Posts Tagged “ED Q&A”

For many individuals with a restrictive eating disorder, weight gain is an essential part of recovery. Gaining weight after intentionally restricting food intake and increasing exercise can be scary and challenging—and it also requires a thought pattern change. Individuals can no longer think of weight loss as the goal, they have to start thinking about weight stabilization as the goal.

Understanding Restrictive Eating Disorders

There are five types of eating disorders: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, other specified feeding and eating disorder (OSFED), and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). However, out of these five categories, providers typically see that anorexia, bulimia, and ARFID involve both restrictive eating and notable weight loss.

Do you find yourself consuming large amounts of food rapidly and feeling out of control while eating?

Binge Eating Disorder & Mental Health

If so, you might be grappling with binge eating disorder (BED), a mental health condition marked by cycles of bingeing and restricting food. In this blog, explore the warning signs that might have gone unnoticed, the toll of BED on the body, and the treatment options available to those suffering in silence.

Eating disorder recovery is a complex process that typically requires each client to progress through five stages. To have a diagnosis of an eating disorder implies that an individual’s life will experience significant, disruptive changes and a need for treatment over a period of time. Treatment for eating disorders usually improves and speeds recovery; however, someone who carries an eating disorder diagnosis should expect there to be a significant amount of time and several stages as they move toward recovery.

It is important to reiterate that these stages are general and each individual’s experience will be unique, but there are some common experiences and needs we see across individuals recovering from eating disorders. 

Eating disorders are biologically based mental illnesses that are influenced by an individual’s environment, society, and psychological makeup. An eating disorder is an illness that causes an individual to experience disturbances in their eating habits and negative food or body-related thoughts and feelings. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) recognizes five kinds of eating disorders:

Anorexia Nervosa. Anorexia is characterized by extended and extreme food restriction and malnourishment that causes dramatic and sustained weight loss. Anorexia often presents with a fear of gaining weight and other body image issues.

Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). ARFID is a feeding or eating disorder typically driven by fear, a lack of interest in food, or an avoidance of certain foods, resulting in continued failure to meet an individual’s nutritional needs. ARFID often presents without a drive for thinness.

When discussing the signs, symptoms, and roots of an eating disorder, it’s impossible to leave dieting out of the conversation. In recent years, research has uncovered the indisputable fact that dieting is a risk factor for the development of eating disorders. Those who engage in moderate dieting are 5x more likely to develop an eating disorder and those who engage in extreme dieting are 18x more likely to develop an eating disorder (Patton, Selzer, Coffey, et al., 1999).

What is dieting?

Dieting is defined as “the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person for a special reason (low-sodium diet to reduce high blood pressure)” or “a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one’s weight” or alter body size, shape, or appearance.  

The Emily Program is a national leader in eating disorder treatment. We believe that individuals are unique and that effective eating disorder treatment requires an awareness of the genetic, biological, psychological, social, and cultural impacts on each person. With this integrative approach in mind, we help our clients recover from all types of eating disorders.

The Emily Program offers a full continuum of care. We offer residential treatment, day treatment, and outpatient treatment options in MN, OH, PA, and WA. If you are unsure if you are struggling with disordered eating, you can take our online quiz to learn more. If you have an eating disorder and are looking to speak with someone about treatment options, contact our admissions team at 1-888-364-5977.

At The Emily Program, we know that one of the greatest barriers to treatment is a lack of information. In order to eliminate one hurdle, we filmed virtual tours of our Emily Program locations. An example tour from our Cleveland location is below. We hope this video helps folks to feel at home with The Emily Program and more comfortable pursuing treatment.

What is Bulimia?

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by bingeing and purging. People diagnosed with bulimia frequently binge on food, eating thousands of calories in a single episode. Feelings of shame and disgust often accompany these binge eating episodes, leading to purging behaviors such as vomiting, laxative abuse, over-exercising, and/or fasting. This compensatory behavior is a tell-tale sign that an individual is suffering from bulimia. Despite attempts to lose weight by purging, those with bulimia generally maintain a body weight that is normal or slightly above average.

How Is Bulimia Diagnosed?

According to the DSM-5, the following criteria must be met for an individual to be diagnosed with bulimia (please note that if all of the following are not met, an individual may still have a serious eating disorder that requires treatment):

1. Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:

1. 1. Eating, within a two-hour window, an amount of food that is definitely larger than what most people would eat during a similar period of time and under similar circumstances.
   2. Lack of control over eating during the episode (e.g., a feeling that you cannot stop eating or control how much you are eating).
2. Recurrent inappropriate compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, such as self-induced vomiting, misuse of laxatives, diuretics, or other medications, fasting, or excessive exercise.
3. The binge eating and inappropriate compensatory behaviors both occur, on average, at least once a week for three months.
4. Self-evaluation is unduly influenced by body shape and weight.
5. Binging or purging does not occur exclusively during episodes of behavior that would be common in those with anorexia nervosa.

Eating disorders are confusing and complex. On this month’s episode, host Claire Holtz sits down with Emily Program Site Director Jennifer Nelson to discuss what eating disorders are and what we can do to help those affected.

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Episode show notes:

In this episode of Peace Meal, we discuss what eating disorders are, what to do if we are worried about ourselves or a loved one, and how to support those in recovery. Emily Program Site Director Jennifer Nelson answers the most common questions asked by those considering eating disorder treatment and offers advice to support people. 

About the podcast:

Peace Meal is an Emily Program podcast that discusses topics related to eating disorders, body image issues, and how society may contribute to distorted thinking.