Signs of an Eating Disorder by Mina Goodman, RDN
“There are some signs and symptoms of disordered eating that can be a bigger problem such as an Eating Disorder.”
National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)
Eating disorders are a serious mental and physical illness that can affect anyone. It’s important to know what to look for when it comes to signs and symptoms of an eating disorder so that you are able to get help as early as possible and begin the recovery process. Not everyone will display the same signs and symptoms at once. It’s also important to note that there are both emotional, behavioral and physical symptoms to be on the watch for.
Common symptoms include:
- Refusing to or discomfort with eating certain foods. This may lead to restrictions or food rules against whole categories of food (e.g., no carbohydrates).
- Preoccupation with tracking weight, food, calories, carbohydrates, fat, and other nutrients.
- Impaired immune functioning causing more frequent colds or illnesses.
- Maintaining an excessive or rigid exercise regime – despite weather, fatigue, illness, or injury.
- Signs of stealing, hoarding food, disappearance of large amounts of food in a short time period or a lot of empty wrappers and containers indicating consumption of large amounts of food.
- Spending hours thinking about what food might be served at upcoming events.
- Intense anxiety, depression and/or distress if unable to exercise.
To learn more about eating disorders we recommend going to https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/warning-signs-and-symptoms. If you, or someone you know displays any of these symptoms, give us a call. At NOAH, we offer behavioral health consulting and traditional outpatient counseling programs where highly skilled and trained behavioral health staff work alongside our medical, nutrition and dental teams to assess, diagnose and effectively treat the core-symptoms of our patients.
