Eating Disorders Quiz/Information/Resources for Help
Count the number of yes answers you give to the following questions:
- Do you lie about what you eat?
- Do you spend a lot of time worrying about how much fat or food you are eating?
- Do you go on eating binges and don’t stop eating until you feel sick?
- Do you frequently make comments about “being fat”?
- If you eat something “bad” do you try to make up for it by exercising to burn the calories away?
- Do you feel in control if you restrict the amount of fat or calories you eat?
- Do you feel fat even though people say you look fine?
- Do you have a secret stash of food?
- Do you believe that you are in control of your life if you can control how much you eat?
- Have you ever taken laxatives after you eat to get rid of the food?
- Have you even forced yourself to throw up after eating?
- Have you ever thought that you would rather die than be fat?
- Have you ever thought that your eating habits and exercising were not normal?
- Do you frequently diet to lose weight and then gain it back again?
If you answered yes to three or more of these questions, you may need treatment for an eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia and compulsive overeating are the most common types of eating disorders.
Please stop in the Counseling Office to talk about concerns or questions you might have. COUNSELING IS FREE AND CONFIDENTIAL FOR MANOR STUDENTS AND AVAILABLE DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR
If you’d like more information about eating disorders, read on:
What is anorexia nervosa?
Anorexia nervosa is a serious, often chronic, and life-threatening eating disorder. The definition is a refusal to maintain body weight within 15 percent of the normal weight. Other features include an intense fear of gaining weight, an unrealistic view of how their body looks, and amenorrhea (missing at least three consecutive menstrual cycles when they are otherwise expected to occur). In addition to restrictive eating (starvation), some people will also do things to get rid of the food they have eaten. Taking laxatives and excessive exercising are common in eating disorders. Medical problems can occur when people have an eating disorder; serious heart problems are the most common and this can result in death.
Who develops anorexia nervosa?
Like all eating disorders, anorexia nervosa tends to occur in pre- or post-puberty, but can develop at any major life change. Anorexia nervosa predominately affects adolescent girls and young adult women, although it also occurs in men and older women. One reason younger women are particularly vulnerable to eating disorders is their tendency to go on strict diets to achieve an "ideal" figure. This obsessive dieting behavior reflects today's societal pressure to be thin, which is seen in advertising and the media. Others especially at risk for eating disorders include athletes, actors, dancers, models, and TV personalities for whom thinness has become a professional requirement.
How many people suffer from anorexia nervosa?
Conservative estimates are that one-half to one percent of females in the U.S. develop anorexia nervosa. Because more than 90 percent of all those who are affected are adolescent and young women, the disorder has been characterized as primarily a woman's illness. However, males and children as young as seven years old have been diagnosed; and women 50, 60, 70, and even 80 years of age have fit the diagnosis.
How is the weight lost?
People with anorexia nervosa usually lose weight by reducing their total food intake and exercising excessively. Many persons with this disorder restrict their intake to fewer than 1,000 calories per day. Most avoid fattening, high-calorie foods and eliminate meats. The diet of persons with anorexia nervosa may consist almost completely of low-calorie vegetables like lettuce and carrots, or popcorn.
What are the common signs of anorexia nervosa?
The primary symptom of anorexia nervosa is a preoccupation with food and a refusal to maintain minimally normal body weight. One of the most frightening aspects of anorexia nervosa is that people with this disorder continue to think they look fat even when they are bone-thin. Their nails and hair become brittle, and their skin may become dry and yellow. Depression is common in patients suffering from this disorder. People with anorexia nervosa often complain of feeling cold (hypothermia) because their body temperature drops. They may develop lanugo, which is the fine hair that covers the body of a newborn baby.
People with anorexia nervosa develop strange eating habits such as cutting their food into tiny pieces, refusing to eat in front of others, or fixing elaborate meals for others that they themselves don't eat. Another symptom is constantly thinking about food and the next time they will eat. Other disorders such as depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder often go along with eating disorders, so if you think you or someone you know has this disorder, it is best to see a physician who is familiar with eating disorders.
What are the causes of anorexia nervosa?
It is uncertain what causes eating disorders, but common traits in people with this disorder area: low self-esteem, social isolation, and perfectionism. These people tend to be good students and excellent athletes. It does seem clear (although patients often deny it), that focusing on weight loss and food allows the person to ignore problems that are too painful or seem impossible to resolve.
Eating disorders also tend to run in families, with female relatives most often affected. A girl has a 10 to 20 times higher risk of developing anorexia nervosa, for instance, if she has a sibling with the disease. Stressful events are likely to increase the risk of eating disorders as well.
