Get over an eating disorder - tips

Video: It’s time to do eating disorder recovery differently | Kristie Amadio | TEDxYouth@Christchurch

Content

Steps
Advice
Warning

In today's society, there is still a lot of confusion about the severity of an eating disorder. People often joke that the friends who are underweight or are always dieting are the ones with an eating disorder. Or, they refer to skinny people as having anorexia. These disorders are not a problem to make fun of. In fact, they can lead to death. If you are concerned that you or someone you know is showing signs of an eating disorder, seek help as soon as possible. Learn how to identify an eating disorder, get help, and maintain long-term recovery.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Get help for an eating disorder

Talk to someone you trust. The first step for someone with an eating disorder to recover is to talk about the problem regularly. You may be afraid of this, but then you will feel extremely relieved when you finally can share it with someone. Choose someone who has unconditional support, be it your best friend, or a coach, religious leader, parent or school counselor.
- Take time to talk to this person privately without distractions. Try to be calm. Your loved one may be surprised, confused, or hurt to know that you have suffered alone during the past time.
- Explain some of the symptoms you notice and when to start. You can discuss the physical and mental effects of an eating disorder, such as missed periods or suicidal thoughts.
- Tell the person how they can help you. Do you want them to take responsibility for your meals? Or do you want this person to go to see the doctor with you? Let your loved one know what they can do to best support you.
Choose an expert. After you share your situation, you will feel more confident and supportive in seeking professional help. Your hope of full recovery is placed on a health professional experienced in treating an eating disorder
- You can find an eating disorder specialist by asking your private doctor, calling your local hospital or health center, consulting with a school counselor, or looking for information online.
Determine the best treatment plan for yourself. Work with your doctor or counselor to find the right treatment for your situation. There are many effective treatments for an eating disorder.
- Personal psychotherapy allows you to work one-to-one with a therapist to discover the cause of your current condition and find healthier ways to deal with that cause. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment that focuses on changing unhelpful thinking habits that affect the relationship between food and the body.
- Family therapy is also effective with parental guidance that combines a useful tool to care for adolescents with eating disorders and bring healthier lifestyles to households for long-term recovery.
- Medical supervision is needed so that the doctor can do physical examination to make sure essential bodily functions are recovering during treatment. Your doctor can record your weight and conduct regular check-ups.
- Nutrition consultation with a nutritionist to ensure you get the calories and nutrients you need to maintain and regain a healthy weight. A specialist will work with you to change your relationship with food for a positive and healthy way.
- You may need to take medication if you have a medical condition that is parallel with an eating disorder, such as depression. Medications commonly prescribed to aid recovery from an eating disorder include antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-anxiety medications, and mood stabilizers.
Try combinations of other approaches to get the best results. In the hope of a long and successful recovery from an eating disorder, you should try incorporating a few more therapies, medications, and nutritional counseling. Your treatment plan should be tailored to the individual needs and factors of the parallel disease.
Find a support group. While you recover, you will feel better if you know you are not alone. Find a local support group through the treatment or therapy center to chat with people who also have an eating disorder and support each other. advertisement

Method 2 of 3: Maintain Recovery

Challenge negative thoughts about the body. Negative thoughts seem to rule your life when you are affected by an eating disorder. You berate yourself for gaining weight or criticize yourself for a meal that is the opposite of the serving size. Overcoming this habit of thinking is an important factor in the recovery process.
- Take a few days to pay attention to your thoughts. Divide existing thoughts into positive or negative goals, useful or useless. Think about how they might affect your mood and behavior.
- Fight off negative, unhelpful thinking by determining the level of reality. For example, if you have the following thought, "I never get the right weight," you might ask yourself how can you know for sure. Do you have the ability to predict the future? Of course not.
- Now that you have identified these useless thoughts, replace them with a more practical and useful version, such as "It will take a while to reach the right weight, but I can do it."
Learn effective anti-stress techniques. Stress often causes unhealthy behavioral habits that lead to eating disorders. Therefore, developing positive ways to release stress can help you maintain your recovery. Here are a few effective ways to fight stress:
- Exercise regularly
- Get at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night.
- Find a hobby.
- Listen to music and dance.
- Spend time with positive and supportive people.
- Dog walking
- Take a long bath and relax
- Learn to say no when you have too many things
- Unleash the trend of perfectionism
Create a balanced menu and plan your workout. Eating and being physically active are an important part of overall health. However, people with eating disorders often don't do these well. You must work closely with your doctor and dietitian to determine a well-balanced safe exercise and the right menu to maintain optimal health.
Wear clothes that make you feel comfortable. The goal is to make you happy with the clothes you wear. Choose light and comfortable clothing of your body size and shape rather than your "ideal" body attire, or something that completely covers your body.
Wait. Recovery from an eating disorder is a process. You may come back many times before you completely overcome the habit of acting negatively that leads to the confusion, but keep going.Do not give up. You will recover if you persevere. advertisement

Method 3 of 3: Determination of an Eating Disorder

Research on eating disorders. You can search the internet about your current situation so that you know the risks and severity of an eating disorder. Only a doctor can formally diagnose your eating disorder, but learning more can help you better understand how life-threatening the condition is, and be motivated to seek help. Learn about the most common types of eating disorders.
- Bored of mental eating characterized by an anxious phobia about body size and weight. Individuals with anorexia are afraid of gaining weight and believe they are overweight even if they are underweight. This individual may refuse to eat and eat on a very restrictive diet. Many people with anorexia vomit or take laxatives to lose weight.
- Anorexia. People with this disorder often have binge drinking and eating many meals a day. They cannot control their food intake and then deal with overeating by vomiting all over, taking laxatives or diuretics, or exercising vigorously, fasting, or a combination of these methods. This disorder is difficult to identify because many people with anorexia maintain an average weight.
- Anorexia characteristic is to eat a lot of food even when not hungry. People with binge eating may sneak up on eating and cannot control themselves when they eat. Although quite similar to anorexia, people with binge eating disorder (BED) do not experience vomiting or intense exercise. People with binge eating can be overweight or obese.
Observe and collect your symptoms. Once you learn about eating disorders, you should be able to spot some of your own symptoms. Paying attention to your symptoms and thoughts and feelings can be helpful in seeking professional help. You can keep a record of your symptoms in a notebook to help your doctor better understand your eating disorder.
- Try to keep a daily diary as it helps you uncover the connection between your thinking habits and behavior, which can help with the healing process.
- For example, you can record binge eating. Then, think back over what happened right before eating. What are your thoughts? Feeling? Who's around you? What are you discussing? Then, take note of how you feel after you eat. How do you think and feel?
Find clues about the development of the disorder. You can think about when and how symptoms appeared. Identifying every single detail can help your doctor diagnose your condition and parallels such as anxiety or depression. Thinking about the cause of your illness can help you initiate lifestyle changes during treatment.
- The exact cause of the eating disorder has not been determined. However, researchers realized that it could be genetics, or that the patient was raised in a strong society or cultural ideal about thin people. They are self-inferior and have a perfectionist character, influenced by the fragile image of colleagues or the media.
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Advice

Understand that recovery is a time-consuming process
Understand that you are getting treatment for the sake of your body, mind and soul
Do not give up
Stay away from things that return you to old habits