UNHEALTHY EATING PRACTICES THAT CAN BE BROUGHT ON BY DIETING

March 11th, 2009

Compulsive Eating—The compulsive eater is obsessed with eating; extra sensitive to the sight, smell, and thought of food; chronically worried about his or her appearance; likely to rank everyone he or she sees on a thin-to-fat scale; thinking constantly about the next
meal.

Anorexia—Anorexics impose on themselves a severe, unhealthy restriction of eating; are consumed with thoughts of food; impose and adhere to rigorous exercise regimens; don’t believe they are thin even though they may have lost more than one-fifth of their body weight; seek to control their emotions through self-starvation.

Bulimia—The bulimic eats voraciously (binges) then purges (vomits, starves, or takes laxatives, and/or engages in extreme amounts of exercise) as a means of weight control; has an insatiable desire to eat and finally gives in to it, allowing the appetite unrestrained expression. Then, fear of weight gain causes the victim to purge. This binging-and-purging cycle can occupy most of the victim’s time, occurring as many as 10-20 times a day.

Oral Expulsion Syndrome—Victims of this syndrome chew food but spit it out rather than swallow it. Some may spend hours chewing in secret, and can develop intense anxiety about swallowing. They may become seriously malnourished, isolated, and fearful.