In order to prevent eating disorders, we must know their symptoms. There are early warning signs, side effects and indications that a loved one is on the slippery road to anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder or EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified).
Below is a list of the most common warning signs that may lead to a full blown eating disorder.
- An impulsive focus on healthy food and nutrition
- A sudden interest in reading food labels to check fat grams and calories
- Avoiding fat and becoming increasingly picky about what he/she chooses to eat
- Starting diets to lose weight or become “healthier”
- An unexpected choice to be a vegetarian
- Refusing to eat dessert
- Skipping meals (most often breakfast)
- Lying about the foods they’ve eaten when they’ve eaten and how much they’ve eaten
- Worrying about their weight and being dissatisfied with how they look
- Drinking excessive amounts of water or liquid that have no calories (in order to feel full)
- Poor concentration
Warning Signs Specific to Anorexia
- Significant weight loss
- A denial of how much weight they’ve lost or how thin they’ve become
- Being cold all the time (sometimes a need to wear layers of clothing to stay warm and disguise their thinning body)
- Extensive hair loss (can be seen on pillows, in the shower and in hair brushes)
- Fine hair growing on body and face (called Lanugo), which is protecting the body
- Dizziness and fainting
- A desire to cook for others but not eat any of it
- A yellow-ish skin tone from poor liver function
Warning Signs Specific to Bulimia
- Having constant stomach problems (ie. flues, aches and pains, poor digestion, heartburn)
- Complaining of a sore throat, hoarseness and trouble swallowing
- A sudden sensitivity to all sort of foods
- Swollen cheeks and a puffy face from purging
- A stash of laxatives, diuretics, diet pills or even poison
- Bloodshot eyes and/or red spots around the eyes from self-induced vomiting
- A redness around the mouth and on the back of the hands from purging
- A dental report with a high number of cavities when they were relatively healthy before
- Weight fluctuation from binging and starving
Warning Signs Specific to Binge Eating Disorder
- Usually on a dieting roller coaster or chronically dieting
- Episodes of out of control eating when the person wants to stop but can’t
- Stealing food from grocery stores or emptying the household cupboards
- Eating in secret to avoid the shame of not being able to stop
- Eating even when not hungry
- Emotional eating when angry, upset, frustrated, overwhelmed or sad
- Eating rapidly without tasting or experiencing the food
- After eating, feeling overly stuffed instead of comfortably full
- Not knowing when to stop eating, nor being able to