How To Tell The Difference
A person who strives to eat a healthy, balanced diet is likely trying to prevent illness, improve physical and mental performance, and maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle.;
A person with an eating disorder often uses food, and the control of food, to compensate for feelings and emotions that may otherwise seem overwhelming.
For some, dieting and binging and purging begin as a way to cope with painful emotions and create a sense of control of one’s life. But, ultimately, these behaviors damage a person’s physical and emotional health, self-esteem, and sense of competence and control.
Whats The Difference Between An Eating Disorder And Disordered Eating
By Jeanne Hendricks, RDN, Manager, Virtua Weight Loss and Wellness Center
Women are inundated with magazine and social media images of sleek, slim starlets. For them, staying skinny seems easy, even though we know some resort to Photoshop and clever filters to perfect their appearance in images online and in print. What we dont see is how many female celebrities barely eat and workout 2 hours a day, or choose to have their extra weight sucked and tucked.;
Women from all walks of life go to extremes to be thin. And these extreme methods dont only wreak havoc on young women and adolescent girls the stereotypical patients. From 2001 to 2010, the rate of eating disorders among middle-aged women increased by 42%. And, while eating disorders are more prevalent in women, millions of men and boys battle them as well.;
To protect yourself and your family from these potentially dangerous behaviors, heres what you need to know about eating disorders and disordered eating.;
Sociocultural Factors That Lead To Eating Disorders In Young Women
Sociocultural Factors that Lead to Eating Disorders in Young WomenAccording to the DSM-5, anorexia nervosa is characterized by distorted body image and excessive dieting that leads to severe weight loss with a pathological fear of becoming fat while bulimia nervosa is characterized by frequent episodes of binge eating followed by inappropriate behaviors such as self-induced vomiting to avoid weight gain . These two disorders most often affect adolescent
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Signs And Symptoms Of An Eating Disorder
The level of obsession around eating disorder thoughts and behaviors can distinguish disordered eating from an eating disorder. It is normal to think about or even obsess over food when you are hungry, especially if you have not eaten for a while. It is also normal to think about meal planning, grocery shopping, and cravings for dinner.
This level of obsession with food can impair concentration, the ability to stay present, and can hinder daily functioning. This level of obsession with food, calories, and weight changes and the behaviors that reinforce these obsessions is what differentiates a clinical eating disorder from a disordered eating pattern.
While its difficult to judge how much time and energy another individual spends thinking about food or dieting behaviors, the individual may discuss their thoughts with a friend, or it may be evident through their actions. The following are signs and symptoms associated with eating disorders:
In addition to the obsession, extreme behaviors are prevalent in individuals who have an eating disorder.
From binging and self-induced vomiting to laxative abuse, food restriction, and excessive exercise, individuals will go to extremes on a daily or weekly basis to control their caloric consumption.
This desire for control takes predominance over their lives, and as a result, they may avoid family dinners, outings with friends, or stay home from school or work due to a fear of eating around other people.
Characteristics Of Disordered Eating
Now that weve described non-disordered eating, lets look at some common symptoms of disordered eating:
- A distorted body image
- Body shape or weight that is used as a primary measure of self-worth
- Strict rules surrounding eating and exercise
- Restricting many foods or eliminating food groups
- Unhealthy weight control behaviours, such as skipping meals, fasting, using diet pills, vomiting after eating, and abusing laxatives
- Using steroids or creatine to alter appearance or exercise performance
- Trying several diets to lose weight
- Frequent fluctuations in weight
- Over-exercising with the purpose to burn calories or lose weight
- Feelings of guilt and shame resulting from an inability to maintain food and exercise habits
- A restricted social life due to conflicts with food or your childs;exercise routine
- Feeling out of control when eating
- Eating large quantities of food late at night
- Eating for comfort, not hunger
- An impaired quality of life due to a preoccupation around food, exercise, and body image
You may have noticed that dieting to lose weight is on this list. What many people may not know is that dieting is a form of disordered eating. Click hereto read our blog post The Problem with Dieting.
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Know The Physical And Emotional Signs Of Disordered Eating
The following are the most common physical signs of disordered eating:
- Significant fluctuations in weight.
- Changes in skin and hair .
- Acid-related dental problems, including cavities and erosion of enamel .
The emotional signs of disordered eating include the following:
- Being preoccupied with weight, food, dieting, calories and carbohydrates to the point that eating and managing weight become a primary concern over other activities.
- Being preoccupied with body image, body size/shape, a specific part of the body and/or the number on the scale.
