New Different Types of Eating Disorders Tips

Current popular culture places an extreme emphasis on losing weight and attaining the perfect body. Women’s magazines, models, actors all convey the same message, that thinness is an essential component of attractiveness. These social messages have a deep impact on impressionable adolescents and ultimately play a major role in the development of eating disorders in this vulnerable population.

Eating Disorders

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What are Eating Disorders?

Anorexia Nervosa

This eating disorder is characterized by an unreasonable fair of gaining weight, unhealthy targets of weight loss and body weight and a distorted image of one’s true body weight. The patient might feel that they are grossly overweight when in fact, his or her body weight is on the lower range of normal. Females might stop getting their regular menstrual period.

Bulimia Nervosa

Repeated binge eating with inappropriate methods of losing weight indicates that you may have bulimia nervosa. These episodes must occur at frequent and regular intervals. Binge eating occurs when you eat an amount of food much larger than what normal people would eat and are significantly stressed about it. Binge eaters have very little control over how much they eat and it is hard for them to stop. Binge eating often occurs after a prolonged period of strict calorie restriction followed by self-induced vomiting to get rid of the excess calories.

Anorexia-Nervosa

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Other Eating Disorders

Just because your eating patterns do not fit the above disorders does not mean you do not have an eating disorder. Any abnormal eating patterns, or abnormal weight loss habits like purging, binge eating and night time eating may indicate an eating disorder.

Who gets Eating Disorders?

Anorexia nervosa occurs mostly in young girls in their teenage years. Bulimia can occur in any age group. The lifetime prevalence in women is estimated to be about 1-2%. However, just because women and girls are more susceptible to eating disorders does not mean that men cannot suffer from these conditions. More and more men with eating disorders are being identified.

Why do you get Eating Disorders?

Genetic, social, psychological, family and environmental factors can all contribute to the development of an eating disorder. Risk factors are children or adolescents obsessed with losing weight or going on diets, parental or peer pressure to lose weight and remain thin or participating in a sport (gymnastics, ballet, athletics etc.) where being lean is emphasized. If family members suffer from eating disorders, you might be more susceptible.

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Questions to ask yourself or someone you suspect has an eating disorder

• Do you ever feel the need to make yourself throw up after eating?

• Do you think you are too fat when friends or family keep saying you’re thin?

• Does food control your life?

• Have you lost a lot of weight recently?

What can be Done to Treat Eating Disorders

It is important to get professional help if you suspect that you or someone else has an eating disorder. Occasionally, medical complications from eating disorders can become serious enough to need hospitalization. Good therapy involves addressing the disease from all its aspects.

• Medical Therapy

A doctor needs to address any medical issues or complications that arise from an eating disorder. Repeated vomiting or lack of food can result in serious electrolyte imbalances.

• Nutritional Therapy

A dietician needs to be involved in the care of the patient to ensure that all nutritional deficiencies are corrected and the patient’s diet is gradually normalized.

• Psychological Therapy

Both medication and counseling can address the psychological factors in an eating disorder. Involving a psychiatrist in the rehabilitation of the patient is essential.