Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders

Our relationship with food exists on a spectrum, with “regular” and balanced eating on one end, patterns of disordered eating laying in the middle, and diagnosable eating disorders on the other. Disordered eating refers to the presence of conflictive thoughts, behaviors, and emotions surrounding the way an individual relates to their food and eating habits. Some examples of disordered eating may include the presence of irregular, restrictive, compulsive, and/or inflexible eating patterns; with one of the most common forms of this being dieting. As the intensity, frequency, and severity of these thoughts, emotions, and behaviors increase, so does the risk of developing what we would term a diagnosable eating disorder.

Eating disorders are complex mental health illnesses that include a combination of signs and symptoms characterized by recurrent, disturbing, and sometimes irrational thoughts, emotions, and behaviors surrounding food, weight, exercise, appearance, and/or body image. They are oftentimes accompanied by distortions in the way a person views and experiences themselves and their body. They cause significant emotional distress and have the capacity to create impairment in all areas of an individual’s life (physical, emotional, mental, social, and spiritual). They are not a lifestyle choice, but rather serious mental disorders that can cause severe and life-threatening physical complications in most if not all our body's main systems and organs. When left undiagnosed or untreated, eating disorders may be potentially fatal. Early detection and adequate treatment interventions are crucial to obtain long-lasting recovery from an eating disorder.

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Warning Signs and Symptoms

Cognitive

• Constantly thinking about eating or not eating

• Recurrent thoughts about exercise
• Increased preoccupation with food, calories, and meal choices
• Frequent thoughts about body size, shape, and/or weight appraisals
• Difficulty concentrating

Emotional

• Feeling out of control when eating

• Feelings of guilt or shame after eating
• Feeling unworthy of eating food
• Intense fear of weight gain
• Feeling anxious surrounding meal choices and/or eating out with others
• Increased worry and stress surrounding weight, shape and/or physical appearance
• Presence of mood swings
• Increased symptoms of depression and/or anxiety

Behavioral / Physical

• Recurrent dieting, detoxes, fasting, and/or rigid meal plans
• Having strict rules about when and what you can or cannot eat
• Refusing to eat certain food or removing of whole food groups
• Keeping rigid track/ counting calories, fat grams, macros, etc.
• Presence of food rituals before, during or after meals
• Recurrent episodes of overeating and/or binging
• Frequent body checking (weighing, taking body measurements, mirror use)
• Withdrawing from usual friends, hobbies, or social activities
• Compensatory behaviors to control weight (self-induced vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, and/or diet pills)
• Often feeling lightheaded, dizzy. Presence of fainting episodes
• Recurrent lack of energy and/or increased muscle weakness
• Irregularities in menstrual cycle
• Recurrent gastrointestinal complaints
• Recurrent and significant fluctuations in weight (up or down)

For more detailed signs & symptoms of common eating disorders, you may visit the additional resource links below.

Facts & Statistics

• Dieting is the most common form of disordered eating and one of the most common risk factors for the development of an eating disorder.

• 1 out of every 3 individuals who initiate a diet will go on to develop signs of disordered eating patterns.
• Less than 6% of people with eating disorders are medially diagnosed as “underweight”.
• Eating disorders are one of the deadliest mental illnesses. Someone dies as a direct result of the evert 52 minutes.
• Eating disorders affect people of all races, ages, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background.
• Men make up 25% of the individuals that are diagnosed with an eating disorder. 

Self-Assessment

• Do I find myself thinking about food and/or exercise more than I would like to?

• Do I often feel out of control around food?
• Do I feel it’s common for me to feel guilty after eating?
• Do I constantly find myself fearing weight gain?
• Do I repeatedly engage in new diets, detoxes, meals and or exercise plans?
• Do I often find myself eating in secret?
• Do I find myself resorting to food when I am emotionally upset and/or stressed?
• Do I tend to eat when I am not hungry or avoid eating when I do feel hungry?
• Do I find myself skipping meals or avoiding food throughout the day?
• Do I have a hard time eating in social circumstances or around other people?
• Do I constantly worry or feel scared about my weight, shape, and/or appearance?
• Do I make myself throw up or use laxatives/diuretics to prevent weight gain or promote weight loss?

If you have found that the attitudes you hold towards your appearance, food, and/or exercise are negatively impacting your daily functioning, or have answered yes to 3 or more of these questions, we recommend you come to Counseling & Psychological Services.

Additional Resources

• NEDA: National Eating Disorders Association
• ANAD: The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
• AED: Academy for Eating Disorders
• APA: American Psychiatric Association

Books

• 100 Questions & Answers about Eating Disorders - Carolyn Costin

• Life Without ED - Jenni Schaefer 
• 8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder - Carolyn Costin
• Living with your body and other things you hate - Emily Sandoz
• Intuitive Eating - Evelyn Tribole
• The Religion of Thinness - Michelle Lelwica

 While these books and links are resources to use, Counseling & Psychological Services at Liberty University is not endorsing these books and websites or the authors of the books or websites.