Eating Disorders

Do you know about 14 million people worldwide experienced eating disorders including almost 3 million children and adolescents in 2019 (WHO, 2019)? The number of people with eating disorders has increased significantly in recent years. In Canada, over 1.7 million people experience eating disorders. Eating disorders are characterized by severely disturbed eating behaviours. The symptoms or behaviours result in significant risk or damage to health, significant distress, or significant impairment of functioning.

Types of Eating Disorders:

• Anorexia Nervosa (AN): A condition where people avoid or significantly reduce food intake and eat only certain foods in very small amounts.
• Bulimia Nervosa (BN): A condition characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating and feeling a lack of control over these episodes.
• Binge Eating Disorder (BED): A condition characterized by recurrent episodes of uncontrollable eating, where individuals consume unusually large amounts of food.
• Avoidance Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): A condition where people limit the type/ amount of food eaten.