Anorexia Nervosa Is An Eating Disorder

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is defined an eating disorder that is consists of abnormally low body weight. A person suffering from this disease typically has a body mass index (BMI) that is less than 85% of what is considered normal. Anorexics have a fear of being overweight and often

According to the Mayo Clinic (2016), eating disorders are “conditions related to persistent eating behaviors that negatively impact your health, your emotions, and your ability to function in important areas of life.” One such eating disorder is anorexia nervosa. Not to be confused with anorexia, which is simply a general loss of appetite that can be attributed to many medical ailments, anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder and mental illness (Nordqvist, 2015). Anorexia nervosa is estimated to affect about .9% of women and .3% of men in their lifetime (“Eating Disorder Statistics & Research,” n.d.). In general, the disorder is commonly characterized by a distorted body image or self-concept, critically low weight (with respect to the patient’s height and age), and an irrational fear of becoming fat or an intense desire to be thin. There are two subtypes to this eating disorder: restrictive and binge/purge. In the restrictive type, the individual limits caloric intake and may compulsively over-exercise. In the binge/purge type, the individual consumes a considerable amount of food in a short period of time (binging) and then deliberately vomits (purging), takes laxatives, or fasts intensely in order to compensate for the food eaten (“General Information: Anorexia Nervosa,” n.d.). In either case, anorexia nervosa is undoubtedly a dangerous and alarming illness.

The long-term evidence on the behavioral treatment of obesity, including both experimentally controlled outcome studies and uncontrolled clinical trials, is critically reviewed. Results of the controlled studies show that weight loss at post-treatment (a mean of 10–11 lbs) is generally

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder driven mainly by the fear of gaining weight. People with Anorexia severely limit the amount of food they eat and can become extremely skinny.

In addition to creating a collaborative relationship, the early stages of treatment focus on psychoeducation (Stein, 2001). The inclusion of education allows the individual to learn about the importance of proper nutrition and how restricting food intake affects the body. Once the client receives education, the therapist employs motivational interviewing to help the client evaluate the costs and benefits of his or her behavior (Stein, 2001). This then leads to challenging faulty cognitions and beliefs about body weight.

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder in which the individual has a distorted body self-image and an intense fear of weight gain. The individual intentionally restricts daily food intake, which causes alarming weight loss and results in self-imposed starvation. Internal medicine physicians, Brown and Mehler (2015) from Denver Health Medical Center warned, “Starvation induces protein and fat catabolism that leads to loss of cellular volume and function, resulting in adverse effects on, and atrophy of, the heart, brain, liver, intestines, kidneys, and muscles” (p. 11). Medical complications resulting from starvation affect nearly every major organ system in the adolescent body, some more severely than others. While there are 11 major organ systems

Anorexia nervosa is a severe mental illness which carries mental, physical and psychological consequences. It is often characterised by low body weight and image distortion, along with obsessive concerns and fears about the gaining of weight.(1) This constant anxiety of weight gain manifests itself through the deprivation of food and excessive exercise. Anorexia Nervosa can broken down further into the restricting type where weight loss is achieved through the restriction of calories,(2) or the purging type where vomiting, laxatives and diuretics(2) are used to gain the similar outcomes. Both of these types have severe impacts on an individuals health and knowledge of the symptoms, care and impacts it has is imperative.

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by an intense fear of putting on weight with a negative attitude towards body weight (medical dictionary). Due to this extensive fear, people eventually starve themselves leading to extremely low body weights. People suffering from Anorexia take extreme efforts to keep their body weights in check by limiting the amount of food they eat. These efforts range from excessive exercise, misusing diet aids to vomiting after eating just to reduce the level of calorie intake. However, it should be noted that Anorexia is less of an issue about food but more of a mental problem whereby people suffering from it equate thinness to self-worth (Mayo Clinic). As such Anorexia is a psychiatric disorder

