Students: How do I know if I have an eating disorder?
There is a lot of pressure in our society to maintain the cultural ideal of beauty and this can lead to unhealthy eating patterns. For many students, the focus on appearance becomes more and more important so that they will do anything to be thin. Our culture continues to glamorize thin people and to perpetuate the myth that thin is better. There is also a great deal of confusion about what constitutes healthy eating, appropriate portion sizes and caloric intake. Sometimes an effort to lose weight or eat more healthy meals can lead to distorted eating or even to an eating disorder. Dieting and excessive exercise can become dangerous obsessions, resulting in an eating disorder such as Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa or Binge Eating Disorder.
How do I learn what a healthy diet is?
Diets tend not to work as 90-95% of people who go on ANY type of diet gain back the weight they lost plus more within a year. So what can do you to manage a healthy weight and eat in a heathy manner? This requires a lifestyle change rather than changing your eating habits for a brief period of time and then going back to your old eating habits. The USDA’s website has accurate and helpful information about portion sizes and will give you a personalized food plan and you can find it as www.myplate.gov It also offers an app to help you to set and reach your goals.
Signs and Symptoms of an Eating Disorder
Anorexia is characterized primarily by restricting calories and striving to lose an excessive and unhealthy amount of weight. It becomes a vicious and unending cycle of wanting to lose weight, reaching the lower goal weight and then setting an even lower weight goal. Often anorexia may start with wanting to lose a reasonable amount of weight and eat in a healthier way but this soon becomes an obsession and the person’s focus is encompassed by food, weight, calories and appearance to the detriment of other things in their lives such as school, work, friends, family and hobbies. Symptoms include:
- Refusal to maintain weight at or above a minimally normal weight for height and age
- Intense fear of weight gain
- Restricting calories, refusal to eat certain food
- Preoccupation with weight, food calories and diets
- Excessive exercising
- Avoiding activities that include eating
- Distorted and poor body image
Bulimia is characterized by a secretive cycle of uncontrollable binge eating followed by purging . Symptoms include:
- Feeling out of control during a binge
- Purging after a binge eg) self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise,laxative use ,diet pills
- Using the bathroom frequently after eating
- Making excuses not to eat with others and then eating secretively alone
- Distorted andpoor body image
Binge Eating Disorder is similar to Bulimia Nervosa but there is no purging behaviors. Often people will fast or diet and then binge and experience weight fluctuations.
Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder and eating disorders in general are associated with many health issues including insomnia, hair loss, fertility issues, dental problems, depression, anxiety, memory and concentration problems, dizziness and fainting, irritability and more serious problems such as heart, liver and kidney problems.
For more information about eating disorders, the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) is an excellent resource: www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
If you are concerned about yourself or someone else, please call the Ball State University Counseling Center at (765) 285-1736. We offer individual and group counseling for students with eating disorders. We also sponsor National Eating Disorders Awareness Week the last week in February and offer free screenings and information on healthy eating and weight management.
How can I improve my body image?
From Disney movies to reality television, we are bombarded with messages about how we should look. We are taught that beauty is what you see on the outside because that is what sells beauty and dieting products. The diet industry wants us to feel badly about ourselves so that we will buy their products to help us to feel better. They literally bank on us feeling negatively about the way we look. When the product doesn’t produce the desired effects, we and the industry blame us and not the product and so we look for the next great thing. Instead of buying into these messages, challenge yourself to change the way you think about your body and your self-esteem. Strive for body acceptance meaning that you accept your body the way it is without judgement. When we accept our bodies, we don’t loathe or try to change parts of our body. We may not feel positive or happy about every aspect of our bodies and we accept that no one’s body is perfect and we can feel a sense of acceptance and neutrality about aspects of ourselves as well as feeling positive about other parts of our bodies. It means you are enough the way you are. Some believe this is a more realistic goal than body positivity to love our bodies. How can I practice body acceptance:
- Don’t weigh your self-esteem.Don’t value yourself based on your weight
- Avoid looking at social media images of unrealistic images of people’s bodies
- Practice mindfulness
- Appreciate your body for what it does for you and its function in your life
- Don’t compare yourself to others
- Wear whatever clothing you want to wear—clothes are supposed to fit you not the other way around
- Focus on appreciating other parts of yourself not associated with appearance
- Become aware and stop talking negatively about your body (or yourself)
- Eat and enjoy food you want to eat.
- Redirect conversations about food, weight, calories, diets, size etc.
