Eating disorders are a serious medical condition that affect millions of teenagers every year. The most common disorders are anorexia, which is categorized by restricting food and bulimia, in which the sufferer eats and purges to avoid gaining weight. Identifying these disorders in teenagers can be difficult, but it is possible. Follow these tips for recognizing eating disorders in teenagers.
Instructions
1. Watch for changes in which foods the teenager will eat. Often, restricting certain food groups, such as meat, is an early sign that a problem is developing. Although teenagers can be picky when it comes to eating, keep track if you start seeing the teen eating fewer food varieties over time.
2. Listen to the teenager. One early way to recognize the development of an eating disorder is by listening to what the teenager is talking about. Take note of any excessive talk of body weight, diets and similar topics.
3. Observe any changes in the way the teenager is dressing. If she has developed an eating disorder and has begun losing weight, she may begin wearing baggier clothing. Anorexia is also characterized by lower body temperature, so you may notice that the teenager is wearing cold weather clothing in warmer weather.
4. Monitor how much the teen is exercising. When an eating disorder develops, one symptom is normally excessive exercise to compensate for extra calories the teenager is taking in. Although he may be eating normal amounts of food, a teenager with an eating disorder perceives that he needs to rid the body of the calories by burning them off.
5. Take note if the teenager visits the bathroom shortly after eating. This is typical of teens with bulimia, who purge the food they have eaten by vomiting or abusing laxatives. If you live in the same house as the teenager, you may notice plumbing problems as the disorder worsens. This is due to pipes being clogged with vomit and is not uncommon.
Tags: eating disorder, disorders teenagers, Take note