Anorexia Nervosa is a mental illness and is referred to as an under-nutrition eating disorder that is often mistaken for a “lifestyle choice”. It is when the person with the illness sees themselves as overweight and wishes to lose a few kilos. So said person begins to diet and exercise and they notice they’re losing the weight. Said person then reaches said goal weight but is still not happy with the way they look so they decide to keep dieting. People with the illness often say they can hear a voice in their head (often referred to it as ‘Ana’ for anorexia and ‘Mia’ for bulimia) telling them that they don’t look good enough and they need to lose more weight. Eventually, said person has lost so much weight that you can see their bones and their knees don’t touch, but no, that’s not good enough for ‘Ana’ so they continue to diet and exercise religiously until eventually, their body can not handle the stress and it shuts down.

The American Anorexia Nervosa Association defines anorexia as a ‘serious illness of deliberate self-starvation with profound psychiatric and physical components.’ It is a complex emotional disorder that initiates its victims on a course of unsettled dieting in pursuit of excessive thinness (Neuman and Halvorson, 1983).

Anorexia nervosa is a disorder characterized by abnormal eating behaviors. People with anorexia have a fear of gaining weight which causes them to try and maintain a low weight. They will do anything to prevent weight gain. This includes starvation and exercising too much. They do this because not only do they have the fear of gaining weight they have a distorted body image which means even if they are extremely thin they will believe that they are overweight. (Ehrlich, 2015).

Eating disorders are serious conditions involving extremely unhealthy dietary habits. The two most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. In the past few decades, eating disorders have become more and more prevalent in western countries. A lot of people suffered from the diseases, for example, famous Princess Diana has struggled with bulimia for many years. It should be kept in mind that eating disorders occur not only in adults, but also in young people. In fact, many eating disorders are first being diagnosed in adolescents. The adolescents with eating disorders often fight against body weight control by the means of starvation, binging or purging. However, the intense preoccupation with being thin and the lifestyle it entails can be life-threatening. Therefore, in order to reduce the rate of eating disorders in adolescents and help them recover, the media, families, and schools need to come together to offer support and create change.

Anorexia is an eating disorder in which the individuals have lost more weight than what is considered healthy for their height and age. Their weight loss and food

The nutritionist’s role in treatment of BN is to help develop a reasonableplan of controlled eating while assessing the patient’stolerance for structure.Immediate goals must beinterruption of the binge-and-purge cycle, restoration of normaleating behavior, and stabilization of body weight, even if already overweight. Attemptsat dietary exacerbatebinge-purge behavior.Metabolic state must be considered when prescribing thebaseline diet.Assessment ofclinical signs of ahypometabolic state, like a low T3 level and cold intolerance, is useful in determining the caloric prescription. If a low metabolismis suspected, a caloric prescription of 1600 to 1800calories daily is a reasonable startbut this prescriptionshould be titrated upwards, in 100 to 200 calorie increments,to stimulate the metabolic rate. Ultimately, a weightmaintenance diet of 2200 to 2400 kcal/day is attainable and welltolerated (Halmi, 2005).

The AN and BN studies include control as a pro-code. The disorder appears to provide control, consistency, structure, and willpower to clients’ life (Serpell et al., 1999). The perception of control is also addressed by Laura Hill, an expert in eating disorders. She describes an interesting approach to help her clients to adhere to treatment, without losing control about food and establishing a structure, which seems to be essential in the life of clients with AN and BN. Hill advises her clients to always have a lunchbox with them. By doing this, they will not feel overwhelmed by the uncertainty of not knowing what they are going to eat and how much (Hill, 2012). Likewise, in the documentary dying to be thin, the control theme is also discussed as one of the main features of the disease. I found Hill’s treatment beneficial to help clients to keep control over one of the main themes of eating disorders, which is food. However, this treatment needs to be combined with cognitive behavioral approaches to reduce their rigid thinking and replace it with more flexible and realistic thoughts. The clients’ need for control usually goes beyond food. It includes other areas in their lives such as sports, school, and