Eating disorders are real behavioral disorders that unfortunately afflict a large number of people, especially young and very young. Taking the situation in time, turning to specialists for psychological support but above all recognizing that you have a problem, are all necessary things.
But what are the signs that there is a problem?
These are the signs that could indicate that we suffer from an eating disorder
Food should never, ever become a source of suffering, but only a source of energy and well-being for the body. When social stress, psychological pressure dictated by personal anecdotes in a person’s life or dissatisfaction takes over the mind, it is good to be on the alert. Unfortunately, developing improper behaviors towards food is easier than you might think and you don’t necessarily have to suffer from a diagnosed disorder to have an unhealthy relationship with food.
But paying attention to certain behaviors is necessary to understand if there is something wrong with the relationship between our mind and nutrition. Therefore, it is important to understand what are the signs that could indicate that we suffer from an eating disorder.
The first signs
The first signs are manifested precisely on a psychological level and denote a small but present intolerance.
If we start to compare the amount of food contained on our plate with that of the other people sitting at the table, starting to think about the right or wrong amount, there is a problem. Same thing if before eating, we feel that strong need to plan what we have to ingest in detail.
If we are an athlete and calorie counts are included in our training program, this is clearly not a problem. It becomes so, however, when the calorie count is no longer a form of regularization, but of obsession with every single extra calorie.
Another problem could lie behind not being able to eat that particular food that we liked so much. Beware, however, that tastes change over the course of life is absolutely normal, but that you stop eating a food because you feel guilty about ingesting it, it may not be.
A problem is also not listening to and recognizing the needs of your body. Getting up from the table without listening to your feeling of hunger or satiety is not good either way. Whether you eat too much or eat too little, you should pay attention to what the body requires of us, without overdoing it.
Other symptoms
If most of our time we happen to think about food in a negative way, thinking about how much we want or don’t want to eat, there is already a problem there. Eating should be put on a par with all of a person’s other basic needs throughout the day. If, however, it becomes a constant necessity or a strain to be faced, it is good to reflect and understand if there is something wrong.
If the thought of food distresses us and we are afraid of not sticking to a strict diet, it could really be the case to consult a specialist. Our body, in fact, is already telling us that there is something that needs to be fixed.