3 Eating Disorders You Should Know

“Eating disorders, is there any such thing as that? I may eat less or much but does that count as a disorder?”

If this is your first time hearing about this, then you're probably having this conversation in your head right now.

Eating disorders are a range of psychological conditions that cause one to develop irregular and unhealthy eating habits. It is an illness that causes one to have an unhealthy relationship with food. They often start with an obsession with food, body weight and shape.

Eating disorders tend to develop in adolescence or early adulthood and is mostly seen among girls and women. They are usually caused by genetics, childhood trauma, personality traits, pressures to be thin and social influences. They coexist with psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem and difficulty in coping with and expressing emotions.

TYPES OF EATING DISORDERS

There are several types of eating disorders but we will take a look at the most prominent eating disorders.

1. Anorexia nervosa:

This is the most popular eating disorder. It is characterized by having an intense fear of gaining weight. They often exercise excessively and diet, sometimes to the point of starvation. People with this disorder continue to see themselves as fat despite being underweight.

People with this disorder have distorted body image, exercise excessively and always talk about how fat they are. They refuse to eat carbs and fats and have a relentless pursuit of thinness. They lose weight dramatically and their body weight and shape affect their self-esteem.

2. Bulimia nervosa:

This is characterized by having episodes of bingeing (eating large amount of food), followed by purging, vomiting, fasting or exercising excessively, all to make up for overeating. Unlike Anorexia, people with this disorder are normal weight as they still have an intense fear of gaining weight.

People with bulimia are constantly dieting, exercise excessively and wearing baggy clothes to hide the body. They use gum, mouthwash or mints excessively and have scarred knuckles from repeatedly inducing vomiting.

3. Binge Eating Disorder:

This is a disorder that causes one to have episodes of eating large amount of food. People with binge eating disorder don't try to compensate for their overeating. They don't purge, fast or exercise despite having feelings of guilt, shame and disgust by their binge eating. They are usually overweight or obese.

They hoard food or hide large amount of food in strange places, wear baggy clothes and avoid eating in front of others. They do not use purge behaviours or vomit and they experience feeling of lack of control during episodes of binge eating.

Eating disorders usually start as eating a bit less or more and then go out of control. It is easy and common for people with eating disorders to hide their behaviours as they are not easily recognizable and don’t show up early. It is best to know about these eating disorders to be able to recognize the signs early and to raise awareness about eating disorders.