Eating Disorder

An eating disorder is a compulsion to eat, or avoid eating, that negatively affects both one's physical and mental health. Eating disorders are all encompassing. They affect every part of the person's life. According to the authors of Surviving an Eating Disorder, "feelings about work, school, relationships, day-to-day activities and one's experience of emotional well being are determined by what has or has not been eaten or by a number on a scale. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are the most common eating disorders generally recognized by medical classification schemes, with a significant diagnostic overlap between the two. Together, they affect an estimated 5-7% of females in the United States during their lifetimes. Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes an eating disorder characterized by low body weight and body image distortion with an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Bulimia nervosa is a serious and sometimes life-threatening eating disorder that affects primarily young women. Bulimics go through cycles of binging and purging. Binging is the consumption of abnormally large amounts of food in a very short period of time, and purging is the elimination of food by some unusual activity. Bulimics use fasting, excessive exercise, vomiting, or laxatives to purge themselves of food. Bulimia is partly caused by excessive concern about weight control and self-image. It is considered to be a psychiatric disorder. There is a third type of eating disorder currently being investigated and defined - Binge Eating Disorder. This is a chronic condition that occurs when an individual consumes huge amounts of food during a brief period of time and feels totally out of control and unable to stop their eating. It can lead to serious health conditions such as morbid obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.