Eating Disorders

What is an eating disorder?

Eating disorders are not just about food, they can be a way of feeling in control and trying to cope with difficult situations or feelings. Lots of people worry about the way they look and have tried going on a diet at some point. This does not mean that you have an eating disorder.

But if you find that you are thinking a lot about food and how your body looks, trying to control what you eat, and hiding your relationship with food from the people you love because you feel guilty or ashamed, keep reading.

Eating disorders are serious and everyone who has one deserves care and support.  They can take over your life and the lives of your family and the people around you.

There are different types of eating disorder:

• Anorexia – being underweight and trying to control your weight by not eating enough, exercising too much or both. If you have anorexia, you might be underweight, but still feel like your body is too big.
• Bulimia – eating large amounts of food in a short period of time (binges) and then trying to get rid of what you’ve eaten, often by making yourself sick or using laxatives (purging).
• Binge Eating Disorder – eating very large amounts of food in a short period of time, until you feel uncomfortably full.
• In some eating disorders, like ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and Pica, what someone eats can be a serious problem, but their disordered eating is not because of how they feel about their body weight or shape.

Overeating, sometimes called ‘food addiction’ is not recognised as a disorder although it is very distressing for a lot of people and can seriously affect your health and how you feel about yourself. Overeating is different to binge eating, although someone with binge eating disorder might also overeat between binges.

Everyone is different and so eating disorders can differ from person to person, too.  The good news is that recovery is possible and the sooner you get treatment, the more likely it is you will be able to manage your eating better.

Take a look at this segment from ITV’s Loose Women, where Freddie Flintoff and Gok Wan talk about their experiences with bulimia and anorexia:

How can I find help?

If you think you might have a problem with eating there are things you can do to help yourself:

• Stick to regular mealtimes: make sure you have breakfast, lunch and dinner. Start with smaller portions if you are finding it difficult to eat regular meals.
• Try to be honest with yourself and other people who are close to you about what you are or are not eating.
• Try to be kind to your body – look after it and don’t punish it.
• Do not weigh yourself more than once a week, and remember it’s normal for our weight to go up and down by a kilogram or two every week.
• Try not to spend time checking your body and looking at yourself in the mirror. Nobody is perfect.
• When you look in the mirror look at your whole body, not just the part of your body you don’t like.
• Be careful about what you are looking at online. Try to stay away from websites and social media profiles that encourage you to lose weight or be very thin.
• Unfollow social media pages that make you feel bad about yourself or compare yourself to others.

If you are worried about food or eating, the first step is to talk to someone you trust… and try to do it soon. Eating disorders can be dangerous. You could talk someone you care about or a health professional.  The services at the bottom of this page could help support you.