The Grip of Eating Disorders

Content warning: This article discusses mental illness and eating disorders.

If you believe you or someone you care about is struggling with an eating disorder, please reach out to a trusted adult, doctor, and/or mental health professional. You can also call the National Alliance for Eating Disorders Helpline at 1 (866) 662-1235; Monday-Friday, 9am-7pm ET

About 10,200 people die of eating disorders every year. That is one person every 52 minutes. More and more people are contracting different eating disorders every day. It is spreading like wildfire and it is becoming harder to stop. For some people, you may not be able to tell if it is an eating disorder while for others you can, but most people have some form of disordered eating without even realizing it. This is the grip of eating disorders. 

About 28.8 million people living in the US have dealt with an eating disorder at one point in their lives. There are many types of eating disorders, but the main three are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, and Binge Eating disorders. 

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized as a mental disorder that includes the intense fear of gaining weight, and refusing to eat, and if they do they use coping methods such as excessive exercise and laxatives, and normally being underweight (but if you are not you are still just as valid as everyone else).

 The next type of eating disorder is Bulimia. Bulimia is an eating disorder characterized as a mental disorder where someone consumes a large amount of food, which is called bingeing, and to compensate for the food they eat normally they purge, which is self-induced throwing up, use laxatives, fast or excessively exercising. People with this eating disorder are normally not underweight but have lasting effects on their bodies including, yellow teeth and damage to the esophagus.

The next type of eating disorder is Binge Eating Disorder. Binge Eating Disorder is characterized as a disorder where someone consumes large quantities of food in a short amount of time. Unlike Bulimia, people with this eating disorder do not find ways to compensate for the amount of food eaten. Most people with this eating disorder are often overweight.

Another eating disorder that most people don’t know about is EDNOS or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. This is an eating disorder where they show signs of an eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia, but do not meet some of the criteria. Some examples are:

1. Some of the criteria for anorexia nervosa are met, but the individual has regular coping mechanisms. 

2. Some of the criteria for anorexia nervosa are met, but despite significant weight loss, the person's current weight is in the normal range.

3. Some of the criteria for bulimia nervosa are met, but the binge eating and inappropriate compensatory mechanisms occur at a frequency of less than twice a week or for less than 3 months.

4. Repeatedly chewing and spitting out, but not swallowing foods.

People with eating disorders could also find themselves in communities like pro-ana sites, ed YouTube, and much more. These are online areas for other people with eating disorders that are very dangerous. The people on these websites encourage people to only worsen their health in the hopes of getting skinny. 

Eating disorders are difficult to treat because they are very easy to trigger, and hard to find the root cause. There are many treatment types as in homes, hospitals, and at-home treatments. Sometimes people truly recover, but you can not recover until you truly realize what you are doing to your body and how much happier you will be if you decide to recover. 

Eating disorders are a serious thing and if you have one please reach out and call an eating disorder hotline. Also if you feel insecure about your body remember that every person is made for something and that life is beautiful. Find some healthy coping mechanisms such as journaling and affirmations. You could listen to music or just take some deep breaths. Eating disorders can ruin lives and come with very serious consequences, so think hard before doing anything dangerous! You are beautiful! 

Thank you for reading!

https://www.nami.org/about-mental-illness/mental-health-conditions/eating-disorders/

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/resource-center/