Signs of an Eating Disorder

If you suspect someone you know and care about may have an eating disorder, there are signs to look for. The following
is a list of behaviors and attitudes you may observe in someone who has an unhealthy attitude towards food and body image...

 Completely cutting out fats and sweets
 Skipping meals or snacks
 Obsessed with counting calories or fat grams
 Complains of being 'fat'
 Feeling guilty after eating 
 Feeling guilty if not exercising often enough

Who Can Help:
 School counselors/teachers
 Parents
 Health Professionals
 Doctors, therapists, nutritionists

How Can a Registered Dietitian Help?

For Anorexics: Work with motivators for each individual, for example:
  Having more energy, better concentration and  attention span
 Promoting growth in height
 Improving bone health
 Being able to exercise
 Preventing hospitalization

For Bulimics: help each individual to
 Stabilize metabolism
  Work with healthy weight loss if needed
  Prevent bingeing by regulating meal schedule 
  Prevent purging through various techniques
  Start with decreasing the amount of bingeing and 
      frequency of purging

Cognitive Behavior Approach

For Bulimia:
 Prevent restricted eating 
 Decrease the amount of food binged
 Disrupt the cycle of purging after binging

Ms. Shih worked with LPCH (Children’s Hospital @ Stanford) eating disorder program for over 15 years. She consults Kaiser teen clinics to treat teens who struggle with eating disorders. Grace is a board member of Eating Disorders Resource Center, a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate health professionals treating eating disorders. Call Grace today for a consultation.