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Diet vs Eating Disorder How to spot the difference…. ( APPG report, 2012). Dieting is very common amongst teenagers…. …but can you spot the difference between a diet and an eating disorder?. Tell-Tale Signs. 1. Highly Restrictive Diet.
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Dieting is very common amongst teenagers… …but can you spot the difference between a diet and an eating disorder?
1. Highly Restrictive Diet One of the key differences between a regular diet and an eating disorder is one of scale. Generally speaking, a young person with an eating disorder will restrict their calorie intake to only a few hundred calories per day. Allowing themselves to eat maybe less than half the number of calories they are likely to expend in a day.
2. No Slips Eating disorders sufferers tend to be very black and white in their thinking and go with an all or nothing approach. They will very rarely deviate from their prescribed diet, and if they do, they are likely to punish themselves by eating even less for the rest of the day, or doing heavy exercise or similar.
3. Cuts out food groups People with eating disorders feel very comfortable with rules and are often much happier to create a very strict rule e.g. ‘No Wheat’ and stick to it carefully rather than attempting to find compromises and alternatives to foods they perceive as dangerous.
4. Other weight control methods In addition to controlling their food intake, other weight control methods might be used such as heavy exercise or laxative use.
5. Panics about eating out A young person with an eating disorder would find the idea of eating out with friends terrifying. The thought of having to consume more calories than they’ve budgeted for or having to eat a meal where they’re not completely in control and may not know the exact ingredients and/or calorie content is likely to induce feelings of panic
6. Success measured by diet Weight gain will be taken very badly and even a small gain will make the young person feel like a failure as will failing to stick to their diet rules. They will often also assume that everyone else is also judging them according to their weight and dieting.
