Eating disorders continue to be on the increase in today’s society and not just among teenagers. Many people believe that eating disorders affect only teenage girls, but that could not be further from the truth. We are seeing more and more women and men developing eating disorders in their twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond. The onset on anorexia, bulimia and compulsive eating can occur at any time in a person’s life.1
A poor body image and feeling like you have no control over your life can contribute to an eating disorder. An eating disorder isn’t really about food– rather, the factors that lead to an eating disorder are very complex. Eating disorders may also be caused by the environment surrounding food that a person experiences growing up and by their early relationship with it. Likewise eating disorders may occur later in life due to a variety of adult related concerns.
Later-life eating disorder development
There are many reasons why eating disorders may develop later in one’s life. Although the reasons for the development of an eating disorder may vary, the feelings about oneself are usually the same. People with eating disorder concerns often suffer with feelings of self-hate, worthlessness, low self-esteem, and they usually feel that in order to be happy, they must be thin. Some may feel their lives are out of control and they turn to the one area of their lives that they can control, their weight. Others may believe that once they attain the “ideal” body image, then their lives will become “perfect.” Women often believe that they must have a “perfect” marriage, be a “perfect” mother, or and have the “perfect” career. Unfortunately the message is often implied that, in order to obtain these goals that they must also have the “perfect” body– and women often feel pressure to be thin and have an very unrealistic concept that “thin” equals “beautiful.”
Additionally, with the high rate of divorce, many people are finding themselves back in the dating game in their forties and fifties. They many begin to believe that in order to find another partner they must be thin. If they are in a marriage and find out that their spouse has been having an affair, they may blame themselves for the affair. The person might feel that their spouse has strayed because they no longer find them attractive. They will then focus her attention on their weight and feel that if they had only been thin, their spouse would not have been unfaithful.
Eating Disorders
There are a number of different types of eating disorders and their warning signs.2
Eating Disorders: Anorexia Nervosa
Commonly called anorexia, the most noticeable sign of this eating disorder is extreme weight loss. As many as 1 percent of women in the United States are thought to have anorexia and it is typically far less common in men.
People with anorexia:
- Have body image misperceptions — many think they are overweight even when they are grossly underweight and have an overwhelming fear of weight gain or being fat
May stop menstruating - Severely restrict calories and/or exercise obsessively
- Are obsessed with food, weight, and calories
Eating Disorders: Bulimia Nervosa
Commonly called bulimia, this eating disorder involves a pattern of binging and purging — eating a lot of food and then purposely vomiting. Between 1 and 2 percent of young women have bulimia, and 80 percent of all bulimics are women.
People with bulimia:
- Eat very large amounts of food, often very quickly
- Vomit or take laxatives to avoid gaining weight
- Exercise obsessively
- Eat very little or not at all between binges
- May look like they’re at a normal body weight
- Suffer from GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), sore throat, and damaged teeth from the vomiting
Eating Disorders: Binge Eating Disorder
Also called binge eating or compulsive eating, this eating disorder is characterized by eating large amount of foods, without the purging. Up to 5 percent of people in the United States have binge eating disorder; more than half of those are women.
Often the biggest trigger for a binge is hunger. Eating filling foods and getting enough calories throughout the day will take a big chunk out of binge eating. People binge in response to emotions– so managing emotions helps stave off a binge as well.
People with binge-eating disorder:
- Feel guilty or ashamed about the amount of food they eat
- Eat as a response to emotions
- Eat extremely quickly
- Eat when they are alone, and well beyond the point of fullness
- May be obese or overweight because they don’t follow a binge with vomiting, laxatives, excessive dieting, or exercise like bulimics do
Eating Disorders: Disordered Eating
Far more common and widespread than eating disorders, disordered eating involves an unusual or troubled relationship with food and can include any of the behaviors of an eating disorder, like severe dieting, binging, or vomiting. And while it’s not as severe as an eating disorder, it could set the stage for one.
People with disordered eating:
- Obsess about food, like counting every calorie or weighing every bite
- Go to extremes, from restrictive dieting to binging
- Spend too much time thinking about food
- Often eat in secret and feel ashamed or disgusted afterward
- Worry about weight and body image
Eating Disorders: Multi-Faceted Treatment
Although it is important to get people with eating disorders back to a healthy body weight and a healthy way of eating, the psychological aspect of the condition is what needs to be addressed. Issues of self-perception and thinking lead to the eating issue in the first place actually needs to be the focus of the treatment. Self-esteem issues, depression, and cultural ideals about beauty, perfection, and being thin can all contribute to an eating disorder or unhealthy obsession with weight and food, and all need to be addressed. Once the underlying cause of the eating disorder is understood, the proper treatment plan can begin.
Treating an eating disorder is a process. It requires knowledgeable health care professionals, a comprehensive strategy with therapy, counseling, and possibly medications like antidepressants. It’s important to remember that an eating disorder is not just about weight, but a much bigger health issue.
If you are suffering with an eating disorder or think you are, seek help immediately. There is no shame in having an eating disorder. Older women (and men) sometimes find it hard to reach out and ask for help, because eating disorders are still very much associated as being an illness that only affects teenage girls– but in actuality eating disorders can affect a person at any time in their lives. Eating disorders can be overcome and there is help available. Contact Dr. Kenith Robins, Consulting Associates LLC at 615-310-1491 for a confidential consultation concerning your eating concerns. You don’t have to continue living with eating disorder issues–You can free yourself and you can start living the happy, healthy life that you deserve to live.
1 http://www.healthyplace.com/eating-disorders/main/adult-women-and-the-development-of-eating-disorders/menu-id-58/
2 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-IV (1994), American Psychiatric Association
