Welcome
There’s Help. There’s Hope! The Emily Program is a warm and welcoming place where individuals and their families can find comprehensive treatment for eating disorders and related issues. This blog is a place for us to share the latest happenings at The Emily Program, as well as helpful tidbits from the broader eating disorder community. Subscribe via RSS to receive automatic updates. We want to hear your story. Email us (blog@emilyprogram.com) and ask how you can become a contributor!
Physical Effects of Anorexia
What is Anorexia?
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized most notably by weight loss and nutrient deficiency. Those with anorexia have difficulty maintaining an appropriate weight for their size and shape. They may restrict their calorie intake, exercise compulsively, use laxatives, and/or purge in order to keep their weight low. Anorexia affects people of all genders, ages, or any other demographic categorizations. Anorexia cannot be diagnosed by simply looking at a person, because people can suffer from anorexia without looking like the stereotypical thin image. Those who live in larger bodies can be underweight and suffer from anorexia that is equally serious and severe.
OSFED: The “Other” Eating Disorder Diagnosis
Do you restrict what you eat to small quantities and a narrow variety of foods, but you aren’t sure if it’s anorexia? Do you wake up frequently, feeling you need to eat before you can go back to bed? Do you purge without binge eating? If you are experiencing eating disorder behaviors that don’t quite fall into the categories of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder, you may have the eating disorder classified as Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorder (OSFED). Formerly known as Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS), OSFED was developed to encompass conditions that did not meet diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa but were still significant feeding or eating disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013).