Get Adobe Flash player
NEDA TOOLKIT for Coaches and Trainers You can tell if a person has an eating disorder simply by appearance. You can’t. Anorexia may be easier to detect visually, although individuals may wear loose clothing to conceal their body. Bulimia is harder to “see” because individuals often have normal weight or may even be overweight. Some people may have obvious signs, such as sudden weight loss or gain; others may not. People with an eating disorder can become very effective at hiding the signs and symptoms. Thus, eating disorders can go undetected for months, years or a lifetime. Eating disorders are about appearance and beauty. Eating disorders are a mental illness and have little to do with food, eating, appearance or beauty. This is indicated by the continuation of the illness long after a person has reached his or her initial ‘target’ weight. Eating disorders are caused by unhealthy and unrealistic images in the media. While sociocultural factors (such as the ‘thin ideal’) can contribute or trigger development of eating disorders, research has shown that the causes are multifactorial and include biologic, social and environmental contributors. Not everyone who is exposed to media images of the “thin ideal” develops an eating disorder. Eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa have been documented in medical literature since the 1800s, when social concepts of an ideal body shape for women and men differed significantly from today — long before mass media promoted thin body images for women or lean, muscular body images for men. Eating disorders are an attempt to seek attention. Far from being a desire for attention, many who experience eating disorders often go to great lengths to conceal it due to an inability to recognize the illness, fear of what might happen if the behaviors are stopped, a desire to continue behaviors and/or feelings of shame. Purging is only throwing up. The definition of purging is to evacuate the contents of the stomach or bowels by any of several means. In bulimia, purging is used to compensate for excessive food intake. Methods of purging include vomiting, enemas and laxative abuse, insulin abuse, fasting and excessive exercise. Any of these behaviors can be dangerous and can lead to a serious medical emergency or death. Purging by throwing up also can affect the teeth and esophagus because of the acidity of purged contents. Purging will help with weight loss. Purging does not result in ridding the body of ingested food. Half of what is consumed during a binge typically remains in the body after self-induced vomiting. Laxatives result in weight loss through fluids/water and the effect is temporary. For these reasons, many people with bulimia are of average or above-average weight. Kids under age 15 are too young to have an eating disorder. Eating disorders have been diagnosed even in very young children. Often the precursor behaviors are not recognized until middle to late teens. Although the majority of people with eating disorders report the onset of symptoms by age 20, some people do not seek treatment until later in life. Achieving normal weight means the anorexia is cured. Weight recovery is essential to enabling a person with anorexia to participate meaningfully in further treatment, such as psychological therapy. Recovering to normal weight does not in and of itself signify a cure, because eating disorders are complex medical/ psychiatric illnesses. Recovery from eating disorders is rare. Recovery can take months or years, but many people eventually recover after treatment. Recovery rates vary widely among individuals and between different eating disorders. Early intervention with appropriate care can improve the outcome regardless of the eating disorder. Although anorexia nervosa is associated with the highest death rate of all psychiatric disorders, research suggests that about half of people with anorexia nervosa recover, about 20% continue to experience issues with food, and about 20% die in the longer term due to medical or psychological complications. Page  | 13