Eating disorders are damaging to the quality of life of the patient, reducing their health, and often curtailing their social freedom and attractiveness (perceived or real).
The most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating, each following distinct steps. You may be of normal build, big or obese, eating disorders are in the real-world often unrelated to physical appearance.
Types of eating disorders.
Anorexia is arguably the most spectacular type of eating disorders whereby patients exact extreme control over their eating habits, associating food as generally negative. In more advanced cases anorexic patients often “double down” on their thinning ideal, by over-exercising as they are under-eating. This can lead to severe malnutrition with obviously a very wide array of complications and ills (fatigue, low blood counts, headaches, stunted organ growth etc.)
Bulimia nervosa is quite different and follows a more paradoxical process: Patients may eat beyond their needs, often in secret, and later vomit the food in a belated attempt to control their calorie intake. Bulimia nervosa is also dangerous, visiting a host of complications on the patient (digestive issues, tooth and gum damage, low self-esteem, self-injury, anxiety and depression etc.)
Binge-eating is a third main type of eating disorder, whereby patients tend to find themselves unable to control their portions once eating. As a result they over-eat on predictable patterns, but won’t purge like the bulimic or over-exercise like the anorexic. The binge-eater often gradually avoids eating in public. Binge-eating is a discrete process that happens in a variety of people, you are however going through at least one binge-eating event per week to be considered a binge-eater.
Symptoms & Treatments
- Personalised diagnostic: Lifestyle inventory, eating audit and history, body image, real-world functional impact and damage to physical health. Patterns and cycles.
- Symptoms and Indications: Drastic or cyclic weight loss/gain, regular feelings of exhaustion, migraines, low self-esteem, unrealistic body standards, reduced immune system, repeat infections, fainting, poor oral hygiene, low self-control ability.
- Resources & Related: Trauma, PTSD, sexual abuse, major depressive events, anaemia, blood counts, Type 1 and 2 diabetes.