‘An eating disorder is a mental health condition where you use the control of food to cope with feelings and other situations’ – NHS
Approximately 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder. Around 25% of those are male and recent research from the NHS information centre showed that up to 6.4% of adults displayed signs of an eating disorder
Although the stereotype that eating disorders are mostly female, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) suggests that approximately one in three people experiencing an eating disorder is male
It is important to remember that eating disorders are not all about food itself, but about feelings.
Whilst an eating disorder can at times be hard to understand from the outside, eating disorders can help someone who is struggling to feel in control or provide them with a way of reducing their emotional pain, anxiety or panic and help reduce feelings of overwhelm. An eating disorder can numb or reduce uncomfortable or distressing feelings
An eating disorder can involve limiting the amounts of food eaten, eating very large quantities of food at once, getting rid of food eaten through unhealthy means (e.g. purging, laxative misuse, fasting, or excessive exercise), or a combination of these behaviours
Disordered eating often begins with dieting or over-exercising, but lots of other factors can increase the risk of an eating disorder developing
| Family factors | which looks at a family history of eating disorders. |
| Individual factors | such as low self-esteem, wanting to do things perfectly all the time and having an unrealistic perception of what your body looks like or should look like. |
| Outside factors | like the influence of the media and social pressures to look a certain way. |
| Life factors | including certain stressors like exam pressures, work or relationship issues and feeling overwhelmed can all contribute to increasing the risk of developing an eating disorder |
The most common eating disorders are:
| Anorexia | not eating enough and/or exercising too much to control your weight |
| Bulimia | where someone is binge eating, then making themselves vomit or using laxatives to not put on weight |
| Binge Eating Disorder (BED) | eating large portions of food until you feel discomfort |
| Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) | avoiding eating certain foods based on the sensory characteristics such as the smell, appearance or texture. This can lead to unintentional weight loss and other issues with nutrition and physical health |
| Other specified feeding or eating disorders (OSFED) | Is used to describe an eating disorder that significantly impacts a person’s life, but does not meet full criteria for one of the other types of eating disorder |
Eating disorders are a serious health issue, damaging and at times even life-threatening. Seeking professional support such as visiting your GP, whereby your GP will listen and be able to put appropriate levels of support in place such as referring you to specialist eating disorder service
Remember recovery is possible, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now. It’s never too soon or too late to ask for help
Our resources are a step towards helping you understand eating disorder better and providing support information and services to help you at this time:
Resource links for young people:
- Helplines – Beat
- What To Do If You’re Experiencing Eating Problems | YoungMinds
- Eating problems | Childline
- Eating Disorders | Binge Eating, Anorexia & More | The Mix
Resource Links for adults:
- Overview – Eating disorders – NHS
- Do men get eating disorders? – Beat
- What is an eating problem? – Mind
