Eating disorders:             


It is an abnormal behavior of eating food due to body dissatisfaction and fear of being overweight.  It negatively affects overall health which leads a person towards depression and mental disorders. In this condition, a person eats either too much or too little and does an excessive workout in some cases which lead to a caloric deficit.  The frequency of eating disorders is more during teen years or young adulthood. Counseling of an affected person helps them to come out of this situation. To tell them how important is to eat in a balanced way to stay healthy and to achieve their ideal body weight according to their height. The exact cause of this disorder is unknown, however, researchers said so environmental, genetic, behavioral, and social factors have a great impact on the person. 

Anorexia nervosa:

It is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restrictions, fear of weight gain, and a strong desire to be thin. Many people with anorexia see themselves as overweight even though they are in fact underweight. They often deny weight themselves, frequently eat small amounts, and only eat certain foods. Some exercise excessively forces themselves to vomit, or use laxatives to lose weight. Complications may include osteoporosis, infertility, and heart damage among others. They often thought they are overweight but they are extremely underweight.

Symptoms:

  • Eat very little and selective to the point of starving yourself
  • excessive and vigorously workout
  • Intense fear of being overweight 
  • Severely underweight 

Consequences of Anorexia nervosa:

  • Osteoporosis
  • Hair Fall and thinning of hair 
  • Nails become brittle
  • Skin becomes dry, patchy, and yellowish
  • Protein-energy malnutrition 
  • Muscle loss
  • Difficulty to conceive
  • Bradycardia
  • Fluctuation of Blood pressure
  • Distorted body image

Medical nutrition therapy: 

•        Serve attractive palatable meals in small amounts 

•        Small frequent meals are useful 

•        Encourage variety 

•        Limit bulky foods during the early stage of treatment 

•        Diet should be called low caloric diet for anorexia nervosa 

•        At start 30-40kcal/kg body weight and increase as much possible 

• Monitor serum cholesterol levels low levels have been correlated with suicidality. 

•        Help the patient to resume normal eating habits 

Bulimia nervosa:

It is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating 

Medical nutrition therapy: 

•Use controlled portions of a regular diet usually with three meals and two     snacks 

• Provide basal energy needs plus 300-400 calories as a beginning stage.

•Decrease sugar and alcohol intake stressing the importance of other key nutrients.

• Encourage exercise along with diet and psychotherapy. 

Binge eating:

It is a pattern of an eating disorder that consists of episodes of uncontrollable eating. During such binges, a person rapidly consumes an excessive amount of food. A diagnosis of binge eating is associated with feelings of loss of control. It is linked with overweight and obesity.

•     Person take a large portion of the meal in a specific amount of time period such as   after 2 hours

•        They eat even when they are not hungry or saturated

•        Eat too fast during repeated episodes of a specific time 

•        To being ashamed they do eat alone 

Medical nutrition therapy:

• A balanced diet using principles of the dietary guidelines and the food guide pyramid. 

• A slightly higher protein intake than usual helps to reduce binge eating it provides more satiety

•Alter diet according to medications, therapies, medical recommendations, and interdisciplinary care plan.