What is true: eating disorders…?

From the book – Chapter 26: Eating Disorders

The right answer

Involve disturbed eating and body concern and can be life-threatening

What they are

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions involving disturbed eating behaviours and preoccupation with food, weight, and body image. They have physical and psychological components and can be life-threatening.

They often begin in the teenage years. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge-eating disorder all need early help, as do substance use and self-harm. Social comparison and body image are part of the same picture. That is not vanity. It is a health risk.

Read the full chapter – Chapter 26: Eating Disorders

Stories from real life

• The Quiet Plate – Diya, sixteen, from Kolkata, was a top student and a state-level swimmer. After a cousin joked about her "round cheeks" she began cutting out foods, first…
• The Hidden Cycle – Sofia, twenty-two, lived in a shared flat in Manchester and worked in a bank. Everyone thought she was the one who had it together. She was…
• The Man at the Fridge Door – Ahmed, thirty-eight, an accountant in Dubai, ate quickly and alone, often standing at the fridge late at night. He would eat far past comfortable fullness, even…
• Eight Foods and a Packed Lunch – Little Arjun, seven, from Chennai, ate only a few foods: plain rice, one brand of biscuit and dry toast. New smells made him gag. At school…

More on this topic: Sleep problems, food and daily routine for a healthy mind

More questions

• What is true: anorexia nervosa includes…?
• What is true: bulimia may occur at…?
• What is true: ARFID is driven mainly by…?
• What is true: OSFED…?
• The Quiet Plate – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• The Hidden Cycle – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• The Man at the Fridge Door – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• Eight Foods and a Packed Lunch – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• Not Quite Anything – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• What can we learn from the story “Meera’S Plate”?
• How to sleep better – habits that help
• Food, mood and emotional eating