Eating disorders

For over 45 years, ANAD has provided free peer support to those struggling with an eating disorder. We understand there is no substitute for talking with someone who has been there. Even as volumes increase, we will not waiver from our commitment to providing personalized peer-to-peer support to every individual who comes to ANAD for support. We need your help to make this happen.

Conditions such as anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder keep people from maintaining a healthy weight or from having a healthy relationship with food. While often assumed to be just a phase, eating disorders can have deadly outcomes if not properly addressed. It is important to note that eating disorders are not a lifestyle choice. Those who have these conditions are not making a conscious decision to treat their bodies poorly. They aren’t “over-dieting” or “being uptight.” People with eating disorders are mentally and physically unwell and need medical and/or mental health assistance to move toward recovery. Keep Reading To Learn • The truth about eating disorders • How to recognize symptoms of eating disorders in yourself or loved ones • How to successfully manage and treat eating disorders What Is an Eating Disorder? An eating disorder is a condition in which a person cannot maintain a balanced and healthy relationship with food. Depending on the condition, they may not eat enough, eat too much, or overly manage the calories they take in or put out. People with eating disorders may also try to “control” their food, overexercise, develop rituals surrounding mealtimes, or refuse to eat with others. These are just a few examples of the ways eating disorders can manifest. The overarching image of an eating disorder is an obsession with weight and appearance above health. People with anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, and other eating disorders come to see the...

Overview Binge-eating disorder is a serious eating disorder in which you frequently consume unusually large amounts of food and feel unable to stop eating. Almost everyone overeats on occasion, such as having seconds or thirds of a holiday meal. But for some people, excessive overeating that feels out of control and becomes a regular occurrence crosses the line to binge-eating disorder. Symptoms Most people with binge-eating disorder are overweight or obese, but you may be at a normal weight. Behavioral and emotional signs and symptoms of binge-eating disorder include: • Eating unusually large amounts of food in a specific amount of time, such as over a two-hour period • Feeling that your eating behavior is out of control • Eating even when you're full or not hungry • Eating rapidly during binge episodes • Eating until you're uncomfortably full • Frequently eating alone or in secret • Feeling depressed, disgusted, ashamed, guilty or upset about your eating • Frequently dieting, possibly without weight loss Unlike a person with bulimia, after a binge, you don't regularly compensate for extra calories eaten by vomiting, using laxatives or exercising excessively. You may try to diet or eat normal meals. But restricting your diet may simply lead to more binge eating. The severity of binge-eating disorder is determined by how often episodes of bingeing occur during a week. When to see a doctor If you have any symptoms of binge-eating disorder, seek medical help as soon as possi...

The chance for recovery increases the earlier an eating disorder is detected. Therefore, it is important to be aware of some of the warning signs of an eating disorder. This isn’t intended as a checklist. Someone struggling with an eating disorder generally won’t have all of these signs and symptoms at once, and the warning signs vary across eating disorders and don’t always fit into neat categories. Rather, these lists are intended as a general overview of the types of behaviors that may indicate a problem. If you have any concerns about yourself or a loved one, please COMMON SYMPTOMS OF AN EATING DISORDER Emotional and behavioral • In general, behaviors and attitudes that indicate that weight loss, dieting, and control of food are becoming primary concerns • Preoccupation with weight, food, calories, carbohydrates, fat grams, and dieting • Refusal to eat certain foods, progressing to restrictions against whole categories of food (e.g., no carbohydrates, etc.) • Appears uncomfortable eating around others • Food rituals (e.g. eats only a particular food or food group [e.g. condiments], excessive chewing, doesn’t allow foods to touch) • Skipping meals or taking small portions of food at regular meals • Any new practices with food or fad diets, including cutting out entire food groups (no sugar, no carbs, no dairy, vegetarianism/veganism) • Withdrawal from usual friends and activities • Frequent dieting • Extreme concern with body size and shape • Frequent checking in the mi...

Getting a diagnosis is only the first step towards recovery from an eating disorder. Treating an eating disorder generally involves a combination of psychological and nutritional counseling, along with medical and psychiatric monitoring. Treatment must address the eating disorder symptoms and medical consequences, as well as psychological, biological, interpersonal, and cultural forces that contribute to or maintain the eating disorder. Nutritional counseling is also necessary and should incorporate education about nutritional needs, as well as planning for and monitoring rational choices by the individual patient. There are a variety of treatments that have been shown to be effective in treating eating disorders. Generally, treatment is more effective before the disorder becomes chronic, but even people with long-standing eating disorders can and do recover.

Most people can find something they don’t like about their body, and many take steps to eat more healthfully or start an exercise plan to improve their appearance. Those with eating disorders develop habits that can cause a great deal of harm. They may fast or severely restrict their calories, exercise for hours on end each day, or take other actions to prevent any weight gain. Even though they are often underweight, they have an intense fear of becoming fat. Usually appearing during adolescence or young adulthood, eating disorders can also develop during childhood or later in adulthood. They are much more common among women and girls, but men and boys account for about 5 to 15 percent of those with anorexia or bulimia and about 35 percent of those with binge eating disorder. Eating disorders commonly co-occur with anxiety disorders. For those who have an anxiety disorder, a co-occurring eating disorder may make their symptoms worse and recovery more difficult. It’s essential to be treated for both disorders. An eating disorder is present when a person experiences severe disturbances in eating behavior, such as extreme reduction of food intake or extreme overeating, or feelings of extreme distress or concern about body weight or shape. A person with an eating disorder may diet, exercise, or eats excessively, which can have life-threatening or even fatal consequences. Watch an ADAA recorded webinar on Anorexia Nervosa People with the eating disorder called anorexia nervosa ...