You may be concerned for your friend, family member, or even your son or daughter that they have changed their eating habits to the detriment of their physical health and wellbeing. 

Alternatively, maybe you are looking to detect any eating problems for yourself and have recently either been consuming too many fatty foods or have started to obsess about counting calories.

Regardless of your motivations, continue reading to learn of the key signs and symptoms of common eating issues.

Dysphagia

The term dysphagia refers to any issues a person may have involving eating, specifically chewing and swallowing, both food and drink. There can be any number of reasons why a person starts to display signs and symptoms of dysphagia, from physical causes due to illness to emotional ones.

If a person tends to drool more than usual when eating, chokes on food and drink regularly, feels incredibly uncomfortable swallowing and consistently feels as if something is stuck in their throat, this could be a sign of the onset of dysphagia. A common method of easing such symptoms is to cook and prepare food and drink with Simply Thick gel, making food and drink more appealing and easier to swallow. 

Bulimia

Bulimia, or Bulimia Nervosa, is more likely to develop in women than men and more often occurs during the teenage years.

Essentially, the damaging cycle of eating and purging is at the heart of bulimia, with usual purging behaviors consisting of a combination of excessive exercising, diuretics, enemas, enforced vomiting, obsessive dieting, and laxatives. 

Bulimia is slightly more difficult to detect for people who are not medical professionals. Still, if a person’s self-esteem and overall mood are solely and directly related to how they feel about their weight and body shape, then this could be a cause for concern. 

Compulsive Overeating Disorder

Compulsive Overeating Disorder, which is often alternatively referred to as ‘binge eating’, is common amongst adolescents and young adults, although older adults can also be affected.

People living with Compulsive Overeating Disorder often feel the need to eat an extraordinary amount of food in a worryingly short period, which, more often than not, deeply affects how they feel about themselves, both during and after a binge.

Warning signs of Compulsive Overeating Disorder include:

  • Persistently low self-esteem
  • Eating privately or even secretly
  • Weight gain over a short period
  • Partial or complete loss of sexual drive
  • Excessive feelings of guilt 

Anorexia 

Anorexia, or Anorexia Nervosa, is unfortunately more prevalent in girls and young women, arguably exacerbated by social media platforms and the unrealistic, air-brushed expectations of celebrities in magazines and movies. It is also important to note that anorexia often occurs in boys and young men, although statistically less common. 

If an individual restricts their calorie consumption to an excessive level, fears gaining weight at any cost, and has a clearly distorted body image, this could all mean they may be experiencing symptoms of anorexia and need to make an appointment with their doctor.