Anorexia and Bulimia. That’s it, right? I remember when we first started talking about these disorders. It was when I was in college. Two girls came to me (a senior in the dorm) and told me their concern that their roommate had bulimia (she did). Fast forward to today and we find that there are many people (still mostly young women) who don’t fit the old categories of bulimia and anorexia, but still have a distorted relationship with food, and a poor body image. These disorders are described in a Today (MSNBC) article, and include such things as an addiction to exercise, binge eating, and even an obsession with health or “righteous” eating which can actually lead to malnourishment. We need to know how to help our children when they get sucked into an unhealthy eating pattern, but first we need to be able to see the truth of what our teen is dealing with. Being aware of these other eating disorders is a start.
