E
East African dietseeAfrican diet
Eat More, Weigh LessseeDean Ornish’s Eat
More, Weigh Less
Eating disorders
DefinitionEating disorders are psychiatric illnesses that
result in abnormal eating patterns that have a negative
effect on health.
DescriptionEating disorders are mental disorders. They
develop when a person has an unrealistic attitude
toward or abnormal perception of his or her body.
This causes behaviors that lead to destructive eating
patterns that have negative physical and emotional
consequences. Individuals with eating disorders often
hide their symptoms and resist seeking treatment.
Depression, anxiety disorders, and other mental ill-
nesses often are present in people who have eating
disorders, although it is not clear whether these cause
the eating disorder or are a result of it.
The two best-known eating disorders,anorexia
nervosaandbulimia nervosa, have formal diagnostic
criteria and are recognized as psychiatric disorders in
theDiagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Dis-
orders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV-TR)published by the
American Psychiatric Association (APA). Other eat-
ing disorders have recognized sets of symptoms, but
have not been researched thoroughly enough to be
considered separate psychiatric disorders as defined
by the APA.
Well-known eating disorders
In the North America and Europe, anorexia nerv-
osa is the most publicized of all eating disorders. It
gained widespread public attention with the rise of the
ultra-thin fashion model. People who have anorexia
nervosa are obsessed with body weight. They con-
stantly monitor their food intake and starve them-
selves to become thin. No matter how much weight
they lose, they continue to restrict their calorie intake
in an effort to become ever thinner. Some anorectics
exercise to extreme or abuse drugs or herbal remedies
that they believe will help them burn calories faster. A
few purge their body of the few calories they do eat by
abusing laxatives, enemas, anddiuretics. In time, they
reach a point where their health is seriously, and
potentially fatally, impaired.
People with anorexia nervosa have an abnormal
perception of their body. They genuinely believe that
they are fat, even when the clearly are life-threateningly
thin. They will deny that they are too thin, or, if they
admit they are thin, deny that their behavior will affect
their health. People with anorexia will lie to family,
friends, and healthcare provides about how much they
eat. Many vigorously resist treatment and accuse the
people trying to cure them of wanting to make them fat.
Anorexia nervosa is the most difficult eating disorder to
recover from.
Bulimia nervosa is the only other eating disorder
with specific diagnostic criteria defined by the(DSM-
IV-TR). People with bulimia often consume unrea-
sonably large amounts of food in a short time. After-
wards, they purge their body of calories. This is done
most often by self-induced vomiting, often accompa-
nied by laxative abuse. A subset of people with bulimia
does not vomit after eating, but fast and exercise
obsessively to burn calories. Both behaviors result in
impaired health.
People with bulimia feel out of control when they
arebinge eating. Unlike people with anorexia, they