ANOREXIA NERVOSA
Anorexia nervosa essentially is self-starvation, a refusal to maintain a minimally normal body weight. People with eating disorders may also engage in self-induced vomiting and abuse of laxatives, diuretics or exercise in order to control their weight. The condition may lead them to become thin or even emaciated. In severe cases, anorexia can be life-threatening.
BULIMIA NERVOSA
Bulimia nervosa involves repeated episodes of binge eating, followed by inappropriate ways of trying to rid the body of the food or of the expected weight gain. A person with bulimia may consume large, high-calorie meals, and then induce vomiting or take laxatives to try to rid the body of the food before the body absorbs calories and weight gain occurs. People may have this condition and be of normal weight.
COMPULSIVE OVEREATING
People suffering with Compulsive Overeating have what is characterized as an "addiction" to food, using food and eating as a way to hide from their emotions, to fill a void they feel inside, and to cope with daily stresses and problems in their lives. People suffering with this Eating Disorder tend to be overweight, are usually aware that their eating habits are abnormal, but find little comfort because of society's tendency to stereotype the "overweight" individual. Words like, "just go on a diet" are as emotionally devestating to a person suffering Compulsive Overeating as "just eat" can be to a person suffering Anorexia.
BINGE EATING
Men and Women living with Binge Eating Disorder suffer a combination of symptoms similar to those of Compulsive Overeaters and Bulimia. The sufferer periodically goes on large binges, consuming an unusually large quantity of food in a short period of time (less than 2 hours) uncontrollably, eating until they are uncomfortably full. The weight of each individual is usually characterized as above average or overweight, and sufferers tend to have a more difficult time losing weight and maintaining average healthy weights. Unlike with Bulimia, they do not purge following a Binge episode.
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