1. Eating Disorders
Not just about food...

2. Eating Disorders are...
Health threatening changes in the patterns of food consumption
Serious illnesses with both medical and psychological aspects
Treatable and preventable

3. Who is at risk for an eating disorder?
Males and females
All socioeconomic classes
Eating disorders are common in the U.S. population.

4. Eating Disorder Statistics
8 million people in United States
3% of all girls suffer with anorexia nervosa
1% of men suffer from an eating disorder
5-18% of people with anorexia will die from complications with the disorder

5. Causes of Eating Disorders
Psychological Factors
Competitive, seeking perfection and ambitious
Difficulty controlling stresses
Low self-esteem and negative body image

6. Causes of Eating Disorders
Biological Factors
Family History
Depression
Alcoholism

7. Causes of Eating Disorders
Behavioral Factors
Excessive dieting
Excessive exercise
Influence the media
Career choices

8. What is the impact of eating disorders?
Eating disorders affect each area of health.

9. Effects of Eating Disorders
Physical Effects – Weight Loss, Dry scaly skin, Heart damage
Emotional Effects – Low self-esteem, lack of trust
Social Effects – Withdrawn, Isolated
Mental Effects – Depressed, anxious
Spiritual Effects – Loss of self-identity, inability to cope

10. Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by self-imposed starvation and refusal to maintain a minimally normal weight
Intense fears of gaining weight
Inaccurate perception of shape and size of his/her body

11. Characteristics of Anorexia
Denial of hunger
Frequent weighing of self / excessive exercise
5-18% die from this
Loss of menstruation
Rapid and significant weight loss
Preoccupation with food and calories
Guilt about eating
Distorted body image
Unhappy with physical appearance
Denial of problem

12. Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia is characterized by repeated episodes of binge eating followed by purging behaviors.
Purging may include excessive exercise, vomiting, or the misuse of laxatives, diuretics, other medications, and enemas.

13. Characteristics of Bulimia
Frequent use of the bathroom after meals
Feeling out of control
Binge eating
Purging
Misuse of laxatives, diuretics, and/or diet pills
Social isolation
Excessive dehydration
Erosion of the esophagus
Depression
Teeth erosion
Heart failure

14. Characteristics of BOTH
low self-esteem
competitive
seek perfection / control
difficulty controlling stress

15. What is exercise bulimia?
Exercise bulimia is not about being physically fit and healthy. It's all about burning off that chocolate you polished off at lunch time... Or that bag of chips you devoured on the way back from work. The only reason you exercise is to burn off calories.
Exercise bulimics are so obsessed with exercising that they will miss work, family events and socializing - to spend hours working out at the gym.
OBSESSION is the key similarity between bulimics who throw up and bulimics who over-exercise.

16. How to Identify an Exercise Bulimic
Exercise is your priority and it comes above most other things... Including socializing, family, and study or work.
You exercise for the sole purpose of burning calories that you have consumed.
You suffer from extreme frustration, anger and agitation if you're unable to exercise.
Your workouts are rigid and structured. You are not able to compromise when it comes to exercise.
You turn down food if you can't exercise to burn it off.

17. Binge Eating Disorder
BED is characterized by consuming larger quantities of food than normal in short periods of time.

18. Treatment for Eating Disorders
An eating disorder can only be diagnosed by a physician.
Communicate with empathy and concern
Respect the privacy of a person seeking help to treat an eating disorder.

19. Treatment Can Work 1/3 recover after the initial episode
1/3 fluctuate with recovery and relapse
1/3 suffer chronic deterioration
Source: Eating Disorders Coalition (2008)

20. Eating Disorder Main Points
Any obsession with thinness, body weight, or food may suggest an eating disorder.
Eating disorders occur more frequently in females than males.
Self-worth is tied to body weight and dieting for people with eating disorders.
An overemphasis on thinness in society and in the media may contribute to increasing incidences of bulimia and anorexia.