Bulimia NervosaBulimia Nervosa almost always has as it's origins a restrictive diet. Just one more question mark in the 'diets that work' debate. Seems they do work for getting eating disorders. Here's why I say that:
In another research study, 35% of 176 fifteen-year old high school girls were dieting. A year later, researchers found that these young dieters were eight times more likely than non-dieters to develop bulimia. And you know all those diets that cut out carbs - dare I mention the (in)famous Atkins Diet? Well here's something they don't tell you. For women, low carbohydrate diets have been shown to affect biochemical transmitters such as serotonin. Abnormalities in brain serotonin are believed to put people at risk of developing bulimia nervosa and depression. Need I say more?
Click here to take our bulimia quizz.
What is bulimia nervosa?Bulimia Nervosa (pronounced "boo-LEE-mee-uh") is one of the most common eating disorders. In a nutshell bulimics binge-eat large quantities of food in a short space of time. They become pretty food obsessed. They purge - they binge - they purge and binge.
The binge often starts out as
comfort eating
during which time the person can eat frenetically, eating large quantities of food. This is followed by shame, guilt and fear of weight gain which causes then to purge. You get either purging bulimics. They get rid of what they've just eaten by vomiting or using laxatives/ diuretics or enemas. Or you get non-purging bulmics who use exercise to control their weight. People now talk about 'exercise bulimia'. Here's the danger of bulimia: The vomiting part of the binge-purge cycle causes an excess of acid in the which can cause tooth decay, mouth ulcers, gum disease, and loss of tooth enamel. Any type of purging (be that vomiting, excess exercise or laxatives/diuretics) can lead to osteoporosis, kidney damage, heart problems, or even death. Who gets bulimia nervosa?
It's most prevalent amongst teens, but it can also start earlier or in adulthood. Again it's vastly more prevalent amongst females although it's not unheard of in men and boys. Therese Bernade, a well known South African actress fitted the bill most closely, she's a westernized Caucasian from relatively-speaking higher socio-economic group. How do you tell who has bulimia?Take our eating disorder quizz for bulimia nervosa. And don't be fooled, bulimics aren't necessarily skinny like anorexics. They they can be normal size or even overweight. They may binge in secret but deny that they are purging. But look out for:
How I didn't get bulimia?I had an interesting relationship with bulimia. As an anorexic I prided myself on my self control but there was another even bigger part of me that desperately wished I had the freedom they had, to eat whatever they wanted.There was just one problem - I never could make myself vomit - I just couldn't! But I definitely did go through a period in my early 20's when I would have qualified as having non-purging bulimia nervosa which some people simply call 'exercise bulimia!' In 1999, I worked at a University Student Counseling center - bulimia was very prevalent. And it had a pattern...one person in a group would develop bulimia and in no time it would spread to others in the same peer group. Scary! Very often, the young women I was seeing had 'learned' their bulimic tactics from a friend - almost as if it was some kind of social club. Some clients were so practiced at vomiting that they didn't even have to stick their finger down their throat anymore - they could just vomit by thinking about it. But it was amazing how, once they had a sane and sensible roadmap which they worked through with Cari Corbet-Owen it may have taken a while but they seemed to 'get' the Mind over Fatter principles faster than any other group of people I worked with.
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A whopping 96-98% of Bulimia Nervosa sufferers state that their first episode started after a restrictive diet. The common denominator yet again? Dieting! dieting! and more dieting! 
