Eating Disorders and Negative Body Image
Eating disorders are far from a lifestyle choice. Over one million Australians are experiencing an eating disorder at this current moment.
They are non-bias towards gender, age and ethnicity and are caused by a multitude of factors. Personality traits that have been associated with eating disorders include low self-esteem, neuroticism, perfectionism and harm avoidance. Negative body image and eating disorders go hand in hand. What can start as dissatisfaction in your body or just a strategy to improve mood, can develop into severe disordered eating and with medical complications.
Identifying whether someone has an eating disorder is based on much more than appearance. Note that warning signs vary from individual to individual.
Some signs that should raise alarm include:
- Dieting behaviours, for example, restricting food or water intake
- Rules or ‘black and white’ thinking regarding food. For example, ‘Because I ate a cookie today, I am an unhealthy person’.
- Lying about how much food you have consumed
- Obsessive exercise routines
- Fainting, lacking energy and concentration
- Sensitivity to cold despite warm weather
- Menstrual changes
- Avoiding meal time or social occasions where food will be present
- Obsessive worrying and thinking about food
- Body checking or avoidance
- Losing a large amount of weight in a short period of time
- Excessive exercise or engaging in other compensatory behaviours
