If you lined up all the people in the United States who eat, you'd have a spectrum ranging from Normal Eaters on one end to People with Eating Disorders on the other. Who's in the middle? Most of the eating spectrum is taken up by people who don't have formal eating disorders but who have eating habits and beliefs that are disordered. Up to 60 percent of adult American women may be disordered eaters.
The following behaviors or beliefs are considered examples of disordered eating. The more of these behaviors or beliefs you have, the more at risk you are for developing an actual eating disorder:
Skipping meals
Fasting to lose weight
Exercising to make up for overeating
Cutting out a food group
Trying every diet there is
Regularly eating an amount of food that leaves you hungry
Eating to manage emotions
Binge-eating
Using laxatives or diuretics for weight loss
Vomiting for weight loss
Believing the scales reveal your worth
Being constantly preoccupied with food and weight
Being extremely fearful of weight gain
Believing you are fat even when everyone else tells you you're too thin
