To eat too much, to refuse to eat, to throw up after eating, is common. Here are some of the most common eating disorders;
The 3 Most Common Eating Disorders.
Even though there is no specific cause of eating disorders, your thoughts and emotions can change your eating behaviour.
Eating disorders come as a result of psychological problems.
Yes, it is possible to recover from it, let’s talk about the three most common eating disorders, and let’s talk about treatment and recovery.
1. Anorexia Nervosa
This is an eating disorder, where an individual will deny themselves food to the extreme of starvation, with fear of “getting fat”.
This is very risky because this can quickly lead to MALNUTRITION.
The common signs include :
- Fear of adding weight.
- A very Low BMI.
- Refusing to eat.
- Over-exercising, with the desire to remain thin.
- Extreme need to lose weight.
Anorexia nervosa may be linked to other serious underlying conditions like cancers, diabetes, and chronic infections, and can lead to unintentional weight loss.
Whenever you come across an individual with this eating disorder, it is very important to find the route cause of the extreme weight loss, as it will determine the best mode of treatment.
2. BULIMIA NERVOSA
Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder that involves eating too much food and thereafter forcing vomiting. They will not refuse to eat as in ANOREXIA nervosa, but
An individual would consume so much food, at a specific time, and after that try to force some of the food out by vomiting.
The common signs and symptoms include :
- Fear of gaining weight, although still want to eat too much food.
- Eating a large amount of food at a sitting.
- Inducing vomiting right after eating, often because if fear of a possible weight gain.
- Over-exercising.
- Use of supplements for weight loss.
- Extreme need to eat a lot, even if not hungry.
Bulimia Nervosa could be linked to complications like; digestion problems, heart problems, low self-esteem, anxiety, or even self-injury.
It is important to distinguish these symptoms in order to prevent damage.
3. BINGE EATING DISORDER
In this type of eating disorder, an individual would eat too much food, very fast, sometimes swallowing even without tasting it, just like BULIMIA NERVOSA.
However, no vomiting would be attempted.
The common signs and symptoms and similar to BULIMIA NERVOSA except :
- They would not attempt to vomit or force throw up.
Binge eating can quickly lead to obesity, predisposing an individual to so many diseases like heart disease, stroke, hypertension and even certain cancers.
TREATMENT AND RECOVERY.
The treatment would include multi-disciplinary team that involves;
- Psychotherapy
- Nutrition counselling
- Nutrition supplements
- Inpatient care
Psychotherapy
This involves sessions that focus on changing how you think, feel and behave.
People behave differently around food, and mood has been shown to affect how people eat, how much they eat, and how often they eat. Some people would eat too much when they are stressed up, others may refuse to eat at all.
The need to see a psychologist is just to make sure you get back on your feet, eat food well and rebuild your relationship with food. To prevent lose of weight and even gaining unnecessary weight loss.
Nutrition counselling
Focuses on helping the individual get back to a normal healthy weight, and prevent more complications.
With proper guidance on why you need to eat what kind of foods and at what quantities will help a big deal.
Nutrition counselling also comes in very important to resolve any malnutrition, including restoring fluid and electrolyte balance.
Malnutrition especially undernutrition already predisposes an individual to so many infections, and it’s quite important to prevent that, as much as possible.
Nutrition supplements
In cases of severe deficiencies, a nutritionist /dietician can prescribe supplements to aid in quicker recovery. Are supplements recommended?
There are certain supplements that may be needed to bring back good health.
These supplements should only be prescribed by a qualified professional, to avoid issues of intoxication.
Inpatient care
For severe Malnutrition, in-patient care may be necessary to aid appropriate management.
Health is wealth
