An estimated ten of every 100 teenage girls struggles with either anorexia or bulimia. Despite widespread efforts by medical professionals, educators, and parents, this figure hasn’t changed much in the last several years.

In an article on theadvertiser.com, author Doreen Nagle discussed how learning to spot signs of an eating disorder can ensure that a teen gets much-needed help:

• Anorexia nervosa: A teen who is a perfectionist and super high achiever in school or other activities.
• With that said, [the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry] says that this teen likely has low self-esteem and irrationally believes herself to be overweight when she is clearly too thin.
• Seeking control over her life, anorexic teens find it in being able to say "No" to food. This lack of nutrition often leads to serious health disorders.
• In bulimia, the sufferer binges on foods (often high-calorie foods) and then purges by forcing herself to vomit or by using laxatives.
• Often, the bulimic will indulge in odd diets resulting in weight fluctuations.
• Self-induced purging is a serious concern since it robs the body of necessary nutrition, can damage organs and cause dehydration.

Labels: bulimia, signs_of_eating_disorders, anorexia

Posted By: Eating Disorders Help Guide 0 Comments

Monitoring one's weight and body shape can be part of a healthy diet and exercise plan -- but excessive self-monitoring may indicate the presence of a problem such as an eating disorder. The link between excessive self-checking and eating disorders was explored in a June 5 article on the Medical News Today website:

"Sometimes body and weight checking becomes second nature and many individuals with eating disorders don't even realize they're doing it," said Dena Cabrera, PsyD, psychologist at Remuda Programs for Eating and Anxiety Disorders. "Commonly, they check to feel for fatness, bones and any physical change in their body to subconsciously or consciously motivate their eating disorder behavior."

Many individuals with eating disorders weigh themselves at frequent intervals, sometimes many times a day. As a result they become obsessed with the daily weight fluctuations that are a normal part of the body and would otherwise pass unnoticed. The movements on the scale then determine their mood and eating patterns.

Body checking is influential in maintaining dissatisfaction with shape and appearance. Other common behaviors associated with body checking include: looking in the mirror (or at reflective surfaces); measuring body parts with tape measures or hands; pinching or touching body parts; assessing the tightness of particular items of clothing or accessories; looking down at one's body and touching collar bones to check for boniness.

Parents who notice that their children are engaging in excessive self-monitoring -- or who are showing other eating disorder symptoms -- should intervene immediately and make arrangements for their child to be evaluated by a health care professional.

Labels: signs_of_eating_disorders, self-image_issues, eating disorders

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A recent study in Ireland found that teenage girls who are concerned about their weight are more likely to resort to bulimia than dieting and exercise to shed some extra pounds. The survey of 3,000 Irish teenage girls also found that 11% of them exhibited signs of eating disorders.

"Apart from eating concerns, those suffering from eating disorders are also shown to be significantly more affected by lower quality of life. They also tend to consider themselves not as popular as their peers, do not [do] as well academically and rate their mood to be less good than their peers."

Teens that had a poor body image were likely to have parents with body image issues as well. Source: RTE News

Labels: signs_of_eating_disorders, parents, predictors

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One of the signs that many doctors look for when diagnosing eating disorders in young girls is "secondary amenorrhea", or the starting and stopping of the menstrual cycle. A recent study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill warns that if a girl has irregular menstruation, eating disorders should be "on the radar".

"Nearly 80 percent of women with anorexia reported secondary amenorrhea, meaning they had begun having periods before age 16 but had stopped menstruating for at least three months in a row at least once. About 36 percent of women with bulimia nervosa had secondary amenorrhea."

The study's findings indicated that, though eating disorder subtypes can't be distinguished simply by a patient's menstrual status, irregularities should be a red flag.

Read more at nlm.nih.gov.

Labels: diagnosis, signs_of_eating_disorders, amenorrhea

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Aimee Liu was in 8th grade when she developed signs of anorexia. As an adolescent in the 1960s, her culture was influenced by women like fashion icon Twiggy and movie star Audrey Hepburn, who were considered "ideal". Though she never exhibited life-threatening symptoms, the psychological effects of the disorder ran deep.

"We tend to focus on the physical when people talk about eating disorders. This is problematic because it's really a psychological problem. The misunderstanding occurs when a person appears to come back to normal weight; the anorexia is a distress signal or an expression of an under-lying emotional problem. If not addressed, the symptoms or eating disorder, will recur later in life."

To keep this from happening in her own life, Aimee focuses on developing a diverse identity; focusing on hobbies and other interests that can help shape her identity. Aimee Liu"s book, Gaining  the Truth about Life after Eating Disorders, is published through Warner Books. Read more at Cleveland.com.

Labels: signs_of_eating_disorders, support, causes of eating disorders

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