Does Your Loved One Have an Eating Disorder? Know the Warning Signs!

One of the most common myths about eating disorders is that it only affects women in their teens and twenties.

The truth is that each year thousands of individuals of all ages, genders and races are diagnosed with eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and unhealthy food addictions.

Left untreated, eating disorders can lead to severe health complications including brain damage, heart attack and stroke, organ failure, infertility, and even death.

That’s why it is important to understand the signs and symptoms associated with eating disorders. By learning how to spot the unhealthy behaviors associated with food obsessions or abnormal eating patterns, you can help a friend or family member get the clinical support they need to overcome potentially life-threating food addictions.

While eating disorders present differently in each person, the following includes some of the most common behaviors and symptoms associated with eating disorders.

1. Severely restricted eating habits. Anorexia Nervosa is one of the most common eating disorders. Individuals who have this condition often go to extreme measures to restrict the amount and type of food that they will eat. Anorexics will often skip meals, obsessively count calories and create extremely strict diets – such as only eating a very limited range of foods or at certain times of the day.

2. Frequent binge-eating and red or scraped knuckles. Bulimia is a condition where individuals consume large amounts of food in a very short period of time, often followed by vomiting or abusing laxatives to rid the food from their body. Some of the tell-tale symptoms of bulimia include eating alone to keep the disorder a secret and teeth marks on the knuckles of their hands – it’s a sign of purging.

3. Dramatic fluctuations in weight. One of the most telltale signs of an eating disorder or food addiction is dramatic weight loss or weight gain. If you notice that a family member of friend rapidly starts to lose or gain weight, they may suffer from a disordered eating condition.

Do you suspect that someone close to you may have an eating disorder? To ensure that you don’t try to handle the situation on your own, you should contact someone who is an expert in treating these types of food addictions. They can prescribe the right treatment plan and may even recommend an eating disorder intervention.

Schedule an Eating Disorder Consultation Today

Coast to Coast’s interventionists have an exceptional success rate for addiction interventions and eating disorder interventions. If you have tried to talk with a loved one on your own, you have probably hit a dead end. Eating disorders are a mental health problem, and individuals with eating disorders use manipulation, deceit, and other tactics to avoid being outed. That’s why you need a professional. Call (800) 210-8229 today, our trained staff is here to help.