Eating problems

Anorexia nervosa (often simply called anorexia) is an eating disorder where people worry about their weight, want to lose weight, and eat less and less food. People with anorexia may do different things in order to get rid of any food from their body.

ARFID stands for ‘avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder’. This used to be known as selective eating disorder. People with ARFID avoid certain foods or types of food, or they may limit how much food they eat. Unlike anorexia, people with ARFID don’t necessarily do this to lose weight.

Common reasons people with ARFID may limit their food intake include:

• Sensory sensitivity – you may struggle with the appearance, smell, texture, temperature or taste of certain foods.
• Limited interest in food – you may not realise when you are hungry in the same way that other people do, or you may simply not enjoy eating.
• Worries about the consequences of eating – you may have had a frightening experience with choking, vomiting, or stomach pain and be afraid that this will happen again. To try and prevent it from happening again, you may stick to what you consider “safe” foods.

Binge eating disorder is a condition where people regularly eat large quantities of food in a short time and feel like they are not in control of this, or that they are unable to stop. In a binge eating episode, people may eat a lot faster than usual, or eat even though they’re not hungry, and feel embarrassment or shame afterwards. This can be very distressing.

Although binges are often unplanned and catch the person off-guard, sometimes they can be planned, and the person might buy particular types of food to eat.

Unlike bulimia, people with binge eating disorder don’t usually “purge” afterwards (try to get rid of any food in their body).

Bulimia is an eating disorder where you get into a cycle of “bingeing” (over-eating) and “purging” (trying to control your weight by making yourself sick, or using other ways to get rid of the food in your body).

Although many of us will eat a bit more than usual on occasion, this is different to bingeing. Bingeing is often very distressing and people do not feel in control of it. It is usually a way of dealing with difficult feelings and emotions, and is often followed by a desire to purge.

You may feel that parts of your life are out of control and that purging or restricting calories gives you a sense of control. But bulimia can seriously damage your body, so it's important to get help and find other ways of coping.

Although bulimia is a serious condition, there's lots of help available.

Osfed stands for ‘other specified feeding or eating disorder’. If you experience disordered eating but your symptoms do not neatly fit with the symptoms of anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder, you may be diagnosed with OSFED. This is very common – in fact, it’s the most common eating disorder.

Some examples of what OSFED might look like include:

• Atypical anorexia –when you experience all the symptoms of anorexia nervosa, but your weight remains in a “normal” range.
• Binge eating disorder (low frequency/limited duration) – where you experience the symptoms of binge eating disorder, but not as often or over as long a period of time.
• Bulimia nervosa (low frequency/limited duration) –where you experience the symptoms of bulimia, but the cycles of bingeing and purging do not happen as often, or do not last for as long.
• Night eating syndrome –where you eat a lot at night even after your dinner, or you wake up in the night to eat.
• Purging syndrome – This is where someone purges, as with bulimia, but it is not part of a binge/purge cycle.

Pica is an eating disorder where someone eats non-food items that have no nutritional value, such as soap, chalk or dirt. Most people with pica will also eat regular food items.