EATING
How do i deal with an eating disorder?
Food plays an important part in our lives, and most of us will spend time thinking about what we eat. Our relationship with food often changes – sometimes we may try to eat more healthily, have cravings, eat too much or lose our appetite.
E A T I N G
We may find it hard to eat if we’re feeling stressed, or eat comfort food if we feel unhappy. Changing your eating habits every now and again like this is normal, and doesn’t need to worry you. However, if you aren’t eating a regular balanced diet over a longer period of time, it could start to become a problem for you.
Having an eating problem can be very hard to cope with but it’s important to understand that eating problems aren’t just about food. They can be about difficult things in your life and painful feelings, which you may be finding hard to express, face or resolve. Focusing on food can be a way of disguising these problems, even from yourself.
"I had issues with my eating when my parents split up. It was the only part of my life I felt like I could control, and I craved that control as everything else spiralled."
Because eating problems can noticeably affect your body, you may feel that people around you focus mainly on your actions, or on the physical impact they have. But you may feel that your problem is more complicated than the people around you realise. This diagram might help you to visualise the complexity of an eating problem:
An eating disorder is serious and it's a disease, and I don't think you can lightly say that someone who has a disease unless they're openly telling you what they do.
- Nicole Richie
A person with an eating disorder will always say they're full,But I was always hungry. I liked feeling hungry because it felt like power.
- Gary Grahl
There is no single cause of eating problems, and sometimes it can be hard to understand why it has become an issue for you. The reasons for your eating problem may be very complex and confusing. You may have had certain experiences or have personality traits that help you understand where you eating problem came from, but this is often very personal.
While you may feel that a problem you have with eating is unusual or shameful, you are not alone. Eating disorder charity beat has estimated that about 1.6 million people in the UK are affected.
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