Name:                                                       

Define eating disorder. A food related dysfunction in which a person changes eating habits in a way that is harmful to the mind and/or body. It is considered to be an obsessive disorder.

What are some examples? Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, and Overeating

Anorexia Nervosa is defined as an eating disorder characterized by self starvation and a weight of 15% or more below normal. That means if some is supposed to weigh 100 lbs., due to anorexia he/she only weighs 85 lbs. now."

Why do you think someone would purposely starve themselves? Ans: They are convinced that they are overweight, doing it for a sport to make weight or for performance, modeling, to feel accepted, control"

"Some facts and symptoms include:

• the person feels he/she is overweight
• food and weight become obsessions (all they worry about)
• 94-95% of those affected are female, which means 5-6% are males

Some habits of someone affected with Anorexia Nervosa would be:

• they prefer diet foods
• avoid foods high in carbohydrates
• eat the same food very often
• eat slowly
• are often perfectionists
• work out extremely hard and often

How can you help? Ans: try to get them to go to a physician and/or psychologist, encourage a healthy diet, let them know you care and are there for them/give support

Bulimia is defined as an eating disorder in which a person has uncontrollable urges to eat excessively and then purge. Purging is repeated attempts to lose weight by self-induced vomiting, use of laxatives, or diuretics. It can almost be looked at as the opposite of anorexia because the person eats a great deal instead of starving themselves." You can’t pick a bulimic person out of a crowd because they look like everyone else and are often unrecognizable.

Some symptoms of a Bulimic/Binge eater are:

• recurrent binge eating- large amounts of food consumed in short amounts of time
• feeling of lack of control over eating behavior
• frequent vomiting, use of laxatives, or intense workouts
• 3 months of 2 eating binges a week
• over concern with body shape and weight
• hide illness from others
• consume large amounts of calories in one sitting

Because of what a bulimic does to his/her body, there are physical effects of the disorder. They include dental decay, gum damage, tooth enamel erosion, strange body odor, scars on knuckles. Does anybody know what may cause these symptoms? Ans the vomiting.

What are some activities that a bulimic would have trouble doing? Social activities (due to avoiding others), athletics (low energy), might have problems with school or work.

Overeating is eating much more food than the body needs to survive healthfully and then not burning the extra energy from the food.

How could it effect you physically? Leads to obesity, difficulty in moving around, difficulty with sports, a lot of pressure on joints and other body parts, heart disease, etc.

Why do you think people overeat? Ans: low self-esteem, don’t have active lifestyle, eat unhealthful, depression, etc.

How could you help someone who overeats? Ans: get them to admit they have a problem, try to have them develop interests to improve self-esteem/self-image, let them know you are there for them/give them support (same as with anorexia).