Eating Disorder

What is Disordered Eating? Disordered eating is when a person’s attitudes about food, weight, and body size lead to very rigid eating and exercise habits that jeopardize one's health, happiness, and safety. Disordered eating may begin as a way to lose a few pounds or get in shape, but these behaviors can quickly get out of control, become obsessions, and may even turn into an eating disorder. Even if you don’t have a full-blown eating disorder, you may be missing out on living while you spend all your time dieting! Just because you weigh yourself, skip meals, count calories, or over-exercise doesn’t necessarily mean that you have an eating disorder. But you may be dealing with what's called "disordered eating." Wonder if you're dealing with disordered eating? Think about this…Do you avoid eating meals or snacks when you're around other people? Do you constantly calculate numbers of fat grams and calories? Do you weigh yourself often and find yourself obsessed with the number on the scale? Do you exercise because you feel like you have to, not because you want to? Are you afraid of gaining weight? Do you ever feel out of control when you are eating? Do your eating patterns include extreme dieting, preferences for certain foods, withdrawn or ritualized behavior at mealtime, or secretive bingeing? Has weight loss, dieting, and/or control of food become one of your major concerns? Do you feel ashamed, disgusted, or guilty after eating? Do you worry about the weight, shape, or size of your body? Do you feel like your identity and value is based on how you look or how much you weigh? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you could be dealing with disordered eating. It is likely that these attitudes and behaviors are taking a toll on your mental and physical well being. It is important that you start to talk about your eating habits and concerns now, rather than waiting until your situation gets more serious than you can handle. The most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia and Obesity. One eating disorder that is not as widely known, but still persists is Pica.

Anorexia - What is it? People with anorexia nervosa see themselves as being overly heavy even though they are dangerously thin. The process of eating becomes an obsession. The causes of anorexia are unknown. Characteristics of anorexia consist of the primary physiological characteristics of anorexia are voluntary starvation and exercise stress. In addition to intentional starvation, Anorexia sufferers will also take part in a high level of physical activity. Anorexia negatively impacts the immune system and the central nervous system. Anorexia is throught to be provoked by the mass media and marketing, such as beauty advertising, and super thin models in teenage girls, although it has recently come to light that there appear to be girls exhibiting anorexic behavior in remote parts of Africa that have not been exposed to modern forms of advertising. The targeted demographic is usually middle to upper class white females. Although anorexia is usually associated with western cultures, the exposure to western media has caused the disease to appear in some third-world nations. Signs of Anorexia include: being too thin and/or appear to have lost weight; being secretive about their eating and try to not eat whilst being around others; eating with small bites, cutting food up into abnormally small pieces, being sullen during mealtimes, staring at their food whilst eating, holding cutlery in odd ways or at strange angles at times, or eating slowly, especially when putting food into the mouth.);looking longingly at or pay abnormal attention towards food but not eat it; cooking wonderful meals for others but avoid eating the food they've made themselves; saying they're too fat when they are not; dry skin and thinning hair; poor health and sunken eyes; and faint or otherwise pass out (an effect of starvation). At this time, no definite cause of anorexia nervosa has been determined. However, research within the medical and psychological fields continues to explore possible causes. Some experts feel that demands from society and families could possibly be underlying causes for anorexia. For many individuals with anorexia, the destructive cycle begins with the pressure to be thin and attractive. A poor self-image compounds the problem.

Other researchers feel that this disorder can stem from a particular dysfunction often seen in families of anorexia patients. In this particular type of dysfunction, family members become so interdependent that each cannot achieve their identity as an individual. Thus, family members are unable to function as healthy individuals and are dependent on other family members for their identity. In children, part of this dysfunction includes a fear of growing up (especially girls). Restrictive dieting may prevent their bodies from developing