What Are Eating Disorders?

    Eating disorders, including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder, are psychological disorders that involve extreme disturbances in eating behavior. A teen with anorexia refuses to stay at a normal body weight. Someone with bulimia has repeated episodes of binge eating followed by compulsive behaviors such as vomiting or the use of laxatives to rid the body of food. Binge eating is characterized by uncontrolled overeating.

      Anorexia nervosa affects as many as one in every 100 females. Teens with anorexia fear gaining weight and are at least 15% below their ideal body weights. They believe the main gauge of self-worth is their body image.

     Experts believe many American girls are bulimic and have kept the problem a secret. Bulimia often starts in the late teens and early adulthood. People with bulimia go through cycles of eating enormous amounts of foods followed by purging by vomiting, using laxatives, or diuretics or hours of aerobic exercise.

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Warning signs of bulimia include:

• Extreme preoccupation about being overweight
• Strict dieting followed by high-calorie eating binges
• Overeating when distressed
• Feeling out of control
• Disappearing after a meal
• Depressed moods
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Frequent use of laxatives or diuretics
• Excessive exercising
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Because of vomiting and the use of laxatives, there are serious consequences in the body

The most important thing we can do as teachers is to help our students to love themselves, to accept their own bodies and be proud of them because everyone is priceless