Eating/Food Issues

Disordered eating is a complicated matter. It comprises a range of behaviors and attitudes, including but by no means limited to those that meet criteria for eating disorders. Cultural attitudes about weight and body size are not responsible for the origins of eating disorders, but certainly give them a fertile environment in which to flourish.

Broadly speaking there are three main types of eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa (with a Binge-Purge subtype and a Restricting subtype), Bulimia Nervosa, and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, or ED NOS (which includes Binge Eating Disorder). Many individuals who struggle with disordered eating don't meet diagnostic criteria, but suffer from sub-clinical eating disorders, or varying degrees of a disordered relationship with food, body and self. Often a compulsive relationship with exercise is present as well. Eating and food issues that manifest as overeating or that cause weight gain are often mistakenly regarded as bad habits or lack of willpower.

Eating and food issues are variants of overeating or under-eating, rather than eating in harmony with one's body's needs. Anorexia nervosa involves eating fewer than enough calories and nutrients to maintain one's body's normal weight and can involve compulsive exercise or bingeing and purging (compensating for calories ingested via self-induced vomiting, laxatives, diurectics, enemas) as well. Bulimia nervosa is binge eating followed by self-induced vomiting or other compensatory behaviors. Fasting and exercising are considered "compensatory behaviors" but not purging, so someone who binge eats and then eats nothing for 2 days after is considered to have the non-purging type of bulimia. The category ED NOS is a catch-all, which includes binge eaters and those who purge without eating what is considered by criteria to be a binge.