What are some warning signs of disordered eating?

Be alert for potential signs of disordered eating in your own daily habits and attitudes toward food. Being at war with food (or your body) certainly reduces your quality of life, and it sets the stage for more serious health problems. Here are the signs to look for:

• Skipping meals or going for long periods of time (more than five hours) without eating
• "Forgetting" to eat
• Rigid ideas about good foods/bad foods
• Chronic dieting driven by body hatred/poor body image
• Feeling overly guilty or self-loathing for breaking unrealistic food rules meant to keep oneself "in line"
• Fanatical or extreme "healthy" eating (e.g., sacrificing social eating situations and holiday celebrations in order to eat foods believed to be "right")
• Eating acceptable foods in front of others and then bingeing on "forbidden" foods when alone
• Using prescription pills, laxatives, or compulsively exercising to compensate for dietary "mistake

It can be easy for a parent to miss the start of a child's eating disorder, or to confuse it with some other problem, like drug or alcohol abuse. In this video, Dr. Craig Johnson, of NORMAL nonprofit, discusses six common warning signs of eating disorders.