Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Signs & Symptoms of Eating Disorders


A young girl who suffers from bulimia - shows how bad the symptoms can be

Anorexia Nervosa-
10 Warning signs:

·         Deliberate self-starvation with weight loss
-          Refusal to maintain a normal weight, 15% below ideal body weight
·         Intense, persistent fear of gaining weight
-          Thoughts of food and weight consume a persons mind 24/7, constantly weight themselves
·          Refusal to eat or highly restrictive eating
-          Control eating, constantly count calories and fat grams
·         Continuous dieting
·          Excessive facial/body hair because of inadequate protein in the diet
·         Compulsive exercise
·          Abnormal weight loss
·          Sensitivity to cold
·          Absent or irregular menstruation
-Amenorrhea, missing 3 periods or more
·         Hair loss

Bulimia Nervosa-
7 Symptoms:

·         Preoccupation with food
- characterized by a feeling that one cannot stop or control one’s eating, accompanied by physical or emotional distress.
·         Binge eating, usually in secret
- consuming a larger amount of food than most people would eat during the same time period (potentially thousands of calories) within a short period of time (typically 2 hours or less)
·         Vomiting after bingeing
-Bingeing and Purging occurs more than 2 x a week for at least 3 months
·         Abuse of laxatives, diuretics, diet pills
·         Denial of hunger or drugs to induce vomiting
·         Compulsive exercise
·         Swollen salivary glands
·         Broken blood vessels in the eyes

Binge Eating Disorders-
 (Unlike bulimia, binge-eating episodes are not followed by purging, excessive exercise fasting)
10 Symptoms: 
  • Eating even when you're full
  • Eating large amounts of food
  • Eating rapidly during binge episodes
  • Feeling that your eating behavior is out of control
  • Eating a lot even though you're not hungry
  • Depression 
  • Anxiety
  • Frequent dieting, possibly without weight loss
  • Frequently eating alone
  • Feeling depressed, disgusted or upset about your eating
Damages eating disorders can have on your body:

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