Warning Signs
Did you know?
The 5 Primary Contributors to Eating Disorders are:
-
Genetics
-
Interpersonal Environment
-
Media (Television, billboards, etc.)
-
Trauma or various life changes
-
Society
Be on the lookout for:
-
Constant thoughts of food
-
Counting calories
-
Weighing several times a day
-
Complaining about being fat or about specific body parts
-
Severely limiting food intake
-
Labeling certain foods as “good” or “bad”
-
Obsessive Exercising to the extreme to burn calories
-
Exercising as a punishment for eating a “bad” food
-
Vomiting after eating
-
Severe anxiety
-
Using laxatives, diet pills, enemas, diuretics, and or ipecac
-
Hiding foods
-
Exhibiting food rituals (such as cutting food into tiny pieces)
-
Frequent or often long trips to the bathroom, often with water running
-
Avoiding people, lying, keeping secrets, stealing, cutting or compulsively shopping
-
Perfectionism
-
Reading books or visiting websites on eating disorders and dieting
-
Considerably thinner in a relatively short period of time with no explainable reason, such as a medical cause
-
Swollen neck with enlarged salivary glands resulting from excessive vomiting.
-
Lying and secretive behavior
-
Absence of menstrual cycles (in younger ages, 3 cycles may be rather late in the game to intervene)
-
Maintaining a body weight of 15% below normal for age, height, and body type
-
Dressing to hide body shape
-
Avoiding meals
-
Dental Problems
-
Brittle Nails & Hair
* Studies have shown that anorexia and bulimia have a hereditary factor of 50-80%. It is important to address one’s “family history” of an eating disorder and be especially mindful of this factor.