Eating Disorders

The An eating disorder is when you have an unhealthy attitude to food, which can take over your life and make you ill. It can involve eating too much or too little, or becoming obsessed with your weight and body shape. Anyone can struggle with an eating disorder, but they most commonly affect young women aged 13 to 17 years old.

There are are four main types of eating disorders:

Anorexia Nervosa
When you try to keep your weight as low as possible by not eating enough food, exercising too much, or both.

Bulimia
When you sometimes eat a lot of food in a very short amount of time (binging) and are then deliberately sick, use laxatives (medicine to help you poo), restrict what you eat, or do too much exercise to try to stop yourself gaining weight.

Binge eating disorder (BED)
When you regularly eat large portions of food all at once until you feel uncomfortably full, and are then often upset or guilty.

Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED)
When your symptoms do not exactly match those of anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder, but it does not mean it’s a less serious illness.

NHS

1. Spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape.
2. Avoiding social situations that involve food and eating.
3. Eating very little food.
4. Making yourself sick or taking medications to reduce hunger or make you go to the toilet.
5. Exercising too much.
6. Having very strict habits or routines with food.
7. Physical symptoms such as dizziness, feeling cold, tired and having issues with digestion.
8. Being underweight or overweight for your age and height.