Anorexia, Bulimia Nervosa, & Binge Eating Disorder: How to Spot Them

There are three diagnosable eating disorders that people generally talk about.

Anorexia Nervosa affects around 1 percent of the people in the US. It is about food restriction and the people suffering with this eating disorder have a misunderstanding about their own body perception. They have a misunderstanding of how their body looks like and they are often underweight. In fact, there is a weight criterion for this particular diagnosis that is much lower than what would be considered in the natural normal range of weights.

Bulimia Nervosa is the second eating disorder which is characterized by repeated episodes of binging followed by some compensatory behavior to get rid of the food. That could be anything from trying to make you throw up, over exercising and misuse of drugs to achieve that effect on their weight.

The third eating disorder is Binging which is actually a new disorder to diagnose which is characterized by repeated episodes of binge eating without the compensatory behavior. The individuals with this eating disorder are engaged in binge eating for 2 or 3 times a week. Moreover, they do not do anything to compensate for this overeating. These individuals are overweight or even obese.

There is one more eating disorder which Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder, which is not an official DSM diagnosis. It describes some of the characteristics that we see with individuals that might have Anorexia and in fact in individuals who have Bulimia. So, there is a crossover of characteristics from Anorexia and Bulimia in such individuals. For some time, they would be diagnosed with Anorexia and for the other time with Bulimia.

Why Anorexia is not dieting

Dieting has become some kind of a trend but it is important to know the difference between your regular dieting and eating disorder. These eating disorders can make you fall in clinical depression and other serious mental disorders.

Restricting weight in Anorexia eating disorder causes severe under weight and even after this abnormal weight, the person refrains from food or restricts their diet. They are constantly thinking about food but not eating it. There is a lot of calorie counting and the thought of their own weight is predominant in them. There is this characteristic in Anorexia that people have unrealistic perception about their own body. This wrong perception actually differentiates Anorexia from normal dieting.

Demographics that are affected

This eating disorder can hit anybody and it is not gender biased. It equally affects both men and women. However, there is a preconceived notion that this eating disorder – Anorexia, Bulimia or Binging hits the women more but it is not true and men are equally affected with this disorder.

This disorder affects all people of different social classes, races and demographics. Eating disorder is a psychological issue which severely affects your eating habits and make your eating routine abnormal.

There are certain population which are more at risk like teenagers and early adulthood. That is the time when the chances of this eating disorder are more likely to hit.

Due to the peer pressure, the teenagers and the people in early adulthood develop eating disorders like Anorexia. Moreover, there are teenagers who develop Bulimia eating disorder which leads them to obesity. Also, Bulimia is more of a disorder of the westernized nations and it is found that the people of the developed countries are prone to this disorder more.

This eating disorder is also common in people who are in competitive sports that require weight to be an important factor. Whether it is belle or wrestling, these sports require a specific weight for you to actually participate. So, people become really obsessed with maintaining their weight.

Studies suggest that eating disorder is also common in transgender, homosexuals. In fact, they are at elevated risks than the normal population.

Final words

Eating disorder is increasing worldwide and the worst part is that people in their early stages of this disorder don’t even consider it an illness. However, it is seen that eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia are very dangerous and can affect your life badly.

So, if you find yourself dieting abnormally or if people are telling you that you are obsessed with your dieting regime then you need to get alert. Your abnormal dieting and less weight could be a sign of Anorexia.

On the other hand, if you are over-eating and you have lost the control on your eating habits lately then you need to see a physician quickly. Although, eating disorder is more of a psychological illness. People with Anorexia or Bulimia should go first for physical examination and then they should hire an expert therapist.