Eating Disorders

Michigan Tech, like colleges and universities everywhere, has a certain number of students who suffer from eating disorders. The severity of eating disorders that some Tech students suffer from ranges from mild to life-threatening. It is good to know that Counseling Services staff have an extensive history working with students suffering from eating disorders.

 

Healthy Weight Management

Everybody wants to be healthy, fit and attractive. Getting there, however, is not always so easy. For some seemingly lucky people, health, fitness and physical attractiveness at a young age seems to come naturally and effortlessly. For others it seems to be a near impossibility.

Learning good health habits is an important thing to learn at a young age. In a way, those individuals who were not "lucky" to be born easily fit and attractive have an edge in later life on those who appeared to be so "gifted" early on. Frequently, those young adults who had to struggle to make it to their ideal weight and fitness level when they were young maintain that fitness level and health awareness into later adult life better than those young adults who never had to learn how to take care of themselves at an early age.

It goes back to the distinction between talent and skill. Skill–that ability that is learned and maintained only through discipline and frequent practice–is what it takes to maintain a healthy adult weight and fitness level. As your body ages, its metabolism naturally slows down while your appetite stays the same. If you simply "do what you've always done" in regards to diet and exercise, you will tend to develop overweight as you grow older.

Regular exercise and disciplined eating is necessary to keep your aging metabolism boosted enough so that you do not "naturally" gain weight.

Healthy weight management involves determining your healthy weight and fitness levels, and then determining a diet and exercise plan that you enjoy enough to be able to maintain in the months and years to come.

Come in and make an appointment to Counseling Services to discuss your health and fitness goals. We have experience helping students establish realistic health and fitness milestones for themselves, and we can also help you set up appointments with your family physician, dietitian or with University Health Services to make sure the goals you establish are realistic and truly healthy for your individual condition.


Overweight and obesity

The condition of being "overweight" simply is when you weigh more than your recommended weight as determined by the standard medical or insurance height and weight charts.

Being "overweight" may or may not be a problem. The big question is, "what contrubutes to your overweight condition?"

Some people are naturally more stocky and muscular than others. Body builders, regardless of their initial predispositions, become overweight because they are building massive muscles. Muscles weigh more than fat. Runners often become "underweight" when they follow their training regimens.

For most of us, however, being overweight simply means one thing: having too much body fat for our body size.

Overweight is generally considered to be a problem if you weigh 10% more than your recommended body weight, and that weight difference is due to fat.

Obesity is generally defined as weighing more than 20% of your recommended body weight.

The best way for you to determine if you are overweight or obese is to make an appointment with your family physician.

Counseling Services can provide support if you are struggling to maintain a diet or a new exercise regimen. Call and make an appointment to come in for an intitial interview

 

 

Compulsive overeating (binge eating)

We all occasionally overeat. Compulsive overeating, on the other hand, is a signal that something has gone seriously wrong with your life and that you are beginning to use food as a drug rather than as nutrition.

People who compulsively overeat share many of the same charactoristics as people who suffer from bulemia nervosa, in that they binge eat as a means of satisfying some emotional problem by using food as an anesthesia. They differ from those people suffering from bulemia nervosa in that they do not force themselves to vomit or use laxitives to empty themselves (purge) after they have binged.

Binge eaters frequently eat enormous amouts of food very quickly, even when they are not hungry. Oftentimes they will continue to eat until the point of discomfort has passed and they are feeling a lot of pain. Binge eaters frequently feel out of control of their eating, and often engage in a lot of mental self-downing and condemnation. Towards others, binge eaters often feel embarassed and ashamed of their inability to stop the binge, so they often engage in secret eating and hiding of food.

Socially, binge eaters often begin to withdraw from social situations as the binge eating behaviors intensify. This oftentimes makes the feelings of isolation, lonliness, self-doubt and self-condemnation even worse. As the binge eater's social isolation deepens, he or she frequently handles the stress of lonliness by binge eating even more.

