“Does this mean I have an eating disorder?”

Was a question I was asked by a client recently. So I thought I would write a post to help clear up any confusion you might have on the differences between having a disordered relationship with food/disordered eating habits and having a diagnosable eating disorder!

Understanding the Basics

First things first, let’s break down what we’re talking about:

Disordered Eating Habits/Behaviours:

Definition: A range of irregular eating behaviours. Includes things like chronic dieting, skipping meals, following extreme fad diets, emotional eating, overeating, binge eating, and food rules.

Impact: These behaviours can negatively affect your physical and mental health, therefore impacting your everyday life, but they are typically less severe and less consistent than those in eating disorders.

Duration: May be short-term or situational and doesn’t usually require clinical intervention, though support is beneficial (such as coaching with a qualified Nutritional Therapist or Dietician to heal your relationship with food)

Diagnosable Eating Disorders:

Definition: Diagnosable mental health conditions characterized by severe disturbances in eating behavior and related thoughts and emotions.

Types: Includes anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and others as classified in the DSM-5.

Behaviour: More severe and consistent patterns such as extreme restriction of food, binge eating, purging, and obsessive concerns about weight and body shape.

Impact: Significantly affects physical health, emotional well-being, and daily functioning. Often requires professional treatment involving a multidisciplinary approach (e.g., therapy, nutritional counseling, medical monitoring).

Duration: Typically long-term and can be chronic without appropriate treatment.

Examples of a Disordered Relationship with Food:

• Emotional Eating: Using food to cope with feelings. Eating when stressed, eating to overcome anxiety, eating when sad, lonely etc.
• Dieting Obsession: Constantly trying new diets or restricting certain foods in order to change your body.
• ‘Health’ Obsession: Worrying about eating ‘clean’, stressing over the ‘perfect’ diet.
• Restriction/Binging: Under or over-consuming food.

Some disordered eating habits can often seem perfectly normal and healthy, for example – opting to eat wholegrain rice instead of white rice. But if they are leading to physical and mental health side effects – it might be time to look at your relationship with food!

Here are some examples of physical and mental side effects from disordered eating habits:

• Digestive symptoms: IBS, bloating, nausea, constipation, diarrhea.
• Weight gain, weight loss and weight yo-yo’ing.
• Stress, anxiety and increased mental load.
• Focusing on weight and image can negatively impact self-esteem, lower confidence and increase body pre-occupation.
• Focusing on a weight loss goal can build resentment toward healthy habits.

As I write this, I think it is important to say that as a Nutritional Therapist, I value health and I LOVE nutrition science, I think taking a preventative approach to our health is so important.

BUT – Health isn’t just what we eat and how much we exercise, and sometimes under the cloud of a disordered relationship with food and exercise, we can put all of our energy and attention on these two things, forgetting that our health is so much more.

Not to mention, it is difficult, or near impossible to implement healthy habits with a disordered relationship with food.

Disordered eating habits can create a cycle of being ‘all or nothing’.

Disordered eating habits can lead to an Eating Disorder.

Diagnosable Eating Disorders:

Diagnosable eating disorders are serious mental health conditions that need professional intervention.

Major Types:

• Anorexia Nervosa: Extreme restriction of food intake, intense fear of gaining weight, and a distorted body image.
• Bulimia Nervosa: Cycles of binge eating followed by purging (vomiting, excessive exercise, or laxative use).
• Binge Eating Disorder: Regular episodes of consuming large amounts of food without purging, often leading to feelings of shame and distress.
• Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED): Eating disorders that don’t fit neatly into the above categories but are still serious.

Key Characteristics:

• Persistent Behaviours: These behaviours are regular and consistent, not just occasional.
• Physical Symptoms: Noticeable weight changes, fatigue, digestive issues, and other health problems.
• Mental Health Impact: High levels of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues.
• Need for Treatment: These conditions often require medical and psychological treatment.

Real Life Examples…

Example of Disordered Eating, Grainne:

• Grainne skips breakfast, she heard from her friend that fasting might help her lose weight. Grainne really wants to lose weight for an upcoming holiday.
• She has a coffee in the morning, but by lunchtime, Grainne is really hungry. She gets irritable, loses focus and can get headaches regularly.
• Because Grainne is so hungry by the time lunch comes around, this means that:
  • She often eats her lunch and doesn’t feel full or satisfied, she is always mentally looking for something else to eat or reaching for snacks.
  • Sometimes she buys ‘unhealthy‘ food that doesn’t feel good in her body because she is so hungry, her healthy habits she is trying to build go out the window.
  • Other times, she is OK at lunch and is happy with her meal but by evening time she can’t control herself and overeats way past comfortable fullness.

Example of an Eating Disorder, Shauna:

• Shauna struggled with bulimia for years (Bulimia: main signs of bulimia are eating a large amount of food over a very short time, You then rid your body of the extra food by 1 or more of the following: purging, taking laxatives, excessive exercise, fasting).
• It started in college, Shauna was part of a sports team. Shauna was physically fit and able to keep up with her team but she wasn’t as thin as her teammates and she was self-conscious in the team kit.
• Shauna started diet in an aim to lose weight, this lead to binge eating to cope with exam stress. She would feel so guilty, she would regularly purge.
• She started to isolate herself from friends and family as she was so ashamed about her behaviour with food.

Why It Matters

So why should we care about the difference between disordered eating and eating disorders?

• Early Intervention: Recognising disordered eating can prevent it from developing into a more serious disorder. Healing your relationship with food now can give you SO much freedom in life! You can develop consistent healthy habits from a place of self-love, self-respect instead of stress and anxiety.

Taking Action: What to Do if You’re Struggling

If you think you might be dealing with disordered eating or an eating disorder, here’s what you can do:

• Talk to Someone: Whether it’s a friend, family member, or professional, don’t keep it to yourself.
• Seek Professional Help: Therapists, nutritionists, and doctors can provide the support and treatment you need.
• Educate Yourself: Understanding your relationship with food is the first step to changing it.

Thank you for reading. I hope this helped with any confusion you might have had. Leave a comment below if you had any insights or have any questions.

Chat soon,

Leanne

Xx

Leanne@leannemoran.com