Food Is More Than Just Food: Dealing With Eating Disorders felicity.care

Eating Disorders: An Overview

An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by maladaptive eating behaviors that negatively impact a person's psychological or physical well-being. They entail complex and harmful interactions with food, eating, exercise, and body image and are severe mental and physical illnesses. The idea that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice is one misapprehension that is frequently held. In reality, eating disorders are severe, frequently fatal illnesses that are linked to substantial abnormalities in a person's eating behavior as well as associated thoughts and feelings. A preoccupation with food, one's appearance, or weight may be a sign of an eating problem.

Eating disorders are classified as "Feeding & Eating Disorders" in the DSM-5 and are "characterized by a recurrent disturbance of eating or eating-related behavior that alters food intake or absorption and materially degrades physical health or psychosocial functioning,".

Most frequently, mood and anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and issues with alcohol and other drugs co-occur with eating disorders. There is evidence that suggests that some people are more likely to develop eating disorders than others, but eating disorders can also affect people who have no family history of the problem. A cure should address any dietary, behavioral, psychological, or other medical issues. Treatment resistance, denial of an eating or weight issue, or concern about altering eating habits are all frequent. However, individuals with eating disorders can restart a healthy diet with the right medical care.

Are Foods Inherently Good or Bad?

Labeling foods into "good foods" and "bad foods" feeds into culturally disordered terminology and stances about foods and nutrition creating food guilt and ultimately denying millions of people the chance to enjoy food instinctively in a way that is unhindered by irrational food morality. This does not imply, however, that all bodies react the same way to all foods. For example, an individual who has lactose intolerance might not think of lactose-based items as unpleasant and might want to include lactose-containing foods in their diet with all of their might, but when they do, they often experience pain, malabsorption, and, most often, explosive diarrhea. We acknowledge the allergy these people suffer from and respect the fact that for their health, food freedom does not permit them to consume items containing lactose.

However, there are numerous reasons why someone can assert a food intolerance as opposed to an allergy. It is never clear if a person's experience of food intolerance is primarily physical or if it is instead a psychosomatic reaction to the particular meal based on the person's perception of the food as a trigger. Additionally, an eating disorder would cause a client to tell others a made-up tale to have a socially acceptable means of avoiding food that they thought to be "bad," which would trigger anxiety-induced negative feelings.