Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified (ED-NOS)

Some people experience a mix of symptoms. A woman might display all the symptoms of anorexia, but might still menstruate. A man might appear to have anorexia, but not have the abnormally low sex hormones usually associated with it. Others might lose weight but remain within their normal weight range. On the other hand, some people might have all the symptoms of bulimia but won’t binge and/or purge.

People with ED-NOS might:

• Purge, use laxatives or over-exercise
• Chew food repeatedly and often spit it out rather than swallow it
• Binge-eat regularly but compensate for it through laxatives or vomiting
• Remain within their normal weight range despite disordered eating

Other types of disordered eating include:

Dieting

Dieting involves restricting what we eat or how much we eat in order to lose weight. It can lead to eating disorders because it encourages an obsession with food and weight, and suggests that thinness is an ideal to which we must strive. The effects of dieting include:

• A preoccupation with food
• A strong desire to binge
• Mood changes, like increased irritability and depression
• Increased nail biting or other self-soothing behaviours
• Lowered self-esteem when diets inevitably fail
• Social withdrawal
• Reduction in sexual interest
• Impaired concentration and judgment
• Decreased body temperature, heart rate and respiration
• Lowered metabolism and thus weight gain
• Increased use of salt, spices, coffee tea, chewing gum, cigarettes

Disordered Eating

Abnormal eating that includes behaviours seen in eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, as well as chronic restrained eating, compulsive eating and habitual dieting is considered Disordered Eating. It includes irregular, chaotic eating patterns, where physical hunger and satiety (fullness) are often ignored. Disordered Eating creates negative effects on emotional, social and physical health and may cause depression, fatigue, decreased mental functioning and concentration, and can lead to malnutrition with risk to bone health, physical growth and brain development.

Night-Eating Syndrome

Not formally defined as an eating disorder, individuals who tend to limit their eating during the day, and eat at night to compensate are said to have Night-Eating Syndrome. This pattern of self-starvation commonly causes sleep disturbances. Stress, sleep and hunger hormones may contribute to thissyndrome. Although rare, a slightly higher percentage of obese individuals and those with bulimia experience it. Symptoms include:

• Little or no appetite for breakfast
• Eating more than half of one's daily food intake after dinner, over a period of at least three months
• Feeling tense, anxious, upset or guilty while eating
• Having difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
• Eating continually in the evening rather than bingeing in relatively short episodes
• Experiencing guilt and shame from eating rather than enjoyment.

Excerpts from National Eating Disorders Information Centre www.nedic.ca