeating is characterized primarily by periods of impulsive gorging or continuous eating. While there is no purging, there may be sporadic fasts or repetitive diets. Body weight may vary from normal to mild, moderate, or severe obesity.

Compulsive Exercising

Compulsive exercising is not a recognized diagnosis as are anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder. We include it here because many people who are preoccupied with food and weight, exercise compulsively in attempts to control weight. The real issues are not weight and performance excellence, but rather power, control, and self-respect.

What are the Warning Signs?

• A marked increase or decrease in weight not related to a medical condition.
• The development of abnormal eating habits such as severe dieting, preference for strange foods, withdrawn or ritualized behavior at mealtime, or secretive bingeing.
• An intense preoccupation with weight and body image.
• Compulsive or excessive exercising.
• Self-induced vomiting, periods of fasting, or laxative, diet pill, or diuretic abuse.
• Feelings of isolation, depression, or irritability

Links

Here are several websites worth checking out:

> www.HealthyPlace.com

> www.crisisclinic.org

> www.nationaleatingdisorders.org

Further Reading

Room to Grow: An appetite for life, by Tracy Gold

National Hotline

Eating Disorders Awareness & Prevention

1-800-931-2237

Call us, we can help.

It's free and confidential.

Teen Advocate

County-Wide (360) 376-5979

24 Hour Crisis Line

Orcas Island (360) 376-1234

San Juan Island (360) 378-2345

Lopez Island (360) 468-4567

How can I improve my body image?

Improving your body image involves changing the way you think about your body.

Some of the following steps can help you attain a more positive body image:

• Learn to like yourself as you are. Much of your appearance is genetically determined.
• Set realistic goals for yourself. It is important to strive for self-improvement but be realistic about what you can change about yourself and be content with what you cannot change.
• Learn the basics of good nutrition and exercise. Studies show that exercise plays a crucial role in feeling good about your body.
• Expect normal weekly and monthly changes in weight and shape.
• Listen to your body. Eat when you are hungry.
• View media's images of physical beauty with a more critical eye and reduce TV viewing time.
• Instead of pursuing an 'ideal' body, improve fitness for health reasons and to enjoy a fuller life.