- Significantly limiting the repertoire of foods by restricting whole categories of food and only considering a very small number of foods safe to eat.
- Performing specific food rituals.
- Withdrawing from social eating activities.
How Are They Similar
Disordered eating is present when an individual engages in abnormal eating patterns or food behaviors on a regular basis. This does not generally apply to those with specific food intolerances or health problems, who might have no choice but to adhere to a certain diet.
People who turn to disordered eating often do so to cope with uncomfortable emotions. They might begin focusing on weight and calorie intake to distract themselves from other areas of their lives in which they feel inadequate, or with the idea that reaching their goal weight will finally make them happy.
Once that goal weight is reached, a lower one will inevitably be set. This is how eating disorders can develop. Emotional eating can also lead to binges, sometimes resulting in the development of binge eating disorder or bulimia nervosa.
Those with disordered food behaviors, regardless of whether they fit the diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder, often feel extreme anxiety around food. They might track their daily food intake down to the calorie, exercise obsessively at the gym, or avoid social situations in which food will be present.
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More Subtle Forms Of Disordered Eating Can Also Be Dangerous
This post is from the Eating Disorders, Compulsions, and Addictions Service of the William Alanson White Institute in recognition of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
Its pretty easy to diagnose a full-blown eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia nervosa. But more subtle forms of disordered eating are difficult to pinpoint.
In our culture, there is an obsession with size and weight, diet, and exercise. The pervasiveness of disordered eating is astounding. Research suggests that up to 50 percent of the population demonstrate problematic or disordered relationships with food, body, and exercise. Rates of clinical eating disorders are much lower, estimated from 1 to 3 percent of the general population.
There are four diagnoses of eating disorders in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-V : anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and eating disorder otherwise not specified.
Specific diagnostic criteria are listed for each of the four diagnoses. However, falling short of meeting these criteria does not mean a person is maintaining a healthy relationship with food and weight. Individuals who demonstrate disordered eating may still be at risk both physically and emotionally.
Signs and Symptoms of Disordered Eating
Symptoms of disordered eating may include behavior commonly associated with eating disorders, such as food restriction, binge eating, purging .
How Do I Know If A Friend Or Family Member Has An Eating Disorder
Only a physician or mental health professional can give an accurate diagnosis, but here are some signs you may observe if you or any of your loved ones struggle with disordered eating habits.
- Eating in secret or leaving meals to go to the bathroom
- Expressing guilt about eating habits
- Constantly talking about weight or losing weight
- Being overly and obsessively focused on eating healthy foods
- Consistently skipping meals
- Frequently checking the mirror or scale
- Using dietary supplements or laxatives
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Why Is This Important
Stress does odd things to mental and physical processes. ;It changes internal chemistry too. ;Trauma causes changes in development. ;All of this can cause problems with digestion and absorption of nutrients. ;Advertising and the internalized messages from caregivers also have an impact on body image, self-esteem, and eating habits.
As a child, I starved and had to scrounge for food when my parents forgot or didnt feel like cooking/feeding me. ;Most of what I ate were sandwiches, pastries, toast, and junk food that got stored in the pantry. ;The refrigerator was too heavy to open until I was about 5 years old.
As I got older, my mom put me on the same diets she was on. ;And punished me by taking away any food I liked whenever the diets didnt work. ;She fed me less so she could eat more because it was my fault she gained weight. ;Yeah, fhat doesnt make sense. ;But its how she justified her eating habits.
Then came the constant criticism about:
- how I looked
- my eating habits
- food choices
Finally, there were comparisons to cousins of a similar age and generation from everyone. ;Too fat, too skinny, too clumsy, too weak
Disordered Eating In Children And Adolescents
EDs may be as common in young Hispanic and Native American women as inCaucasian women and less common among African-American and Asian women in theUnitedStates.,,In adolescent females with diabetes, the increased focus on eating and theweight gain associated with good glycemic control likely increasesusceptibility to abnormal eating. In adolescents with type 1 diabetes,subclinical DEBs are observed rather than fully manifested AN orBN.,These include higher body dissatisfaction and more high-risk weight losspractices, such as vomiting and laxative or diureticuse, bingeeating, excessive dieting, and insulin omission for weight control orloss. Concern overweight and shape and dietary restrictions also increase significantly fromadolescence to young adulthood, and insulin omission prevalence can range from7 to30%.,
Pubertal changes in body shape and weight predispose some adolescentfemales to develop unhealthy eating attitudes; weight gain after insulintreatment can lead to increased body dissatisfaction; and dietary restraint,weight gain, and food preoccupation can be perceived more strongly byadolescents with type 1 diabetes because of the nature of its management andmay lead to the use of unhealthy weight controlbehaviors.Therefore, even temporal proximity of diabetes onset and onset of puberty mustbe taken into consideration amongadolescents.
