Are you a healthy eater or could you have an eating disorder?
Shocking news: More than half a million American teens struggle with eating disorders (EDs), and very few have sought treatment. That's according to the largest and most comprehensive study of eating disorders, released last week by the Archives of General Psychiatry. If you're thinking, So what? I'm not a teenager, and I don't have teenage kids, then know this:Eating disorders don't go away on their own, and the longer you suffer from one, the harder it is to treat. So, teens suffering from EDs can go on to become women in their 20's and 30's suffering from EDs, and they can experience a host of health problems, including infertility, vitamin deficiencies and, in some tragic cases, death. So it's important to take a good, hard look at your relationship with eating.
Most of us have complicated relationships with food because we have to eat several times per day. Most fundamentally, food provides us with sustenance and nourishment, and ideally we eat well-balanced meals when we're hungry and stop when we're full. Eating can also be an emotional experience--and there's certainly nothing wrong with taking pleasure in food. And of course, plenty of us pay attention to what we eat and don't have an ED: At SELF, we encourage you to eat healthfully and exercise and do what it takes to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Still, there can be a fine line separating eating for health and an ED (or disordered eating, which means you have irregular eating habits that don't qualify exactly as a specific eating disorder).
To get a better sense of your relationship with food, ask yourself these questions:
Do you obsess over your weight, food or exercise?
Have you cut entire food groups from your diet or become averse to certain foods?
Would you describe any of your eating habits as extreme?
Do you panic if you miss a day at the gym? Do you work out to compensate for eating "bad" food?
Are you ritualistic or rigid about your eating? Do you sneak food or insist on eating alone?