Eating Disorders
Turn on the TV or flick through a magazine and chances are you'll see images of perfect-looking celebrities staring back. This might affect your body image (the way you see yourself) and could make you feel bad about yourself. But would you go as far as wanting to change your eating habits to control your weight? Not eating in a healthy way might result in you developing an eating disorder.
What is an eating disorder?
An eating disorder is something you have if you compulsively eat in a way that harms your health. Three major types of eating disorder which you are most likely to encounter are:
Anorexia Nervosa
This is when you obsessively restrict the amount of food you eat and starve yourself in order to lose weight.
Bulimia Nervosa
This is when you purge yourself (which means you make yourself vomit or take laxatives to go to the toilet more) in order to prevent gaining weight after over-eating.
Binge Eating Disorder
This is when you compulsively eat excessive amounts of food. It's a related part of bulimia nervosa. But unlike bulimia, if you don't purge yourself after over-eating you would gain weight and could become obese (which is the condition of being unhealthily overweight).
If you or someone you know has an eating disorder, then you should know that all eating disorders can be treated and you can recover if you get help. The sooner you get help, then the easier it will be to beat an eating disorder. Living with an eating disorder and not getting treatment can result in risks to your health and complications.
Also see:
- Body Mass Index (BMI)
You can measure if you are a healthy weight by calculating your Body Mass Index.