In order to determine whether your wife suffers from an eating disorder, it's imperative to understand what normal eating is. Normal eating constitutes eating when you're hungry and stopping when you're full. It also means eating a variety of foods, and not restricting entire food groups. In other words, being able to eat everything in moderation, and not completely cutting out carbohydrates/sugars, fats etc. A normal eater has little preoccupation with food. He or she is able to make nutritious and enjoyable food choices and does not sweat a single cookie or a piece of cake. Finally, food does not rule a normal eater's life. You may be reading this article because you've noticed that your wife keeps getting thinner and thinner, or she behaves strangely around meal time. She may be avoiding foods all together and essentially self-starving. Or she eats an excessive amount of food, rushes off to the bathroom immediately after, and you can smell the odor of vomit when she returns. This article will discuss eating disorders, namely anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and provide symptoms of each, in an effort to help you determine whether your wife or girlfriend suffers from an eating disorder.
Instructions
1. WHAT IS ANOREXIA NERVOSA?
Wikipedia defines anorexia nervosa as an eating disorder characterized by extremely low body weight, distorted body image and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. You may have noticed that your wife or girlfriend refuses to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for her age and height. Women suffering from anorexia usually weight 15% below their ideal body weight. Basically your wife or girlfriend is self-starving and despite being very thin, she follows a severely restricted diet, she may obsessively read food labels, measure and weigh portions, keep a food diary, and constantly read diet books. She may also pretend to eat, lie about having eaten, and display strange or secretive food rituals such as refusing to eat around others or in public places, cutting her food into tiny little pieces, or putting food in her mouth, chewing it, and then spitting it out.
2. WHAT YOU MUST UNDERSTAND ABOUT ANOREXIA
In order to help your wife overcome anorexia, you must understand that self-starvation for her is a way to feel in control. People with anorexia may feel powerless in their everyday lives, and so they restrict food as a way to cope with painful feelings such as anger, shame, low self esteem, and self-loathing. While you and medical professionals such as doctors, therapists and nutritionists may see her eating disorder as a problem, she sees it as a solution to her problems; if only she can lose enough weight she'll be happy.
3. HEALTH EFFECTS OF ANOREXIA:
- Malnutrition
- Decreased BMR
- Anemia
- Sexual development interrupted in younger anorexics
- Irregular heartbeat
- Low blood pressure
- Bone Loss
- Lean mass loss
- Disability and/or death
4. WHAT IS BULIMIA NERVOSA?
Wikipedia defines bulimia nervosa as an eating disorder characterized by recurrent binge eating, followed by compensatory behaviors such as vomiting, sometimes called purging; fasting, the use of laxatives, enemas, diuretics, and over exercising. There are two types of bulimia: purging type which includes self-induced vomiting (usually by triggering the gag reflex) before food digestion can occur and/ or the use laxatives, diuretics, or enemas. Non-purging type bulimics exercise or fast excessively after a binge in order to burn the calories taken in. Purging-type bulimics may also exercise or fast, but are more dependent on vomiting and the use of laxatives etc. to control weight. As mentioned earlier, if your wife or girlfriend eats an excessive amount of food, then excuses her-self to use the bathroom right after she's done, beware. Bulimics may vomit several times a day or just once in a while. However, usually the vomiting and laxative abuse occurs daily, and such is hard to miss; one can see, smell and hear it.
5. WHAT YOU MUST UNDERSTAND ABOUT BULIMIA
Bulimia is often more difficult to diagnose than anorexia, since the bulimic may be of normal weight, or just slightly over or underweight, but usually not as obviously emaciated as an anorexic. Look for the signs described above. Like anorexics, bulimics also want to feel in control, and believe their bulimia to be the solution to their problems.
6. HEALTH EFFECTS OF BULIMIA
- Malnutrition and dehydration caused by frequent vomiting
- Tears or inflammation of the esophagus
- Peptic ulcers
- Oral trauma and dental caries caused by frequent contact between teeth and gastric acid
- Perimolysis (the erosion of tooth enamel)
- Laxative dependency
- Weight fluctuation
7. TREATMENT OF EATING DISORDERS
Treatment of anorexia and bulimia must include a physician, psychotherapist and a nutritionist. If you believe your wife or girlfriends suffers from an eating disorder be very careful in how you broach the subject with them. It won't be helpful to tell them to start eating normally because they are in fact too thin or even of average weight. You must seek qualified medical advice and perhaps agree to family therapy.
Good Luck.
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