Disordered Eating and its Causes

Disordered Eating and its Causes

An eating disorder develops from dysfunctional eating habits. Teenage girls who are fixated on losing weight often engage in harmful behaviors like starvation. Their organs are being damaged by their poor diet. Depression and anxiety are the result, making this a major issue overall. Extreme weight gain is a symptom of an eating disorder.

A person has an eating disorder if they use food as a crutch to hide their emotional distress.

In terms of prevalence, the three most common forms of eating disorders are:

Mood disorders that involve food preoccupation: anorexia, bulimia, and overeating

Anorexia

Typically manifesting in adolescent girls, this mental illness can be traced back to experiences of emotional or physical abuse or low self-esteem. The primary motivation for these individuals to begin dieting again is an obsession with weight loss. Their motivation to keep going increases as they lose pounds. They stop caring about how they look and focus solely on weight loss. They deliberately starve themselves to seize control of the host. This leads them to ignore their health, which can ultimately be fatal. Addiction might be thought of as a subtype of this condition.

Because of their irrational fear of being overweight, individuals begin to physically reject food to the point of vomiting it back up. To help them shed pounds, some people turn to laxatives. Even as their waistlines shrink, they remain dissatisfied.

Bulimia

Having an unhealthy preoccupation with weight loss is another characteristic of anorexia. In this case, the person may eat excessively and then vomit all of the food back up. They might binge on a lot of food, perhaps especially fatty food, in a short period of time and then make themselves throw up. People who feel guilty after eating may try to "work off" the calories by exercising excessively, using laxatives, or fasting. Young adult women are most likely to develop bulimia.

Bulimics, in contrast to anorexics, do consume food but then either induce vomiting or utilize laxatives to rid their bodies of it.

Concerns for one's health caused by anorexia and bulimia

This List Includes

Damage to the kidneys from dehydration can cause fainting and dizziness, irregular menstrual cycles, brittle bones, and infertility.

Symptoms include a slow heart rate, low blood pressure, a low body temperature, and hair loss.

Repetitive Overeating

A compulsive eater is someone who regularly engages in binge eating despite experiencing negative emotions such as remorse and shame. In contrast to bulimia, when the patient intentionally throws up, this does not entail the use of purging. The results of this are increased weight and mental illness. As a result, they feel a constant need to eat. A shocking percentage of obese individuals (40%) admit to binge eating at least once a month.

It's not easy to tell if you have an eating disorder.

An individual with a compulsive eating disorder often exhibits these behaviors:

• Having health issues such as heartburn, dental difficulties, exhaustion, weight gain, sleeplessness, and High blood pressure. 
• Dieting repeatedly. 
• Being preoccupied with their weight. 
• Exercising vigorously.

Treatments

These conditions are treatable, and recovery is possible. The individual, with the support of those close to them, must make adjustments to his or her way of living. These conditions can be treated with a variety of psychological therapies. When a person with anorexia loses so much weight that their health begins to decline in unexpected ways, medical professionals may decide that it's best to admit them to a hospital. Weight gain would be the primary goal of any intravenous feedings that might be necessary. We can't stress enough the value of having a strong and supportive family. The individual is provided with nutritional counseling as a non-surgical means of controlling weight. Therapy and counseling are frequently used to help people feel better about themselves. Body positivity is a human right.

Patients with eating problems can recover with the right medical, psychological, and nutritional support.