SERVER 1 COMPLETE
Eating disorders are not occasional concerns about health, weight, or appearance. They are medical conditions that negatively affect a person’s eating habits. Warning signs of eating disorders can include symptoms such as dry skin, a negative body image, or excessive exercise.
These illnesses, which can become life-threatening in some cases, affect a person’s physical and mental health. With treatment, people can fully recover from eating disorders, which is why it’s essential to know the signs and symptoms of one. Here’s more about the signs of eating disorders and what to do to get or find help.
What Is an Eating Disorder?
Eating disorders are called Feeding and Eating Disorders in the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders” (DSM-5). They involve a persistent disturbance of eating behavior that impacts a person’s physical and/or mental well-being.
People with an eating disorder may become obsessed with losing weight, examining their body weight or shape, and controlling their eating habits.
Eating disorders can affect anyone. People of any race, ethnicity, body weight, sexual orientation, or gender experience eating disorders. While eating disorders often appear during adolescence, children and adults can also show signs of illness.
Eating Disorder vs Disordered Eating
When a person engages in disordered eating, they may not eat mindfully or stop when satisfied. For example, some people may eat out of boredom. Others may decide to remove certain types of food from their diet when they don’t have to.
Eating disorders may begin because of disordered eating. However, that does not mean everyone who starts disordered eating will have an eating disorder.
Common Eating Disorders
There are various types of eating disorders. Common ones include:1
Anorexia nervosa: This condition is identified by a restricted intake of food that leads to significantly low body weight, an intense fear of gainging weight, and/or a distorted view of one’s body shape or weight. It may also include denial of the seriousness of one’s low body weight.
Avoidant or restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID): ARFID goes beyond being a picky eater. It occurs when a person restricts the variety of food they consume so much that they don’t meet their nutritional needs.
Binge eating disorder (BED): This condition is characterized by uncontrollably eating large amounts of food in a short time. However, a person will not try to restrict their eating or rid their body of the food they’ve eaten through actions like vomiting or excessive exercise. These are known as purging behaviors.
Bulimia nervosa: Bulimia is similar to BED but includes restrictive eating an
d purging behaviors. A person may also have a healthy weight but possess a fear of gaining weight.
Pica: People with pica may desire to eat inedible things such as chalk, paper, or soap.
Rumination disorder: People with this disorder may bring up food they’ve already swallowed and chew it another time. After that, they will either re-swallow the regurgitated food or spit it out.
Other Eating Disorders
Additional eating disorders belong to the other specified feeding and eating disorders (OSFED) category. OSFED eating disorders include:
Atypical anorexia nervosa: Atypical anorexia has the same features as anorexia, except a person’s weight is considered to be in an adequate range.
Night eating syndrome: People with night eating syndrome overeat after waking up from sleep or after the evening meal.
Purging disorder: Purging disorder is when a person engages in purging behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting, or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or enemas, but not binge eating.
Subthreshold bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder: A person with this eating disorder has not had symptoms that meet the specific criteria of bulimia or BED.
Also, another condition called compulsive exercise may be related to eating disorders, but it is not a DSM diagnosis. With compulsive exercise, people become obsessed with exercise. For example, they may use it to cope emotionally or as a purging behavior.
Signs and Symptoms of Eating Disorders
Some eating disorder symptoms are apparent, such as:
Low body weight
Losing a lot of weight quickly
Refusing to eat
Regularly retreating to the bathroom for long periods after meals
However, anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder may reveal themselves more subtly. In fact, a person may be very ill even if they look healthy.2
Not everyone with an eating disorder has the same symptoms, and most people with eating disorders won’t display all warning signs at once. However, the following symptoms might suggest a problem.