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Connection: Stressful Situations & Self Care
I dont know about you, but many of the survivors I have met and talked to have weight problems, immune system problems, and health problems that seem to stem from A) food choices; B) thoughts and beliefs about nutrition; C) beliefs about what their bodies deserve or dont deserve in relation to food and health; and D) a lack of their own sense of self. ;For myself, I still struggle with all four of these topics and probably will for the rest of my life.
Life transitions are among the biggest stressors in my life. ;By transition, I mean lots of small changes that accumulate to create a BIG change.
Some examples: legal name change; moving cross country; reconnecting with family; changing jobs; deciding not to hide anymore; advocating for myself at work; decorating my apartment; talking with an attorney; getting my first bank loan approved; becoming more active on social media; changing my self-perceptions for improved self-image.
Orthorexia Nervosa Versus Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder that affects between 0.9% and 2.0% of females and 0.1% to 0.3% of males. The disorder creates an extreme fear of weight gain in people who suffer from it. Individuals with anorexia typically restrict the number of calories and types of food they eat.; They also may compulsively exercise, purge, or binge eat. An eating disorder that has some similarities of anorexia is Orthorexia, which means an obsession with proper or healthy eating. Having a concern with the nutritional quality of the food is a healthy behavior, but problems occur when this concern becomes excessive, damaging and disruptive. Individuals with orthorexia become so fixated on what they perceive as healthy eating that they actually damage their own physical and emotional well-being.
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The Dos And Donts Of Intervention
If you recognize some warning signs in yourself or a loved one, consider the following recommendations:
How Is Nimh Addressing Eating Disorders
The National Institute of Mental Health is conducting and supporting research that could help find new and improved ways to diagnose and treat eating disorders. For example, the NIMH Eating Disorders Research Program supports research on the causes, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment at medical institutions across the country. It also supports studies that can help explain the risk factors that cause eating disorders to start or reoccur. The programs studies on treatment help move basic science findings from the lab bench to a patients bedside.
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What Is An Eating Disorder
Eating disorders are severe and life-threatening brain-based illnesses. Those affected experience serious disturbances in their behaviors, thoughts, and emotions which can lead to devastating consequences like medical complications and social isolation. Those affected by anorexia, bulimia, BED, or OSFED often exhibit an extreme fixation on food or body that impairs their daily lives. For those struggling with ARFID, there may be a lack of interest around food or an extreme disdain of certain tastes or textures that results in physical complications. Signs and symptoms of eating disorders include:
- Dramatic weight gain or weight loss
- Preoccupation with food or body
- Changes in food intake
- Purging, restricting, or binge eating
- Abuse of diet pills or laxatives
- Eating in secret, hiding food, or feeling out of control with food
- Medical complications
- Severe complications like heart disease or organ failure
Disordered Eating Vs Eating Disorder: Understanding The Difference
by wcs | Jun 22, 2021 | Eating Disorders |
Eating disorders can be difficult to pick up on, especially when disordered eating is so common. From individuals who consistently diet or excessively exercise, it can be hard to navigate when disordered behaviors turn into a full-blown eating disorder. Many providers overlook disordered eating patterns or even full-blown eating disorders as a result of many misconceptions surrounding what an eating disorder should look like. Some providers struggle to recognize disordered eating issues or choose to not attend to them because a clients symptoms might not fit perfectly into a diagnostic box as outlined in the DSM.
It is important to note that disordered eating is NOT necessarily less serious than eating disorders. And BOTH are deserving of support and treatment. It is no surprise that research suggests up to 50% of the population in the United States demonstrates problematic or disordered relationships with food, the body, and exercise. Another study found that 75% of women fit the criteria for eating disorder behaviors. Many people struggle with disordered eating at some point in their lives. It is a vital part of being a clinician to know what some of the common signs and symptoms are associated with eating disorders, and how to differentiate between that and disordered eating.
Is there a pattern of these behaviors?
Is there an undue preoccupation with food and the body?
Is this affecting their overall level of functioning?
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Eating Disorders Among Female Athletes
Eating Disorders Among Collegiate Female Student-AthletesEating disorders are not rare in todays society. They have become increasingly common among young women. Research indicates that there is a link between the medias representation of the perfect body as well as ideals of attractiveness with dissatisfaction of body image and eating disorders . In this current literature review, I will focus on the impact of eating