It's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

It’s National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, February 26 through March 4, and this year’s theme is “Let’s Get Real.” Myths and misconceptions about eating disorders can lead to fewer diagnoses, treatment options and pathways. To help set the record straight, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) gets real about many common myths:  

• Myth: Eating disorders are a choice. Patients don’t choose to have an eating disorder. They are bio-psycho-social diseases, which means that genetic, biological, environmental, and social elements all play a role. What’s more, eating disorders commonly co-occur with other mental health conditions like major depression, anxiety, social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Substance abuse and eating disorders frequently co-occur, with up to 50% of individuals with eating disorders who abuse alcohol or illicit drugs, according to the NEDA.
• Myth: Eating disorders aren’t that serious. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illness and they also come with a slew of health consequences, including heart attack, kidney failure, osteoporosis, electrolyte imbalance and emotional distress. 
• Myth: Eating disorders only happen during adolescence. Eating disorders are often associated with straight, young, white females, but in reality, they affect people from all demographics. In fact, there’s been a rise in the rates of eating disorders and body dissatisfaction among middle-aged women, notes the NEDA.

8 Signs of Eating Disorders
Could you or someone you love have an eating disorder? The NEDA suggests watching out for the following warning sings: 

• Preoccupation with weight, food, calories, dieting, and/or body image. 

• Development of abnormal, secretive, extreme, or ritualized food or eating habits. 

• Withdrawal from usual friends and activities. 

• Evidence of binge eating, such as the disappearance of a large amount of food. 

• Evidence of purging behaviors, including frequent trips to the bathroom after meals, self-induced vomiting, periods of fasting, or laxative, diet pill, or diuretic abuse. 

• Compulsive or excessive exercising. 

• Discoloration or staining of the teeth. 

• Feelings of isolation, depression, anxiety, or irritability.

Ask About Our Psychiatric Consultations

At Rising Roads, our staff is here to help you take your physical and mental health back. To learn more, call us today: 866-746-1558.

What You Need to Know About Orthorexia

Gluten free, vegan, clean eating – we’re living in a society where it’s almost trendy to fixate on the foods that we eat. And while proper nutrition is a crucial part of your recovery and overall wellness, it’s also important to understand the dangers of making eating healthy a new and unhealthy obsession.  

Perhaps the biggest danger is putting yourself at risk of orthorexia, defined as a “pathological obsession with proper nutrition,” including strict avoidance of food believed to be unhealthy or impure. While not currently recognized by the Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, orthorexia can lead to severely restrictive food choices – both in variety and calories – that can result in physical and mental health consequences, explain experts from the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). 

Recognizing the Signs of Orthorexia

People with orthorexia typically have underlying motivations for eating healthy, including safety from poor health, compulsion for complete control, escape from fears, wanting to be thin, improving self-esteem, searching for spirituality through food, and using food to create an identity, notes the NEDA. Answering "yes" to the following questions can signal the need to get help: 

• Do you wish that occasionally you could just eat and not worry about food quality?
• Do you ever wish you could spend less time on food and more time living and loving?
• Does it seem beyond your ability to eat a meal prepared with love by someone else – one single meal – and not try to control what is served?
• Are you constantly looking for ways foods are unhealthy for you?
• Do love, joy, play and creativity take a back seat to following the perfect diet?
• Do you feel guilt or self-loathing when you stray from your diet?
• Do you feel in control when you stick to the “correct” diet?
• Have you put yourself on a nutritional pedestal and wonder how others can possibly eat the foods they eat? 

Nutritional Guidance at Rising Roads

As part of our holistic approach to addiction rehab, we offer weekly nutrition courses, in addition to shopping preparation and cooking classes. At Rising Roads Recovery, we aim to fix old patterns and replace them with a healthy relationship with food. If the client feels she needs additional help from our Registered Dietician, additional support will be arranged. To learn more, call today: 866-746-1558.