Since the pandemic, the incidence of eating disorders (ED) has increased by 30% and occurs at younger ages. Social isolation during confinement and the increased use of social networks such as Instagram served as a trigger for many disorders that were latent and to inoculate the perfect germ for the beginning of others.
EDs have a function, they are a lifesaver, it is a way to survive when you can't control anything in your life, or you go through situations that surpass you. Holding on to false control over food, exercise, and body gives you a sense of security in the midst of uncertainty. And for uncertainty, a pandemic… That's how it was cooked over low heat and with a meme, between recipe and training class on-linethe perfect situation to develop an eating disorder with the veil of taking care of ourselves in the middle of a pandemic.
According to the president of the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and head of the Eating Disorders Unit (ED) of the San Carlos Clinical University Hospital in Madrid, doctor Marina Díaz Marsá: one in five patients who suffer from anorexia dies from suicide. 25% of people who suffer from an eating disorder have suicide attempts and 60% of them have suicidal thoughts and self-harm.
We have more and more knowledge about eating disorders, but there are still many myths that are reproduced and taken for granted. Some of the most widespread myths are the following.
1. Patients with ED are underweight
The reality is very different, since only 7% of patients have low weight according to the body mass index (BMI). Society represents people who have an eating disorder as being very underweight, but the truth is that you cannot diagnose an eating disorder just by looking at your body.
This means that many cases go unnoticed and undiagnosed, causing sick people not to ask for help because they do not feel “sick enough” because they do not comply with the myth of low weight, and they believe that they do not deserve treatment. Using weight as a screen in the detection and diagnosis of eating disorders is negligent.
2. EDs are only women's things
It is true that the disease is much more common in women. Of ten cases of ED, nine are women and one is man, so being a woman implies a greater risk of suffering from an ED.
This means that men do not ask for help or delay doing so, since social stigma makes it more difficult for them to identify as sick.
3. If you have an eating disorder it is because you want to
The cause of EDs is multifactorial, no one gets sick by their own will.
The risk factors for eating disorders are: genetic predisposition, certain personality traits such as perfectionism and high level of demands, adolescence, being a woman, and it is related to other mental illnesses such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), anxiety, substance abuse, a controlling or unstructured family environment, as well as excessive concern about food and the body on the part of parents or guardians.
Social factors such as image pressure and success based on thinness, certain sports or professions closely associated with a specific physique (dancers, fashion, gymnastics) in which their body is highly exposed, children and adolescents who have suffered comments on their body are more susceptible to developing a disorder.
4. They are adolescent diseases
EDs affect all ages, with adolescence as the key point. We see increasingly earlier beginnings, now it is 12 years old.
The average age of onset is between 17 and 25 years, however, there is a very high percentage of middle-aged women who have symptoms compatible with these conditions, either because an eating disorder that began in adolescence has become chronic. and it has never been cured, or because it has developed for the first time at this point in its life. The term “middle age” or “mature age” is defined in the range of 35 to 55 years; Other authors have proposed the age range of 40 to 65 years.
5. Crash diets and fad diets are not dangerous
It cannot be said that restrictive diets are the cause of eating disorders, but 40% of them have been triggered by a diet.
Therefore, it is very important not to put our health at risk by jumping from diet to diet as if they were harmless. And most importantly, protect children: they cannot be put on diets or constantly weighed. Habit changes can be made, but causing a child to live in deprivation is often a trigger for binge eating disorder. Generally, changes in children's habits have more to do with the habits of parents or caregivers because, in the end, children access what adults give them.
Binge eating disorder is perhaps the most unknown eating disorder because it was not described as such until 10 years ago, in 2013 it was included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM -5). It is characterized by the ingestion of large quantities of food in a short period of time, with a feeling of lack of willpower, usually alone. It generates shame and physical discomfort due to the large intake of food and, above all, emotional discomfort.
Until very recently, people who suffered from binge eating disorder were put on a weight loss diet, which in turn caused more binge eating and more shame at not being able to follow it. Many adults who today feel ashamed for eating some foods are those children who were scolded for eating them because they were too heavy.
EDs do not understand age, sex, ethnicity, or socioeconomic level. These are complicated dates for people who suffer from them. If you want to lend a hand, these holidays don't talk about food, don't pay attention to what everyone eats or doesn't eat, don't comment on anyone's physical changes, not even those of your body. Let's have the party in peace.
NOURISH WITH SCIENCE It is a section on nutrition based on scientific evidence and knowledge verified by specialists. Eating is much more than a pleasure and a necessity: diet and eating habits are now the public health factor that can most help us prevent numerous diseases, from many types of cancer to diabetes. A team of dietitians-nutritionists will help us better understand the importance of food and debunk, thanks to science, the myths that lead us to eat poorly.
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