Anorexia: a closer look

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder and a psychological disorder where dieting and controlling food intake becomes a preoccuation and main focus of the daily life. Some more key feautures are a distorted image of your own body, refusing to want to maintain a health body weight and also an intense fear of gaining weight. It can become very serious and severe, with thoughts about exercising, dieting, food, your body and purging becoming a full-time task and take up most of your day—leaving little time for friends, family, and other activities you used to enjoy. Life becomes a relentless pursuit of thinness and going to extremes to lose weight.

But no matter how skinny you become, it’s never enough. Because the main issue is not really about the food or the weight but the control and the (short) feeling of success that restricting food intake can give. Controlling the emotions of hunger can become almost euphoric and spending so much time thinking about weight and dieting becomes a 'safe place' where you do not have to face the hard emotions of other problems in your life. But the euphoria is shortlived and soon you will be facing even lower self-esteem, less control, depression and isolation along with an array of physical consequences!

While people with anorexia often deny having a problem, secrecy is a big part of disordered eating behavior, the truth is that anorexia is a serious and potentially deadly eating disorder. But remember - recovery from anorexia is absolutely possible and there is help to get! With proper treatment and support, you or someone you care about can break anorexia’s self-destructive pattern and regain health and self-confidence.

What are some common anorexic signs and symptoms?

• Preoccupation with food, planning meals and cooking for others
• Counting calories, weighing food and reading nutritional values before eating
• Lying about eating or avoiding events where food will be present
• Wearing baggy clothes to hide a rapid weight loss
• Secretive behavior about food, eating alone or in ritualistic ways, hiding or throwing away food
• Denial about weight loss and dieting
• Obsession about scales and the weight in numbers or measurements (such as sizes)

It is not crystal clear why some people will fall ill with anorexia, it can come from a range of factors such as genetics, sexual or physical abuse, low self-esteem or high-level athletics. It does not even have to be a clear reason for the disorder, somehow resticting food intake came into your life when you were at a low point - and it became a way of coping with hardships. We do know that it is more common in females, but remember it can effect people from all gender, social classes and ages! If untreated, you can go on for decades with a disordered eating pattern and I have met elderly women in treatment being up to 70 years old. But it is never a day to late to start recieving treatment!

Hope this gave some insights! Keep checking back, I will continue on in an upcoming post and guiding you through bulimia - 'til then - be as happy as you can be!