Eating Disorders

There are a vast amount of eating disorders today in the world with Binge-eating being the most common one in the United States. People with a binge-eating disorder lose control over their eating. Unlike bulimia nervosa (when someone has frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food and feeling a lack of control over episodes. The binge-eating is followed by behavior that compensates for overeating such as forced vomitting, excessive use of laxatives of diuretics, fasting, excessive exercise or a combination of these behaviors.), periods of binge-eating are not followed by purging, excessive exercise or fasting. As a result, people with binge-eating disorder often are overweight or obese.

Symptoms of a binge-eater include:

-eating large amounts of food in specific amount of time

-eating even when you are full or not hungry

-eating fast during binge episodes

-eating alone or in secret to avoid embarrassment

-feeling distressed, ashamed or guilty about eating

-frequently dieting, possibly without weight loss

Eating disorders frequently appear during teen years or young adulthood but may also develop during childhood or later in life. These disorders affect both genders and researchers are finding that eating disorders are caused by complex interaction of genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological and social factors.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which someone sees themselves as overweight, even when they are dangerously underweight. People with anorexia nervosa typically weigh themselves repeatedly, severely restrict the amount of food they eat and eat very small portions of certain foods. This eating disorder has the highest mortality rate of any mental disorder.

Symptoms of an anorexia nervosa eater:

-extreme thinness (emaciation)

-intense fear of gaining weight

-extremely restricted eating

-distorted body image, self-esteem that is heavily influenced my perceptions of body weight and shape

Treatments and therapies usually include adequate nutrition, reducing excessive exercise and stopping purging behaviors. Treatment plans are tailored to individual needs and may include psychotherapy medical care and monitoring, nutritional counseling and medications.

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