Eating Disorders Don't Just Impact Young People
More than 10 million Americans suffer from some type of disordered eating (anorexia, bulimia and binge eating). While most people tend to think eating disorders are limited to teenagers and young adults, that is changing as the percentage of middle-aged women with eating disorders is on the rise.
Eating disorders can often be triggered by life changes. In young people, those changes are generally things like going off to college or changes in social relationships or friendships. In older adults, it can be divorce, death in the family, job changes, family crisis, or kids moving out of the house. The lack of control in those areas of life can lead to a fixation on things that can be controlled -- like food.
Social factors can also contribute to eating disorders because no matter how old you are, the societal ideal glorifying thinness and perfection are ever-present. Let's face it...the ideal body type portrayed in advertising is possessed naturally by only 5% of American females. (The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders, "Eating Disorders 101 Guide: A Summary of Issues, Statistics and Resources")
A growing concern among professionals is that as women get older they are more adept at concealing an eating disorder and the symptoms may be attributed to aging rather than to an eating disorder. For instance, when a thin young person stops menstruating, healthcare providers typically raise questions about weight and eating habits; however, in middle-aged women it is often diagnosed as early menopause.
Younger or older though, the warning signs of an eating disorder are the same: dramatic weight loss, preoccupation with weight and food, eating in secret, developing food rituals, and withdrawl from usual friends and activities.
For more warning signs and some ideas you can consider using when approaching a loved one with the possibility they are suffering with an eating disorder, click here.
