An eating disorder is a mental health condition where you use the control of food to cope with feelings and other situations. Unhealthy eating behaviours may include eating too much or too little or worrying about your weight or body shape. Anyone can get an eating disorder, but teenagers between 13 and 17 are mostly affected. With treatment, most people can recover from an eating disorder. Types of eating disorders The most common eating disorders are: Anorexia Nervosa – trying to control your weight by not eating enough food, exercising too much, or doing both Bulimia – losing control over how much you eat and then taking drastic action to not put on weight Binge Eating Disorder (BED) – eating large portions of food until you feel uncomfortably full Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED) - this is when a person’s symptoms do not exactly fit the expected symptoms for any specific eating disorders. OSFED is the most common eating disorder. Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID)- this is when someone avoids certain foods, limits how much they eat or does both.
Check if you have an eating disorder
If you or people around you are worried that you have an unhealthy relationship with food, you could have an eating disorder. Symptoms of eating disorders include: spending a lot of time worrying about your weight and body shape avoiding socialising when you think food will be involved eating very little food making yourself sick or taking laxatives after you eat exercising too much having very strict habits or routines around food changes in your mood such as being withdrawn, anxious or depressed You may also notice physical signs, including: feeling cold, tired or dizzy pains, tingling or numbness in your arms and legs (poor circulation) feeling your heart racing, fainting or feeling faint problems with your digestion, such as bloating, constipation or diarrhoea your weight being very high or very low for someone of your age and height not getting your period or other delayed signs of puberty
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