FINDING BALANCE WELLNESS CENTER

Eating disorders affect all ages, races, genders, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. They come in all different shapes and sizes and you cannot tell if someone has an eating disorder just by looking at someone. If you are concerned about yourself, or someone you love is struggling, don't hesitate to call for a free consultation. 

The 4 most commonly seen eating disorders are:

• Anorexia Nervosa - associated primarily with significantly low weight and intense fear of gaining weight, extreme body image disturbance. There are two types of Anorexia Nervosa -  1. Restricting Type where the Individual achieves weight loss through fasting, dieting, and/or exercise only. 2. Binge/Purge Type where the individual uses compensatory behaviors, i.e. laxatives, vomiting, diuretics, and/or enemas. 

•  Bulimia Nervosa is characterized by binge eating and compensatory behaviors to avoid weight gain such as laxatives or self-induced vomiting.

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• Binge Eating Disorder Sense of lack of control over eating, eating larger than normal amounts of food in  short window of time.  

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• Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED) is when the individual has disordered eating patterns that cause significant distress or impairment, but does not meet the criteria for another feeding or eating disorder. 

Significant Signs and Symptoms

• In spite of dieting, people with eating disorders have a preoccupation with food, cooking, nutrition, and the number of calories, fat content, sugars carbohydrates, or various other ‘fear foods’ or ‘binge food.’

• Food rules and rituals, hiding food, hoarding food, eliminating various foods, cutting food into small pieces, food tearing, chewing food but not swallowing food, water loading, diet pills, laxatives, diuretics, and/or enemas. 

• Dry skin and hair, cold intolerance, slow healing of cuts, bruising easily, poor circulation

• Constipation and slow gastric emptying.

• Enamel erosions, ruptured blood vessels around eyes, electrolyte abnormalities and esophageal tears and ruptures are seen in BN individuals.

• Frequent body checking, comparing constantly comparing oneself to others, body dysmorphia, increasing focus on shape, weight, and size.

• Constant exercising, pacing before and after eating, fatigue, lethargy, slowing cognition.

• Rapid weight loss, fluctuating weight gain/loss.

• Missed or irregular periods for females.

EMDR