What is an Eating Disorder (ED)?

An ED can be the result of a number of different factors.  These can include family, physical and/or genetic factors as well as everyday life experiences that cause individuals to become both emotionally vulnerable and sensitive about their weight, shape and size leading them in some cases to develop an unhealthy preoccupation with food.  Dieting also has a role to play in the development of an ED, indeed for some the ED has grown out of their dieting behaviours.

Eating disorders themselves are a type of mental health condition which is characterized by a severe disturbance in eating behaviours and subsequent thoughts and emotions.

Anyone can get an eating disorder, but it is amongst the teenage and young adult population that are mostly affected.  The good news is, that, with treatment most people can and do recover from an eating disorder.

Symptoms of an eating disorder can include:

• Spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape
• Avoiding situations such as socialising when you think food will be involved
• Restricting your food intake
• Making yourself sick or taking laxatives after you eat
• Exercising too much
• Developing very rigid routines or habits around food
• Erratic mood changes, such as becoming overly anxious or depressed as well as becoming isolated and/or withdrawn from family, friends and life in general

Other physical signs can include:

• Feeling tired, dizzy and cold
• Poor circulation. Signs of which can include tingling or numbness in your arms and legs
• Feeling faint
• Feelings that your heart rate is racing
• Digestive problems such as bloating, constipation or diarrhoea
• Weight being very high or low for someone of your age and height
• Not getting your period or other delayed signs of puberty

The *three most common eating disorders are:

*ANOREXIA NERVOSA is a very serious medical illness which, in some cases, sadly, can be fatal.  People with anorexia limit the number of calories and the types of food they eat.  It has the ability to encourage unhealthy obsessive compulsions about food and a person’s weight.  Linked to this is the individual’s potential to have an incredibly distorted body image of themselves.  Many suffers of anorexia see themselves as very overweight even though the reality is the exact opposite.   CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

*BULIMIA is a serious and potentially life-threatening eating disorder.  Individuals with bulimia binge eat and it feels like they have completely lost control over their eating.  Often large amounts of food can be eaten in one sitting and for many this occurs in secret prompting frequent feelings of guilt and shame.  This can then lead to what is referred to as purging and can take the form of the following:

• Vomiting
• Misuse of laxatives or diuretics
• Fasting
• Extreme exercising

In order to compensate for the overeating and the consumption of all the additional calories.  CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

*BINGE EATING (BED) Eating can release pleasure hormones in our brain such as serotonin and dopamine which may foster addictive tendencies relating to food.  Throughout our lives many of us may occasionally binge eat, however it is when it begins to recur regularly, at least once a week or more, continued over a three month period, that a person may be suffering from a binge eating disorder.

Binge eating disorder is a behavioural condition which is characterised by chronic and compulsive overeating.  Common factors which may drive a binge eating disorder are:

• High levels of stress
• Relationship difficulties
• Low self-esteem
• Environmental conditions
• Poor body image
• Family history of food relationship difficulties
• Biological factors
• Drug Misuse

Resulting in significant mental health issues and overwhelming feelings of guilt and shame.   What triggers one person to binge eat may well be different from another.   For some, eating can be seen as comforting or a way of escaping.  Indeed, for some it becomes a way to numb uncomfortable feelings and perhaps compensate for some unmet needs. – CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

OTHER SPECIFIED OR FEEDING EATING DISORDER (OSFED) This was referred to in the past as Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS)  and can be diagnosed when an individual’s symptoms do not accurately match the three most common of eating disorders:

• Anorexia
• Bulimia
• Binge eating

However, it accounts for the highest percentage of eating disorders amongst any age group, gender, ethnicity or background and is every bit as serious, not least as it may expound into anyone of the above.  OSFED is more of an umbrella term, thus explaining why individuals diagnosed with it experience varying symptoms from anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder.  It is as equally distressing and those suffering from it require treatment as much as anyone else with and eating disorder. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

AVOIDANT RESTRICTIVE FOOD INTAKE DISORDER (ARFID) This condition is attributed to people who avoid certain foods or food types and has a restricted intake in terms of the overall amount eaten or both.  In ARFID, beliefs about weight and shape have no influence around the avoidance or restriction of food intake.  For those struggling with ARFID, anxieties around food can stem from a fear of knowing they must eat but have no interest in doing so.   There may also be a fear of choking, becoming sick or trying a new food.  Other questions that they may face is what if it is too hot, too cold, thick, thin or just does not feel right in their mouths.  Far more than just being a ‘fussy’ eater, ARFID behaviours can lead to a persistent failure to meet the individual’s nutritional needs; especially important if the ARFID sufferer is a growing child. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

ORTHOREXIA This classification is associated with people who become obsessed with ‘healthy’ or ‘clean’ eating.  It can bear some similarities to anorexia and thus someone who has symptoms of orthorexia may well be diagnosed with this instead if their physical and behavioural traits track with it.  As a rule, being concerned with the nutritional quality of what we are consuming is encouraged and considered sensible, however, when the individual becomes so consumed with the concept of ‘healthy eating’ it can be not only detrimental to their health but also extremely disturbing and debilitating.  Orthorexic eating patterns of ingesting only ‘pure foods’ and maintaining an extreme ‘healthy diet’ eventually become so deep rooted in their way of thinking that their quality of life and ability to function ‘normally’ becomes almost impossible. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE