Anorexia

Anorexia is a serious mental illness and if left un treated can lead to long term mental and physical health  problems. Anorexia can occur at any age but most typically affects teenage girls. The main symptom is deliberately losing a lot of weight and keeping your body weight much lower than is healthy for your height and age.

Signs of Anorexia

• Missing meals
• Eating very little
• Avoiding foods that are perceived to be fattening
• Lying about what has been eaten
• Taking medication to reduce hunger
• Using laxatives and diuretics as a means to lose weight
• Having an overwhelming fear of putting on weight
• Having strict rituals around eating
• Having a distorted body image…..a person believing they are fat when they are a normal weight or are underweight
• Not admitting  when weightless is serious