Signs of eating disorders can be subtle to the untrained eye. At Change Creates Change we are here to help you learn what to keep your eye out for if you are concerned that your child may be living with an eating disorder. Keep reading to find out the 5 signs of an eating disorder.
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1. Weight Loss or Weight Change
Let’s start with busting a myth about eating disorders. Eating disorders do not discriminate and can affect people in all bodies, as well as present differently for everyone. Therefore, weight loss can be an indicator of an eating disorder, but so can weight gain! Be sure to check in with any preconceived notions you may have about what eating disorders “look like” so that you don’t miss the potential signs!
Lack of Appropriate Weight Gain for Growth
For children and adolescents specifically, eating disorders can show up as a lack of appropriate weight gain for growth. This is also known as stunted growth. All it means is that undernutrition could be stopping your child from growing at the rate they should be.
How can we determine how your child “should” be growing? In pediatric healthcare we use growth charts where your child’s height, weight and age are plotted. The intersection of these lines will align with what we call a growth curve or growth percentile. As your child grows, we like to see them follow the same growth curve throughout adolescence. If your child suddenly deviates from their growth curve, it could be indicative of an eating disorder.
2. Always Being Cold
Does your child often complain of being cold? Are their hands, fingers, feet or nose always chilly? This is an uncommonly known sign of an eating disorder. When we think about our body, our most important organs are in the core or trunk of our body as well as our head. These important organs require good blood circulation to continue to function properly.
Therefore, when our bodies are low on fuel, they pull all its resources to our core and brain which means our extremities receive poorer circulation. This is one of our body’s survival mechanisms! For this reason, if you notice your child is always bundled up or asking you to change the temperature in the house, it may be indicative of an eating disorder.
3. Increased Interest in Food, Body Image or Exercise
This may look like an increased interest in food or meals, calories, nutrition information, burning energy and exercise or sports. There is an important distinction to be made here. There may be people who have a baseline interest in some of these topics. For example, university nutrition majors may have increased interest in food, and athletes may have increased interest in sports. With this, we are only concerned and looking for a significant shift in these thoughts or behaviours from someone’s baseline interest. For example, if your child has never had any interest in exercise but suddenly starts going to the gym daily, this may be of concern as a potential eating disorder behaviour.
4. Increased Rigidity or Lack of Spontaneity
A lack of spontaneity from living with an eating disorder can be that your child no longer agrees to go out to dinner with family or grab a coffee on the way to school. It can also look like avoiding social situations such as hanging out with friends or going to a family gathering. This rigidity is commonly due to the child being concerned about how these events will work with their food rules or exercise schedule. For example, if your child is restricting food, they may not want to go out to eat dinner with the family as they are worried there won’t be any food there that they believe they can eat.
Alternatively, there may be anxiety about eating in front of others due to potential criticism or comments. Similar to increased interest in food or exercise, we are only concerned when there is a shift from your child’s baseline engagement in these types of activities.
5. Increased Focus on Body Weight or Shape
Increased focus on body weight and shape can manifest in many different behaviours. These behaviours are called body checking behaviours. Your child may show increased time spent inspecting their bodies in mirrors or reflective surfaces throughout their day. It may be scrutinizing their photos, editing their photos before sharing them with others or even refusing to have their photo taken.
Body checking can also present as tracing, pinching or wrapping; tracing collar bones to ensure they are still prominent, pinching abdominal fat to monitor body weight or wrapping their hands around their wrists or thighs to ensure their consistency in size. One of the most commonly known body checking behaviours is weighing oneself. These behaviours are done in order to decrease anxiety around body weight.
What Should I Do If I Notice Any of These Signs?
If you are concerned your child may have an eating disorder, Change Creates Change is here to help guide you. Bring your questions and concerns to a free 15-minute consultation call with us.
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