A much abused aspect of weight loss,
When one explores and discovers all about eating disorders and particularly their dangers. Generally  these disorders are designed to lose weight, albeit more often than not, because of the fallacious self belief that the sufferer is overweight. It must be noted however, that there are exceptions to the goal of weight loss in some types of eating disorders.

There are many eating problems experienced by some people and they stand out because of two main but unusual habits - either too much or too little food is utilised by the body causing major health problems, in extreme cases even death. When learning about eating disorders we find that three can be described as the most common. These are -
                                            ▪ Anorexia Nervosa
                                            ▪ Bulimia Nervosa
                                            ▪ Binge Eating

Because the name we seem to hear bandied about the most is anorexia it may be surprising when finding out about eating disorders to learn that the most common disorder is binge eating followed by bulimia nervosa and then anorexia. There are many other less known disorders such as continual eating because of extreme perceived hunger resulting in an excessive intake of solid foods. Or an obsessive need to eat only healthy foods thus denying oneself to an extent that severe malnutrition can occur. Obviously these conditions are not for weight loss and you would need to do further research to get the facts about eating disorders such as these.

Binge Eating
This involves a compulsive need to eat, sometimes without realising they are doing it. There is often a lot of guilt feelings about it and disgust but the eater is powerless to stop. There is no effort made to get rid of the extra food consumed by vomiting or other methods and consequently the participant is usually obese or at least overweight and actually detests their condition. A relatively high percentage of the population suffer with this and if you know anything about eating disorders you will be aware that anorexia and bulimia are largely experienced by women whereas binge eating affects a high number of men as well.

Possible signs of a binge eater include; fast eating and overly large meals, secret eating, eats when not hungry, often emotionally down, has secret food caches and is embarrassed by their habit.

Bulimia  Nervosa
This is similar in some ways to binge eating except the condition involves, in nearly all cases, the purging of food eaten and is not necessarily an over-eating situation. There can be cross overs between all three conditions on occasion. The bulimic can be normal, or possibly even more than, the  average weight.
  
Anorexia Nervosa
This can appear in two ways. The first is where the anorexic limits the intake of food but does not rid themselves of it and the second does involve removing of food eaten using methods such as vomiting. The anorexic is often under weight or below ideal weight.   

Possible signs to watch for if concerned about eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia include the following -

           ▪ dieting when actually underweight
           ▪ obsessive about food
           ▪ frightened about putting on the pounds
           ▪ often emotionally down
            ▪ frequently use such things as laxatives, diet pills, pills for fluid retention
           ▪ head to the bathroom after eating (to vomit?)
           ▪ throws food out or conceals it
           ▪ can feel cold a lot
           ▪ frequently exercise
           ▪ wear clothes that hide possible weight loss
           ▪ believe they are fat and refuse to accept opinion to the contrary
           ▪ may become very secretive   
This is not an exhaustive list but it does assist with understanding about eating disorders.

The causes of these problems are complex and still not well known. Among some of the suggested reasons are peer and cultural pressure and psychological factors but these are only the  “tip of the iceberg,”  in the total picture. One thing is for certain and that is that they are dangerous conditions and particularly so for still growing and developing adolescents. It is vital they know about eating disorders and their dangers. The only effective treatment  is clinical intervention including psychiatric help and the earlier the better as the alternatives can be serious.