How to spot clues: Eating disorder and your daughter

Eating disorders

As a parent, eating disorders are something that I am going to have to be aware of when my three girls get older. I think that as a parent who has no understanding of what an eating disorder is the Wikipedia online is a good place to go to define the variations in order to gain a better explanation.

As psychology and education lingering in my training background, I would have to say that if your daughter has an eating disorder she might be very good at hiding it. Denial is something that both you and she may have to over come together. However, by educating both you and your daughter and by giving your daughter the support she needs hopefully together you both will be able to overcome this issue if faced with an eating disorder.

Let's begin with defining the variations:

• Anorexia nervosa

Characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Anorexia can cause menstruation to stop, and often leads to bone loss, loss of skin integrity, etc. It greatly stresses the heart, increasing the risk of heart attacks and related heart problems. The risk of death is greatly increased in individuals with this disease.

• Bulimia nervosa

Characterized by recurrent binge eating followed by compensatory behaviours such as purging [self-induced vomiting, excessive use of laxatives and or diuretics, or excessive exercise].

• Binge eating disorder

Characterized by binge eating, without compensatory behaviour.

• Purging disorder

Characterized by recurrent purging to control weight or shape in the absence of binge eating episodes.

• Rumination

Characterized by involving the repeated painless regurgitation of food following a meal, which is then either re-chewed and re-swallowed, or discarded.

• Diabulimia

Characterized by the deliberate manipulation of insulin levels by diabetics in an effort to control their weight.

• Eating disorders not otherwise specified [EDNOS]

Can refer to a number of disorders. It can refer to a female individual who suffers from anorexia but still has her period, someone who may be at a "healthy weight", but who has anorexic thought patterns and behaviours, it can mean the sufferer equally participates in some anorexic as well as bulimic behaviours [sometimes referred to as purge-type anorexia], or to any combination of Eating Disorder behaviours which do not directly put them in a separate category.

• Pica

Characterized by a compulsive craving for eating, chewing or licking non-food items or foods containing no nutrition. These can include such things as chalk, paper, plaster, paint chips, baking soda, starch, glue, rust, ice, coffee grounds, and cigarette ashes.

• Night Eating Syndrome

Characterized by morning anorexia, evening polyphagia abnormally increased appetite for consumption of food [frequently associated with insomnia, and injury to the hypothalamus].

• Orthorexia Nervosa

Characterized by obsession with a "pure" diet, where it interferes with a person's life. It becomes a way of life filled with chronic concern for the quality of food being consumed. When the person suffering with orthorexia slips up from wavering from their "perfect" diet, they may resort to extreme acts of further self-discipline, including even stricter regimens and fasting.

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