What is Bulimia?
Bulimia is a psychological eating disorder.
The most common way of experiencing bulimia is having episodes of binge eating (consuming a large quantity of food in one sitting) where you have no sense of control over your eating.
Afterwards, you try inappropriate ways to lose weight such as:
Vomiting
Fasting
Enemas
Excessive use of laxatives and diuretics
Compulsive exercising
Bulimia Statistics
Approximately 1.5% of the US female population and 0.5% of the male population have experienced bulimia in their lifetimes
These percentages add up to 4.7 million females and 1.5 million males
Bisexual and gay men are at greatest risk of experiencing bulimia compared to men who idemtofy as heterosexual
Suicide is the number 1 leading cause of death among people who struggle with bulimia
Relapse occurs in 30%-50% of cases
Causes and Risk Factors
No one knows the exact cause of bulimia. However, research suggests that a mix of your personality traits, emotions and thinking patterns, as well as biological and environmental factors (such as genetics and others’ opinions) might be responsible.
Other risk factors include:
Being female
Depression and anxiety
Substance use disorders
Stress
Symptoms of Bulimia
Scared of gaining weight
Forcing yourself to vomit/exercise too much to prevent gaining weight after binge-eating
Using laxatives, diuretics or enemas after eating unnecessarily
Fasting, restricting calories and avoiding certain foods between binges
Repeated episodes of eating unusually large amount of food in one go
Common misconceptions:
“You have to be underweight to have an eating disorder”
Anyone can have eating disorders and can come in various shapes and sizes. People who have eating disorders are usually of average weight or may be overweight
“Eating disorders aren’t that dangerous”
All types of eating disorders can do severe damage to one’s mental and physical health. All eating disorders can lead to life-threatening health conditions such as heart disease, kidney damage and stunted growth
Sources
https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/eating-disorders/bulimia-nervosa/mental-health-bulimia-nervosa#1
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