AT A GLANCE: EATING DISORDERS

Types of Eating Disorders in alphabetical order:
  • Anorexia Nervosa: Characterized by self-starvation, fear of weight gain and excessive weight loss. AN is divided into to diagnostic categories, restrictive anorexia and binge/purge anorexia.
  • Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): Usually found in childhood or infancy but can also be found in adults.  Presents as a persistent failure to meet nutritional needs and can be associated with avoidance of eating or eating certain types of foods and other disorders such as anxiety.
  • Binge Eating Disorder: Characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of compensatory measures to counter the binge eating.  The most prevalent eating disorder.
  • Bulimia Nervosa: Characterized by a cycle of bingeing and compensatory behaviors, such as self-induced vomiting, laxative abuse or exercising, and other methods that compensates for the effects of binge eating.
  • Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED): Refers to abnormal eating or feeding without all the symptoms needed to be diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder

Signs and Symptoms:
  • Consistently leaving the table within ten minutes after eating a meal
  • Stirring or playing with food rather than eating
  • Skipping meals consistently
  • Skipping a meal then over-eating at another meal
  • Consistently tired or fatigued
  • Consistently setting and communicating goals around getting physically “healthy”
  • Exercising despite physical injuries
  • Exercising more than 1.5 hours a day more than 4-5 days a week
  • Restricting foods or food groups 
  • Talking about particular foods as “good” or “bad”
  • Expressing concerns about being or becoming fat
  • Excessive liquid consumption
  • Night eating large amounts of food after dinner, with or without recollection of event
  • Inordinate amounts of conversation about food, weight, the body, and calorie intake
  • Rigid eating patterns

Screening Tool

SCOFF SCREENING TOOL
The SCOFF Questionnaire has been validated in primary care practices and is a good tool given the short time it takes and ease of application. 
  • Do you make yourself Sick because you feel uncomfortably full?
  • Do you worry that you have lost Control over how much you eat?
  • Have you recently lost more than One stone (14 lb) in a 3-month period?
  • Do you believe yourself to be Fat when others say you are too thin?
  • Would you say that Food dominates your life?
If you answered YES to 2 or more questions above, it is recommended that you consult and eating disorder professional for further evaluation. 

What to Say or Not Say

Approaching someone with about a possible eating disorder can be very challenging.  Oftentimes, persons with eating disorders are motivated to maintain their behaviors because those behaviors solve other problems in their life like managing emotions, relieving stress, feeling a sense of fitting in or accomplishment or even making sure people care about them.  Even if the person is angry or resistant to you noticing their struggles, the chance you take to speak what you see could be the very thing that saves a life.  Here are some ways to talk to someone:

Check out this blog I wrote for Eating Recovery Center: How to Talk to Someone with an Eating Disorder

Also, some things to ask:
  • What do you think about your body?
  • Do you diet or attempt to lose weight in other ways?
  • Do worries about eating or your body affect your day to day life?
  • Do you ever try to make up for or “spend” calories after eating to keep from gaining weight?
  • Do you ever feel out of control when eating or eating for reasons other than being physically hungry?
Things to refrain from saying:
  • You don’t look like you have an eating disorder
  • I could stand to lose some weight myself
  • You look good
  • You look healthy
  • Just eat healthier foods
  • You don’t look fat
  • You are too skinny

Eating Disorder Resource Links


Organizations For Information and Support:

The Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness 
The Eating Disorder Foundation
Eating Disorder Hope
Families Empowered And Supporting Treatment for Eating Disorders (F.E.A.S.T.)
​​National Eating Disorders Association
Project Heal
Redemptive Recovery Blog by Kelli Evans
Recovery Record App

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Mental Health and Substance Use Resource Links


​MENTAL HEALTH and SUBSTANCE USEFor Families:
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