Eating disorders can have profound effects on your body, especially if you do not seek help for them. Lack of proper nutrition can wreak havoc on normal body functions and can be life threatening. Effects on the circulatory system include high or low blood pressure or heart disease. Problems with your brain, like seizures or mental illness (such as depression) can also result. Eating disorders can also cause problems with your kidneys, digestive tract, teeth, bones, and menstrual cycle, too.
Living With An Eating Disorder
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Dr. Doris Day, MD , Dermatology, answeredIf you suffer from anorexia or bulimia, you are wreaking havoc with your skin. Severely restricting your food intake, taking laxatives, and inducing vomiting all have profound adverse effects not only on your skin but also on your hair and nails. Of course, you are also damaging your health in general. I strongly encourage you to seek counseling. I’m counting on the fact that you will be motivated to get help now that you know that you are causing your skin to look far older than it really is. I know that’s not what you want, and I have faith that you’ll decide to get your situation under control so that you can follow all of the advice in this book and have the glowing, youthful skin you deserve. -
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Lindsay Johnson, NASM Elite Trainer , Fitness, answeredSee All 3 AnswersEating disorders are a serious Mental Illness. When you are struggling to beat such an illness, you may ask yourself if one can truly be recovered. The answer is, yes! I personally struggled with eating disorders in my past, so I can relate to the question of is this ever going to end. Let your loved ones know that you are hurting, and want to seek professional help in order to reach recovery from this mental disease.
- Find a team to work with for recovery (a personal trainer, nutritional coach, counselor, and close friend or family member to support you, make sure your professional coaches are specialized in your type of eating disorder).
- Be patient you did not develop an eating disorder over night; it will not go away overnight. However, if you take the time to do it right, you will recover, and you deserve this quality of life!
- Don’t be ashamed to let others know you are struggling. I hid my eating disorder for a long time, and once I opened up to my loved ones, I was really able to get the help and support I need to recover. No one is perfect, and you will start to see that there are deeper emotions that drive you toward you’re eating disorder lifestyle.
- Once you are really educated about your body, mind, and emotions, you will step into the path of recovery. There will be steps back along the way, but for every step back you will take one larger step forward. With each step back you are learning through experience what does not work for you. Recovery is not a cookie cutter solution for all. You truly, will create your own recovery package and that is a beautiful thing. Every time I fell back during my recovery I hated that moment of fear and feeling of failure. However, now I am very thankful for those tough times because I can use those times to connect with my clients who may be at that same phase I once was. I am able to help them out of that phase and on to the next phase of recovery. I also like that because I felt pain then, now I really appreciate all my healthy habits and all the great feelings they bring to my life each day!
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Dominion Hospital answeredIn addition to maintaining the treatments that your doctors have prescribed, there are a number of things you can do to manage your eating disorder on a daily basis. The biggest thing you can do is to avoid anything that makes you want to restrict your eating or binge, such as magazines with extremely thin actresses and pro-anorexia websites. Then, try to find ways to cope with these images when you see them, such as writing your thoughts and feelings in a journal, finding a role model with a healthy weight, reminding yourself about what a healthy weight for you actually is, and boosting your self-esteem by participating in activities that you enjoy. The last thing you should do is to remind yourself that you are not the best judge of healthy weight - rely on the perceptions of your loved ones and doctors to judge your weight appropriately.
