Recovery is ignoring the pressure to be perfect

“I won’t let a number on a scale own me.”

An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating behaviors that negatively affect a person’s physical or mental health. Healthy eating behavior can be disrupted by eating disorders. The questions that arise are, “What exactly is this disorder, and what are its causes?” “How can we prevent them?”, etc.

Eating disorders, like any other disorders or diseases, have types and their symptoms may vary. The most common ones include Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorders. Other eating disorders include avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.

Further into these disorders:

1) Anorexia Nervosa: People suffering from Anorexia are characterized by abnormally low body weight, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted perception of weight or shape. The estimated lifetime prevalence of anorexia nervosa in women is .9 and in men .3%.it comes with complications like myocardial atrophy, mitral valve prolapse, Pericardial effusion, Antenatal, Osteoporosis, Gastroparesis, Constipation.

2) Binge-eating disorder: The lifetime prevalence of binge eating disorder in adults is about 1.9 %, and the 12-month prevalence is 0.8%. Binge eating disorder is characterized by episodes of eating an amount of food in a discrete period that is larger than what most people would eat in a similar period under similar circumstances. These episodes occur on average at least once a week for 3 months. Episodes of binge eating are associated with the lack of control and with distress over the eating. You may even feel ashamed, guilty after seeing the amount of food you’ve eaten yet you won’t compensate it with moderate walking or exercising

3) Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder: This generally happens to those who are unable to meet their minimum daily nutrition requirements as they don’t have an interest in eating and they tend to avoid food with characteristics like color, texture, smell, or taste; or you have a fear of choking but it is not avoided because of the fear of gaining weight. The point prevalence of avoidant restrictive food intake disorder in eating disorder programs is approximately 5 to15%. A person generally suffers from this disorder when that person avoids or restricts food intake which leads to a persistent failure to meet nutritional and/or energy needs. In general, the eating disturbance is not due to a lack of available food or associated with the culturally sanctioned practice. The disturbance does not occur only in the course of anorexia nervosa or bullae universe and body weight and shape are not distorted and the disturbance is not due to the general medical condition or another mental disorder.

4) Bulimia nervosa: When you’re suffering from Bulimia nervosa, you tend to eat a larger amount of food in a small period thus adding some extra calories to your body in an unhealthy way. Because of guilt, you may force vomiting or you may exercise too much to get rid of those calories. The lifetime prevalence of bulimia nervosa in women is 1.5 % and men are 0.5 %. The Diagnostic criteria include binge eating at inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, both occurring on average at least once per week for 3 months. Complications may include Dehydration hyperkalemia, Menstrual irregularities, Mallory Weiss syndrome, and Erosion of dental enamel

Causes and risk factors:

We still don’t know the exact cause of the eating disorder, but just like other mental illnesses, there may be many causes, such as genetics and biology as some people possess those genes that increase their risk of developing eating disorders. Biological factors, such as changes in brain chemicals, may play a role in eating disorders. Psychological and emotional health People with eating disorders may have psychological and emotional problems that contribute to the disorder. They may have low self-esteem, perfectionism, impulsive behavior, and troubled relationships.

Recent studies show that teenage girls and women are more prone to be suffering from eating disorders than men and teenage boys. Certain factors may increase the risk of developing an eating disorder, including Some of the risk factors that tend to increase the probability of the disorder are Family history, they are more likely to occur in people who have parents or siblings who’ve had an eating disorder. Other mental health disorders and stress leads to the eating disorder. Dieting and starvation. Dieting is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder while starvation affects the brain and influences mood changes, rigidity in thinking, anxiety, and reduction in appetite.

Prevention:

Again, there’s no way to prevent eating disorders completely but by following some points we can help others especially children from getting away from it which are:

• Avoid dieting around your child: We all know how quickly children learn from their parents and their surroundings. Thus we should try to avoid dieting in front of them and instead encourage them to eat healthy leafy vegetables and superfruit
• Every shape and size of the body is appreciated: we should talk to our child about self-image and offer reassurance that body shapes and sizes may vary thus we should not criticize our own body in front of the children. One should always give them a teaching of respecting and accepting which help to boost the morale of the child
• Taking the help of your child’s doctor: Most of the time doctors can identify the early indicators of an eating disorder. Thus they can ask children various types of questions about their eating habits and whether they are happy with how their body looks.

“Love yourself unconditionally, just as you love those closest to you despite their faults.” Eating is never an option. An eating disorder can be treated by following a healthy and fit lifestyle and taking care of the above preventive measures and eating healthy