I’ve already spoken about different disorders in some of my other blogs, including learning disorders, bipolar disorder, and others. I’d also like to touch upon eating disorders now. Eating disorders feel overlooked and disregarded to me. Eating disorders are often boiled down to just anorexia in the minds of most people and the truth is that other eating disorders are seldom given thought. In this blog, I’m going to try to do just the opposite.
First up, I want to talk about Bulimia Nervosa or Bulimia as it’s better known. It’s a serious eating disorder commonly found in teenagers. Bulimia involves consuming unhealthy amounts of food and then spiraling into this dangerous cycle of self-conscious methods to lose or maintain weight. These methods usually involve taking laxatives or vomiting. Bulimia has symptoms such as intense guilt, anxious and depressive behaviour, and a feeling of helplessness. Bulimia can also make one go numb and especially unable to think clearly. This disorder can also affect one’s physical habits. You might find them eating in secret, or consuming copious amounts of food, and then try ridding themselves of that food by vomiting or exercising. Most people accredit Bulimia to great deals of stress and underlying insecurity.
Next up, Binge eating. Yes, binge eating can be considered an eating disorder, which is a new fact for most people. Binge eating may be one of the most common eating disorders, and society in this generation is on its way to completely normalize it. People with binge eating disorder eat lots of food in short time spans with consistency. However, people that binge eat often do it out of stress and eat to find solace. During an episode, a binge eater will eat much faster than normal and may go to great lengths to find food, often abandoning certain rules of hygiene or morals. Binge eating can feel quite uncontrollable.
I also want to talk about Anorexia. Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder that results in an intense and magnified fear of gaining weight and their view of their body is usually distorted. Food encapsulates the thoughts of anorexic people. They withdraw themselves, they throw food away, they take drugs and pills to speed up their metabolism. Anorexia is one of the most dangerous disorders and millions of people in the world suffer from it.
Over 8% of the population suffers from eating disorders and many of those people go untreated. These conditions demand empathy and a support group for the people that undergo them which most cannot find. That’s why it’s important to help people through their eating disorders
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