Anxiety about body image is a common problem in the United States, affecting people of any gender. Too much focus on weight and body shape has led to dangerous eating behaviors, especially among teens and adolescents. These habits have significant impacts on the body's ability to get proper nutrition. If a negative eating problem goes untreated, it can substantially affect your emotions, health, and ability to function in various central areas of life. If you have an eating problem that is difficult to manage, you should seek immediate eating disorder treatment therapy.
How Do You Know if You Need Eating Disorder Treatment?
It is estimated that about 28.8 million Americans will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. The problem mainly develops in young adults and teens but can affect other age groups.
Although eating disorders are highly prevalent, most people rarely seek treatment. If you don't seek immediate medical help, an eating disorder can harm the digestive system, heart, teeth, and bones and even lead to other diseases.
Here are the leading indicators that you have an eating disorder:
1. Intense Fear of Gaining Weight
This eating disorder is known as anorexia nervosa. If you have this problem, you have a distorted perception of your body shape or weight. Hence, you use extreme efforts to control your weight and body shape.
Apart from limiting calories intake, you may use other methods to lose weight, such as vomiting after eating, excessive exercising, or using laxatives. Due to poor eating habits, people with this eating disorder are characterized by abnormally low body weight.
2. Lack of Control Over Your Eating
This eating disorder is known as bulimia nervosa. If you have this problem, you can barely control the amount of food you eat. In most cases, you may avoid eating during the day and engage in purging and binge eating at night.
During purging episodes, you can eat large amounts of food at a go. You then feel guilty that you have overeaten. Hence, you may engage in unhealthy means of losing weight, such as vomiting and the use of laxatives.
3. Lack of Interest in Eating
If you have this eating disorder, you lose interest in eating some foods. In this context, you avoid food with specific sensory characteristics, such as taste, smell, color, or texture.
In most cases, you are concerned about the consequences of eating these foods, such as choking or stomach discomfort. As a result, you may suffer from nutritional deficiencies and severe weight loss.
Conclusion
It is challenging to manage an eating disorder by yourself. Before the problem takes over your life, you should seek urgent eating disorder treatment therapy.
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