4 Common Myths About Eating Disorders

At best, misconceptions about eating disorders can be hurtful to people suffering from one. At worst, they can prevent you from getting necessary help.

If you suffer from an eating disorder, you probably use food as your weapon to deal with difficult and painful emotions in your life, which leads to plenty of health problems.

If you are serious about your eating patterns and are determined to manage your eating disorder, learn all you can about eating disorders and dispel all the myths.

Common myths associated with eating disorders include:

1. People who are not overweight cannot have eating disorders

It is impossible to determine eating disorders by the size and weight of a person. Bulimics tend to be at an average or even above average weight. Compulsive over eaters are typically overweight rather than under weight.

2. Eating disorders are not life-threatening

If you believe that eating disorder doesn’t cause any serious health problems, think again. Every eating disorder can be potentially life-threatening, and need to be treated as such. 

3. You can’t have more than one eating disorder

This is utterly false, as many people have more than one eating disorder. If you have symptoms of more than one type of eating disorder that don’t fit the criteria for a single one, it is classified as a separate type of eating disorder known as EDNOS. EDNOS is generally used for those with more than one type of eating disorder.

4. Only females are affected by eating disorders

Many eating disorders begin in the teenage years, but everyone, including children, men and older women, can suffer from an eating disorder at any given time.

However, statistically, women are more prone to eating disorders than men. Almost 10% of adults and 25% of children and males are affected by eating disorders.

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