With the everyday stress of a typical college student comes the possibility of turning to unhealthy eating habits.
“College students are faced with many new challenges both academically and socially,” said Autumn Douglas, Wellness Education Department dietician. “Eating disorders often manifest as a way of coping with these pressures to achieve excellence.”
In order to increase awareness of the silent disease, the National Eating Disorders Association has declared Feb. 16-20 as National Eating Disorders Week.
“We often use food as a coping mechanism, but there’s nothing about food that increases our ability to cope,” said Judy Myhand, University nutrition instructor, and previous Rader Intake Coordinator at Woman’s Hospital.
In our society, many people engage in disordered eating, known as crazy dieting, which does not result in an eating disorder, Myhand said.
“Restricting our favorite foods can promote episodes of binging followed by self-blame,” Douglas said. “Simply eating what we want, when we want, and stopping when we are full, is a more desirable way to maintain a healthy weight, while still enjoying our favorite foods.”
The media and peers have a strong influence on the desire to be thinner. Douglas said the ideal of “thin” keeps getting smaller and smaller, but it is unhealthy to be that thin.
It is possible that eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and others, are inherited. Douglas said research currently is being conducted to figure out if a child can inherit genes from a parent that contain behaviors which can lead to an eating disorder.
Myhand said physicians often mistreat patients who have a binge eating disorder, originally known as compulsive over-eating. The physicians treat them as being obese, so they put them on a diet. However, this leaves the patients without a coping mechanism. When a doctor restricts their food intake, they become depressed. This prevents the patient and physician from getting to the core of the problem, she said.
Bulimia, which includes over-exercising combined with having no food or energy in the body, is common among students, Myhand said.
To approach someone who may have an eating disorder, use “I” statements instead of “You” statements, Douglas said. Use specific instances where the person showed potential signs of an eating disorder and say, “This concerns me,” she said.
Remind the person that the information is confidential. Recommend resources and offer to go with them for professional help.
Douglas said for someone who diets obsessively, but is not diagnosed with anorexia, they need to see a dietician who can provide them with healthy eating tips. A dietician also can help to set a more nutritional meal plan.
Eating disorders need to be taken into consideration before they get out of hand, and should be treated seriously, Myhand said.