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National Academy of Sports Medicine answeredExercise can be good for someone with an eating disorder. Depending on the severity of the disorder, controlled exercise (monitored by a health care professional) is good for someone who has an eating disorder. One of the biggest components of an eating disorder are the addictive, unhealthy behaviors the individual engages in, and if left alone to decide how much exercise is enough, the individual suffering from the disorder will choose too much. In disordered eating, the challenge for that person involved is not in the food and not in the addiction, but in the sense of control which can surface around food, sport and exercise. In a controlled setting it is important for professionals to focus on and understand how to promote proper nutritional practices, focus on fitness not body weight, be sensitive to weight issues and promote healthy management of weight. -
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National Academy of Sports Medicine answeredDepending on the severity of the eating disorder, controlled exercise (monitored by a healthcare professional) could be beneficial. Someone with minimal disordered eating issues could gain self-esteem and self-confidence from exercise in an uncontrolled environment. One of the biggest components of an eating disorder are addictive, unhealthy behaviors and someone with an eating disorder, when left to their own devices, would more than likely choose too much exercise. In disordered eating, the challenge for that person involved is not in the food and not in the addiction, but in the sense of control which can surface around food, sport and exercise. In a controlled setting it is important for professionals to focus on and understand how to promote proper nutritional practices, focus on fitness not body weight, be sensitive to weight issues and promote healthy management of weight.
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National Academy of Sports Medicine answeredDepending on the severity of the eating disorder, controlled exercise (monitored by health care professional) could be beneficial. Someone with minimal disordered eating issues could gain self-esteem and self-confidence from exercise in an uncontrolled environment. If you are going to ask a friend with an eating disorder to exercise, here are some important things to look for: excessive dieting, considerable weight loss, guilt about eating, preoccupation with food, intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, and preoccupation with body shape and exercise. If you notice that your friend has one or two of these symptoms, your friend may be just starting to exhibit signs of an eating disorder and in that situation may still be in a place to be realistic about exercise. If your friend exhibits many of these symptoms then she may be closer to a more severe eating disorder.
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National Academy of Sports Medicine answeredHow much exercise is really dependent on the severity of the eating disorder. Controlled exercise (monitored by a health care professional) is good for someone who has an intermediate to extreme eating disorder. Someone with minimal disordered eating issues could gain self-esteem and self-confidence from exercise in an uncontrolled environment. One of the biggest components of an eating disorder are addictive, unhealthy behaviors and if left alone to decide how much exercise is enough, someone with an eating disorder will choose too much. In disordered eating the challenge for that person involved is not in the food and not in the addiction, but in the sense of control which can surface around food, sport and exercise. In a controlled setting it is important for professionals to focus on and understand how to promote proper nutritional practices, focus on fitness not body weight, be sensitive to weight issues and promote healthy management of weight.
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National Academy of Sports Medicine answeredThe severity of the disorder eating will determine whether or not someone becomes addicted to exercise. Someone with minimal disordered eating issues could gain self-esteem and self-confidence from exercise in an uncontrolled environment. Controlled exercise (monitored by a healthcare professional) is good for someone who has a intermediate to extreme eating disorder. One of the biggest components of an eating disorder are addictive, unhealthy behaviors and if left alone to decide how much exercise is enough, someone with an eating disorder will choose too much. In disordered eating the challenge for that person involved is not in the food and not in the addiction but in the sense of control which can surface around food, sport and exercise. In a controlled setting, it is important for professionals to focus on and understand how to promote proper nutritional practices, focus on fitness not body weight, be sensitive to weight issues and promote healthy management of weight.
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Dr. Michael Roizen, MD , Internal Medicine, answeredSee All 2 AnswersEating disorders in their extreme form seem to burrow into the brains of their victims, take over their thoughts and grow stronger every day. People with eating disorders build a “fat box,” where every comment, every situation, is filtered through the box and distorted, so that it comes out as a criticism or demand. “You look great today” becomes “You usually look fat.” “You look so healthy” becomes “You’re eating too much.” “I love your hair” becomes “I can’t find anything nice to say about the rest of you.”
EDs also take over their victims’ self-perceptions. People become unable to see the “real” image of themselves in the mirror, seeing someone much larger or with a distorted body shape. People with severe eating disorders often go to sleep thinking about food and wake up thinking about food. Every bite is an internal struggle. The “eating disorder voice” grows to be much louder than the individual’s true voice, and constantly berates and threatens. “You are a fat pig with no control!” “If you eat that cookie, you’re going to be totally disgusting!”