The next time you see someone with these upcoming signs, you will know how to help them.
What is an Eating Disorder?.
An eating disorder is an unhealthy relationship with food and weight that takes over a person's life ("E.D." Anad.org). It starts out by just eating smaller or larger amounts of food, but at some point the urge to eat less or more becomes an obsession. They are thought of as female disorders, but men could develop them too. Eating disorders frequently arrear during teen years, but it may also start in childhood or even later in life ("E.D." National Institute).
Types of Eating Disorders.
There are three main types of eating Disorders. The first kind is Anorexia Nervosa. This is when the person chooses to deny hunger because of a fear of becoming fat. They have unhealthy habits such as restricting calories, eating only specific foods, skipping meals frequently, or excessive exercising ("Eating Disorder Symptoms"). Another kind is Bulimia Nervosa. This is when the person eats unusually large amounts of food and feels a lack of control over their episodes. After they eat they follow up with a behavior that compensates for overeating, such as forced vomiting, abuse of laxatives or diuretics, fasting, exercise, or a combination of some. People with Bulimia usually maintain a healthy weight, but they want desperately to lose it. The eating as well as purging or other bad weight loss habits are done in secret ("E.D." National Institute). To be classified as Bulimia, the binge eating needs to happen at least twice a week, every week for a 3 month period ("E.D Symptoms").
The other kind of disorder is binge-eating disorder. This is just like Bulimia, where the person eats very large amounts of food in a short period of time, however, it differs from the others because there are no weight loss methods used after eating ("E.D" National Institute).
