Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating
The Coronavirus Pandemic may create unique challenges for individuals with experiences of eating disorders causing a detrimental impact on their psychological wellbeing and eating disorder recovery, this can lead to a lapse or relapse of their disorder. I specialise with people who suffer from Bulimia Nervosa and Other Specified Feeding & Eating Disorders (OSFED).
Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating come from varying complexities such as psychological issues, nutritional imbalances and medical complications – what is a normal eating pattern for one person may be abnormal for another person. One main aspect of all eating disorders is that the person feels Shame & Guilt for the way they feel and what they are doing to their bodies, this leads to the disorder becoming a secret something to hide, increasing the Shame and Guilt.
Eating Disorders are characterized by excessive concerns over the shape and weight leading to a number of injurious weight control behaviours and/or body image (beliefs about appearance and weight) invariably poor or distorted. Sufferers tend to experience negative emotion as feeling fat.
Eating Disorders/Disordered Eating Patterns do not discriminate anyone at any stage in their lives can start to exhibit or suffer from an eating disorder whether you are 9 or 90, male or female, educational status or even financial status are no guarantee that some will not succumb.
I will work with you to distinguish your individual normal and abnormal eating patterns, through an integrated treatment and recovery plan, Counselling, Coaching & Mentorship including Eating Disorder Education including Behaviour, and Nutritional Coaching. If required I will work with other agencies if required such as GP’s to assist in your recovery.
Did you know!
The BMI (Body Mass Index) Chart was designed in the 1830s by a mathematician and it wasn't intended as a measure of health for individuals. It was largely based on white, male, European body shapes, and made no provisions for sex or cultural differences.
Types of Eating Disorders
Anorexia Nervosa
- when a person tries to keep their weight as low as possible by not eating enough food, exercising too much, or both.
ARFID
- Feeding and eating disturbances, lack of interest in eating or food, avoidance based on the sensory characteristics of food, concerns about aversive consequences of eating.
Bulimia Nervosa
- when a person sometimes loses control and eats a lot of food in a very short amount of time (this is called binging). Then to try to stop gaining weight, will make themselves deliberately sick, restrict what they eat, or do too much exercise.
Binge Eating Disorder
- when a person regularly loses control of their eating, eat large portions of food all at once until they feel uncomfortably full, and then often have feelings of upset and/or guilty (BED)
Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED)
- is the name given where a person’s symptoms don't exactly match those of anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder, described above. However, this does not mean it's a less serious illness.
Signs of an eating disorder
If someone has an eating disorder, you might notice them doing some of the following:
- Restrict the amount of food they eat/hide food
- Eat more than they need or feel out of control when they eat
- Eat quickly, going to the bathroom after eating
- Eat-in secret/avoid eating in public so become more isolated
- Feel very anxious about eating
- Lacking in energy and low in mood. Reporting feeling cold most of the time, even in warm temperatures
- Eat-in response to difficult emotions
- Only eat certain types of food or stick to a rigid set of diet rules
- Do things to get rid of what they eat to avoid gaining weight such as vomiting or over-exercise
- Weigh themselves a lot and judge themselves based on what they weigh. Wearing baggy clothes to disguise weight loss
- Changes to, or loss of, periods in women
- Think about food and eating a lot, or all the time
- Compare their body to other people's and think about their shape or size a lot usually in a negative way.
If you are worried about yourself or someone else, why not contact me to arrange a free 30-minute consultation.
Services Provided
In-Person Therapy Video Conferencing (online) Telephone