Eating disorders are a psychological obsession that affects either the relationship with food consumption and/or the attitude to body composition (weight & shape) and entail overeating or food restriction to purging processes like vomiting and over-exercising.
People with eating disorders generally connect their self-worth to the ‘quality’ of their body shape and weight. Furthermore, they will often deny the seriousness of their condition, both physically and mentally. As the disorder progresses it affects the daily lifestyle of the person and leads to a lessening of health and quality of life.
At least twice as many women than men and are affected and the disorders are most prevalent in younger people. Many eating disorders are born due to the generalisation of the media that people should ideally be thin, as portrayed by top models and celebrities – the body gets objectified. This concept mostly developed in the western countries and now has extended to Asia, Africa and to some degree India due to their connections to the west through work and media.
Some professions and sports are also widely connected to inducing eating disorders as success and performance is influenced by weight and body composition. Some cases have been linked to certain personality types, like those that favour ‘perfection’ and some cases have in fact been noted as simply hereditary.
Common traits that signal eating disorders are:
- Dramatic weight loss/gain
- Wearing baggy clothes to cover up noticeable weight loss
- Displaying strict habits/rituals around food preparation and/or eating
- Cutting food into excessively small pieces and/or eating abnormally slowly
- Eating very little food as considered normal
- Lying about how much food has been consumed
- Pattern of visiting the bathroom directly after eating
- Avoiding socialising where food may be involved (dinner parties etc.)
- Eating a lot of food in a short time-frame (eating very fast)
- Exercising more than would be considered normal
- Excessive weight checking and/or mirror watching
There are a handful of eating disorder variations:
Anorexia
Anorexia is the most common form of eating disorder. Anorexia is basically where a person monitors their food intake in calories and food type. They are usually over-obsessed with their body shape and/or weight; constantly weighing themselves and looking in the mirror. Regardless of their actual weight or appearance, they will usually hold a belief that they are overweight and appear too fat.
Some will follow very strict diets, while others will binge eat which is then followed by inducing vomiting to remove the ‘danger’ of any caloric intake. Some will also engage in excessive amounts of exercise to compensate that any calories ingested are spent. In some cases the compensation is achieved by countering with excessive fasting practises or the use of laxatives & diuretics.
The danger comes whereby they never accept that their body is at a healthy state and so continue to strive to eat less and lose more and more weight. Over time this can then lead to a critical stage which can result in organ failure and ultimately death.
Bulimia
This is another common form of eating disorder. Bulimia is basically where a person will periodically engage in binge eating on a certain food type (like pastries as an example), feeling compelled to eat and unable to control the amount eaten. This binging is then followed by inducing vomiting to remove the ‘danger’ of any caloric intake. Some will also engage in excessive amounts of exercise to compensate that any calories ingested are spent. In some cases the compensation is achieved by countering with excessive fasting practises or the use of laxatives & diuretics.
They are usually over-obsessed with their body shape and/or weight. However, unlike in cases of anorexia, bulimics usually manage to maintain a fairly normal body weight.
The danger comes whereby they create an imbalance in nutrition in terms of crucial electrolytes like potassium, sodium and calcium – which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. Tooth decay is also quite common due to direct exposure to stomach acids.
Binge Eating Disorder
General binge eating is another common form of eating disorder. This is basically where a person will periodically engage in binge eating a large amount of food in a short period of time, feeling compelled to eat and unable to control the amount eaten. Often the binging is carried out in secret, away from others. After the binge they feel very guilty and disgusted with themselves.
Unlike bulimia, they do not compensate in any way. This inevitably results in weight gain leading to other complications like obesity which then adds risks of diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
Orthorexia
This is where a person becomes over-obsessive on healthy eating to an extent whereby they find that it interferes with their day to day life; meaning they are unable to eat anywhere but home and start to lose certain aspects of nutrition intake etc. An example might be whereby they will strictly only eat fruit, therefore missing out on other important nutrients that are found in complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fats.
Pica
Pica is the term given to the eating disorder whereby the person regularly ingests a substance that is not considered a food, and is considered abnormal within their culture. This disorder is more common in children and pregnant women.
Some examples of non-foodstuff commonly consumed are: Ice, Soil, Soap, Chalk, Paper, Textiles, Cleaning fluids.
Obviously this behaviour is not considered healthy as there can be nutritional issues as well as possible fatality.
Food Avoidance Disorder
Some people develop a disorder whereby they will avoid certain food types solely based upon their appearance, smell, colour or texture. This goes beyond the odd disliked food as many foods are avoided due to the same characteristics. The danger comes when the restrictions start to influence the food intake to a degree whereby the person will start to lose necessary calories and/or nutrition. In some cases, this food avoidance is actually in the form of a fear of a certain food – and so acts in the same way as a phobia.
Night time Eating Disorder
This is not as common as the aforementioned disorders but still deserves to be mentioned. Night time eating disorder is simply whereby the person will awake in the middle of the night and feel compelled to get up and eat.
(Eating disorders can be linked as a type of ‘obsession compulsion’ and to ‘stress disorders’)
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Help is Here
Eating disorders are a complex issue that not only affects the person engaged but also those involved around them. They are a mental related illness ranking with the highest rate of mortality. Sufferers are often very intelligent and talented people and deserve to live a better quality of life.
The causes of eating disorders point to a multitude of factors and require an intensive medical assessment. Once this has been undertaken and indicates that there could be some strong psychological and emotional factors to the disorder, generally the approach to treatment is of cognitive behaviour therapy.
My toolbox of coaching strategies includes a range of applications that can help assist in the recovery process by exploring and treating possible underlying psychological factors. The progress achieved is usually much faster than conventional methods only.
If you or somebody you care about have an eating disorder and would like to discuss how I can help you,
please connect with me.