Are there medical complications?
The starvation experienced by persons with anorexia nervosa can cause damage to vital organs such as the heart and brain. Pulse rate and blood pressure drop, and people suffering from this illness may experience irregular heart rhythms or heart failure. Nutritional deprivation causes calcium loss from bones, which can become brittle and prone to breakage. In the worst-case scenario, people with anorexia can starve themselves to death. Anorexia nervosa ends in death for about 6 percent of people who have it.
Is treatment available?
Luckily, most of the complications experienced by persons with anorexia nervosa are reversible when they restore weight. Some patients can be treated as outpatients, but some may need hospitalization to stabilize their dangerously low weight. The most effective strategies for treating a patient have been weight restoration within ten percent of normal, and individual, family, and group therapies. The acute management of severe weight loss is usually provided in an inpatient hospital setting, where feeding plans address the person's medical and nutritional needs. In some cases, intravenous feeding is recommended.
What is bulimia?
Bulimia is defined as recurrent episodes of binge eating, involving a feeling of lack of control over eating. This leads to eating an excessive amount of food within a short of time and by a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode. People with this disorder also use inappropriate ways to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting or misuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, or other medications (purging); fasting; or excessive exercise. The binge eating and inappropriate behaviors both occur at least twice a week for 3 months. Because purging or excessive exercising follows the binge-eating episodes, people with bulimia usually weigh within the normal range for their age and height. However, they may fear gaining weight, desire to lose weight, and feel intensely dissatisfied with their bodies. People with bulimia often perform the behaviors in secrecy, feeling disgusted and ashamed when they binge, yet relieved once they purge.
Is there treatment for this disorder?
Treatment for bulimia is similar to treatment for anorexia. However, people with eating disorders often do not recognize or admit that they are ill. As a result, they may strongly resist getting and staying in treatment. Family members or other trusted individuals can be helpful in ensuring that the person with an eating disorder receives needed care and rehabilitation. For some people, treatment may be long term.
How many people have this disorder?
An estimated 1.1 percent to 4.2 percent of females have bulimia nervosa in their lifetime.
What is compulsive overeating?
Compulsive overeating is a vicious cycle of binge eating and depression. With compulsive overeating food is used as a coping mechanism to deal with uncomfortable feelings. Many compulsive overeaters speak of using the compulsive overeating episodes as a way to numb all that is going on around them. The amount of food eaten and time it takes to eat the food varies.
Sometimes compulsive overeating will be a period of several days when eating is more than usual. Triggers for compulsive overeating include depression, anxiety, interpersonal stressors, boredom, prolonged dieting, and body image dissatisfaction. Compulsive overeaters are often unhappy with their weight. Feeling good about themselves is tied in with a number on the scale.
Overeating may temporarily relieve the stress of unpleasant feelings, but overeating episodes are usually followed by feelings of disgust, guilt, shame, and further depression. Compulsive overeating usually occur in secret. In front of other people, it is common for an overeater to eat normally or even to eat less than others. They will then make up for eating less by overeating in private – often late at night. Compulsive overeaters often keep a stash of junk food for these eating episodes.
Compulsive overeaters are almost always “on a diet”. They may lose some weight, but each weight loss is followed by a weight regain, leaving them feeling bad about themselves once again.
What are the effects of overeating on health?
Some medical complications from compulsive overeating are high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart problems.
Is there a cure for compulsive overeating?
Compulsive overeating is a disease, like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. It can’t be cured by just willpower. Professional treatment for this disorder is required.
Where to get help for Eating Disorders:
American Anorexia and Bulimia Association of America
Help Line 215-221-1864 for support, information, and referrals
Offers:
- · support groups for people with eating disorders
- · support groups for their families and friends,
- · speaker meetings featuring nutritionists, psychologists, and other specialists
- · referrals for medical and psychological services
Overeaters Anonymous
Hotline and meeting list 610-687-4812. Meetings everyday throughout the Delaware Valley
National Eating Disorders Association
Information and Referral Line 1-800-931-2237
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa
The Renfrew Center (www.renfrew.org) 1-800-RENFREW
offers:
- Inpatient and outpatient treatment
- Day programs (partial hospital)
- Group and Individual Therapy
- Family and Couples Counseling
- Nutritional Counseling
- Educational Workshops
- Psychiatric consultations
- Multi-family support groups
Website: http://www.something-fishy.org/
offers:
- information about all aspects of eating disorders
- treatment providers in the area
- chat room for on-line support