As the binge eating worsens, the binge eater finds his or her life revolving around food. The binge eater usually gains weight, and may end up overweight or seriously obese. If the problem isn't dealt with, long-term medical complications such as cardiovascular disease, respiratory or kidney problems or joint disorders can develop and intensify.

People engaged in compulsive binge eating typically need professional help. Trying to overcome your binge eating on your own usually doesn't work. If you find yourself engaging in compulsive binge eating, call Counseling Services and make an apppointment to see a counselor as soon as possible. We have successfully worked with other individuals who have engaged in binge eating in the past and have learned how to overcome the compulsion. You can learn how to also.

Defining anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric and medical condition which involves an individual dramatically reducing their calorie intake to the point of self-starvation. In the name of "dieting" or of "losing fat" the person engaging in anorexic behavior compulsively fasts, exercises or severely restricts her or his food intake. The symptoms of anorexia include significant weight loss, usually far below that person's medically recommended weight level (15% below is diagnostic), loss of mensturation, dry skin, a sallow complexion, a severe psychological disturbance in the person's perception of their body size and fat level, and an intense fear of gaining weight. People exhibiting anorexic behavior patterns frequently hide and hoard food, exhibit strange or bizarre eating rituals, appear to eat at meals when in fact they are hardly eating at all, or cook lavish meals for others which they themselves refuse to eat.

Medical problems of anorexia

Defining bulemia nervosa

Bulemia nervosa is a psychiatric and medical condition which involves an individual engaging in episodes of binge eating followed by various efforts to "purge" or expell the binged food. During a binge, a person exhibiting bulemic behavior patterns may eat as few as a couple of extra cookies to as much as three grocery bags full of food. The individual may binge on a variety of foods, or the individual may eat a single food like a chocolate cake. Occasionally a binge eater may eat a single "forbidden" food in great quantities, such as a full bag of Oreos or two pounds of butter.

As the binge ends, the individual begins to be terrified at the prospect of weight gain, or feels guilty and self-damning for "losing control" and binging. At this point, the individual engaged in bulemic behavior patterns becomes obsessed with the "need" to purge or expell the forbidden foods that were eaten. The individual may intentionally vomit up all of the food, take an extreme amount of laxitives or engage in compulsive and intense physical exercise.

A binge-purge eater frequently eats as a way of providing "comfort" when they are feeling anxious, angry or self-condemning. Food is used as a way of numbing uncomfortable emotions and providing an illusion of self-control. However, when the binge is over, the feeling of being out of control reasserts itself with renewed vigor, and then the purge is used as a way of "cleansing" oneself from the anxiety of weight gain or the guilt of the remembered binge.

As with anorexia, people going through bulemia often center their lives around food. There often develops an obsessive preoccupation with weighing oneself. Food is often hoarded, hidden or stolen. A person experiencing bulemia often has a preoccupation with body image and view her or himself in a highly negative fashion that is completely out of kilter with how an outside observer might see that person.


Medical problems of bulemia

death


Are you dying to be thin?*

The following questionaire will give you an indication of whether or not you are living a lifestyle that indicates anorexic and/or bulemic tendencies. Anorexia nervosa (key symptom: extreme weight loss due to self-starvation) and bulemia (key symptom: binging followed by purging) are becoming more and more openly acknowledged as publicity increases public awareness and understanding.

 

Answer the following questions honestly.

Add your scores together and compare them with the scores below:

If you scored below 45, it would be wise for you to 1) seek out more information about anorexia and bulemia and 2) call Counseling Services and make an appointment with a counselor to determine what kind of assistance would be most helpful for you and your particular situation. The earlier you seek help, the better, although it is never too late to start on the road to recovery.

What family & friends can do to help*

Do's

Dont's

*Guidelines compliments of Fox Valley Hospital, Green Bay, WI

 

Resources:

Facts About Eating Disorders

Less-Well-Known Eating Disorders and Related Problems