Six Secret Signs of Disordered Eating You Didn’t Know About
- queenshealthadvoca
- Dec 6, 2024
- 5 min read
By Taleen Sahakian
Introduction
Among anxiety and depression, eating disorders are one of the most common mental illnesses in the world. Between 10-20% of women, and 4-10% of men in university suffer from an eating disorder, which can be triggered due to major life changes such as moving away from home, increased workloads, and social stressors.
There are various types of eating disorders, including, but not limited to:
Anorexia nervosa: Individuals have an intense fear of weight gain, severely restricting their food intake to lose weight or maintain an unreasonably unhealthy weight. Individuals have an unhealthy standard of a “perfect” body and associate self-worth with thinness.
Bulimia nervosa: Individuals feel “out of control” when they eat, and eat large amounts of food in a short period of time, then force themselves to throw up out of guilt, often followed by extraneous exercise. They may then restrict what they eat during the day, leading to an unhealthy cycle of restriction and binge eating.
Binge eating disorder: Similar to bulimia, however individuals do not engage in exercise or purging to get rid of food. Individuals feel out of control when eating and feel intense shame and guilt afterward.
When most people think of eating disorders, they think of anorexia; picturing walking “skin and bones.” Many are familiar with common signs of eating disorders such as a decreased or increased weight, food restriction, and purging food. However disordered eating addresses an individual’s relationship with food, and ranges far beyond how someone looks: Someone with anorexia could look a healthy weight, but experience thoughts and engage in behaviours that align with disordered eating. This blog focuses on signs of disordered eating related to anorexia that most people dismiss as strange behaviours, which can in reality seriously decrease the quality of life of an individual and lead to a full-fledged eating disorder.
Eating slow
We all have friends that seem to take forever when finishing their food.Usually, there is no cause for concern, as everyone lives life at their own pace— as the common saying goes: there are sippers and there are chuggers. However, there are subtle ways to tell whether an individual is eating slowly in order to enjoy their food, or if they are merely taking their time with their food to trick their mind into thinking they are eating more than they truly are. Individuals with disordered eating thoughts use certain techniques to fool others and themselves into believing they are eating more than the amount of food on their plate. Behaviours such as taking time to cut food into extremely small pieces, taking abnormally small bites of food, eating meals in separate steps, and using inappropriately small utensils indicate unhealthy underlying thoughts around food, stretching farther than claiming one is a “slow eater.” If you witness your friend eating blueberries in more than one bite, separating their cereal and milk, or using a dessert fork to eat their steak, you have cause to feel alarmed and reach out to check up on their well-being.
Picky eating
Some people are born picky eaters, sticking to the same diet of chicken fingers, mashed potatoes, and grilled cheese sandwiches their whole life. However, when an individual spontaneously decides they don’t like certain foods anymore, (usually unhealthy foods) it is usually an excuse given to get out of eating food that they consider “extra.” The concept of “extra food” is a common theme around individuals with disordered eating habits, as any food that they have not planned on eating in a day is considered fattening and off-limits. Spontaneous picky eating can be presented as eating the same low-calorie food every day, not trying new cuisines, and pretending to be allergic to food groups. If you notice your friend has stopped “liking” chocolate, bread, or milk, there is likely a deeper reason than food preference.
Excuses, excuses, excuses…
There are many excuses that one can make to get out of eating. These include claiming that their stomach hurts, they already ate, they don’t like the food, they already brushed their teeth, or they are “not in the mood” to eat. These are easy tricks that people with disordered eating thoughts use to delay eating if they are offered a snack in between meals, or to get out of eating second helpings of food. People that assign self-worth to how little they eat in a day exercise immense amounts of self-control, so it is not hard for them to pass on dessert or second helpings of food. In fact, they will lie and even throw out food if it means they don’t have to eat more than they planned, as it would cause them far more stress and anxiety than hunger would.
Brushing their teeth early
Many people use this technique in order to refrain from eating late at night, as it affects sleep patterns and digestion. Scholarly articles report that eating late at night is unhealthy, as it commonly leads to grabbing unhealthy snacks and leads to physical effects such as heartburn and acid reflux. However, as with everything, too much of a habit can lead to cause for concern. Individuals with disordered eating habits may brush their teeth early in the day in order to refrain from eating, when they have already eaten less than they should. This helps with weight loss and maintaining an unhealthily low weight, as they use the excuse that they don’t want to brush their teeth again.
Body checking
It is common to glance at your reflection when walking by a mirror or window, making sure that your shirt looks good and your hair isn’t a tangled mess. Even occasionally checking what your body looks like in the mirror does not raise any red flags for healthcare professionals. However, individuals with disordered eating habits commonly do not just check out what they look like in the mirror. They may use their hands or even measuring tools to track the size of their body. This can present as wrapping their fingers around their wrist to see how far up they can go up their arm and touch their fingertips together, or wrapping their hands around their waist or thighs to track their weight. This is extreme, and can lead to body obsession, which can consume thoughts and contributes to developing a diagnosable eating disorder.
Only eating what is on their plate
Finally, as mentioned before, individuals who have disordered eating thoughts tend to count exactly how much they eat in a day, which can present as counting calories or amounts of food. This can lead to an inability to share food, as eating from someone else’s plate would mean eating “extra” food. This leads to individuals only eating from their own plate, and commonly only eating one serving of food at a meal. Conversely, as the individual only allows themselves to eat a certain amount of food (usually a small portion), they may get seemingly unreasonably upset if someone tries to take food from their plate. Think about it: if you only allowed yourself to eat a very small amount of food per day and someone took some of it, wouldn’t you feel hangry?
Conclusion:
Disordered eating habits are very common among the young-adult demographic, as individuals' brains undergo rapid development as they try to find their sense of self. There are many common signs of disordered eating, such as food restriction and engaging in constant exercise. However, this blog reveals less-commonly known signs of disordered eating to shine light on the widespread issue of negative self-concept and association of self-worth with weight. If you notice any of these behaviours in your friends, do not hesitate to speak with them, as they may appreciate your support through a tough time in their life.
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