The chance of recovery from an eating disorder increases the earlier the disease is detected. The warning signs of eating disorders are often missed. I know because I missed some of them in my own daughter.
And I am a dietitian.
5 Early Eating Disorder Warning Signs
Decreased Food Intake
This may sound like the most obvious eating disorder warning sign BUT it is not always obvious. There is a lot of secrecy with eating disorders. The decrease in food intake maybe seen as increased pickiness around food, more excuses as to why food does not taste right or taking a few bites and pushing food around the plate. For years, I thought my child was just a picky eater while very gradually the eating/food excuses built up. One does not develop an eating disorder over night.
Sudden Interest in Wanting to “Get healthy”
As parents, don’t we all want our kids to care about their health? That is why this one is tough to detect. However, when you see sudden changes in your child’s diet and/or exercise pattern, it is important to take heed. Are they drastically decreasing their overall caloric intake? Is their exercise becoming more time consuming, obsessive or intense (or all!)? Do they state that they have to “burn off” certain foods that they ate? Are they cutting out entire food groups or foods they formally enjoyed? And yes, this happens in boys too with an obsession with lifting weights and “bulking up”.
Anxiety Around Meals
When you are struggling with an eating disorder, most things, if not all, involving food provoke anxiety. Mealtime becomes so overwhelming to the sufferer. Not only trying to hide their disorder but having to sit with the food …which is the scariest thing…it may as well be a plate of snakes (or whatever you can relate to being a phobia) AND they know that they are expected to eat the meal. It is absolutely terrifying. The sufferer often struggles eating in front of others. The anxiety is so high that the added pressure is often too much. If you notice distress, that does not make sense around meals, this is a warning sign.
Use of the Restroom Following Eating
Seeing a pattern of using the bathroom following meals could be a warning sign that someone is purging their meal (inducing vomiting). It may not seem obvious at first, but once you notice the increased bathroom usage you will notice the pattern. Long showers after meals could be another warning sign, as some sufferers purge in the shower. They get very skilled at concealing this behavior and often can purge on command and be silent. Remember what I said above, eating disorders tend to occur in secrecy.
Obsession with Food
One of first warning signs of an eating disorder is an increased obsession with food. This can present itself in a variety of ways. Some of them we went over in the above examples. A common warning sign of an eating disorder is when someone becomes so obsessed with food that they start watching cooking shows (or videos…or tik toks), making recipes, baking for others BUT they never eat the food. This happens because they are starving and this starvation creates an obsession with food. This was shown firsthand in the Minnesota Starvation Study that was conducted in 1944. It was a study to help understand the signs of famine (in this case from war) and the best rehabilitation diet BUT it became one of the best studies to show the effects of starvation in an otherwise healthy individual. It has helped us to understand a lot of information about what starvation from an eating disorder looks like. Food obsession and preoccupation with all things around food was huge for the participants of the study.
The participants became far more preoccupied with food during the study. Their interest in food intensified and they even created new habits of reading cookbooks and collecting recipes
The starvation experiment
Duke Health – Center for Eating disorders
What Do You Do if You Suspect An Eating Disorder?
Realizing that you have a loved one that is exhibiting either some or all of these signs (and note that there are many other early warning signs of an eating disorder that are not listed in this post) is not only overwhelming, but it is scary. It is prudent to mention that if you confront your loved one about your concerns, there is a high probability that they will brush you off and say there is nothing to worry about. That is normal. But, that does not mean you just ignore the concerns you have. A reasonable first step is to use an online screening tool to access for an eating disorder. One that is quite popular is from NEDA (National Eating Disorder Association). Another fantastic resource if it is your child you are concerned about (even if they are over 18 years old) is the F.E.A.S.T website. I am a parent volunteer for the organization because I believe in their mission 10000000%. The site has a plethora of valuable and credible resources.
Additional Resources
Disclosure: The next sections contains Amazon affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn a commission on qualifying purchases.
Another great place to start is to get some books on eating disorders. Books got us started on the road to recovery and gave me many of the tools I needed to help my daughter. The books below were the first books I read when I found out my daughter was struggling with an eating disorder. These books become my ED bibles. I HIGHLY recommend them both.
Check out my post about the Lessons I learned from Parenting a Teen with an Eating Disorder.
Here a FULL list of my TOP 9 Eating Disorder Books for Parents
Feel free to shoot me any questions you may have and I can try to help direct you to the correct resources.
Disclaimer: The No Weigh Way Site is for educational purposes and should not be considered therapy or medical care. Please see your physician if you have any medical concerns.
