What is anorexia nervosa? Anorexia nervosa, or simply anorexia, is a psychiatric and physical illness in which the sufferer basically starves herself. Clinically, a person is anorexic if she has 85 percent or less of the normal body weight for someone of her age and height, yet continues to fast or diet. An estimated 1 percent of teenage girls have the disease. It's a serious condition that can ca...

• Paige Bierma, M.A.
  
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• March 11, 2013
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• • Digestion Eating / Appetite Disorders Emotional Disorders: Misc.

What is binge eating disorder? It's a behavioral disorder characterized -- as the name suggests -- by episodes of uncontrollable eating. If you have binge eating disorder (BED), you consume unusually large amounts of food at a single sitting -- probably in secret and until you're uncomfortably full. (This eating disorder is similar to bulimia, but people with BED don't try to compensate for their ...

• Paige Bierma
  
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• March 11, 2013
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• • Digestion Eating / Appetite Disorders

What is bulimia nervosa? Although this eating disorder is less well-known than anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa is actually more common among American teenage and young women -- and just as serious. Bulimia nervosa, or simply "bulimia," is often referred to as "bingeing and purging." In other words, people with this eating disorder go on wild eating binges, consuming between 1,000 and 20,000 cal...

• Paige Bierma, M.A.
  
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• March 11, 2013
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• • Eating / Appetite Disorders Kids' Ailments Kids: Misc. Parenting Women's Problems: Misc.

Ding Dongs and Doritos have never solved anyone's problems, but that doesn't keep us from seeking solace in food. When work gets hectic, when plans fall apart, when relationships founder, we often try to calm our minds by filling our stomachs. "Everybody has their own comfort food," says Marci Gluck, PhD, a research clinical psychologist with the National Institutes of Health. A bag of chips, a b...

• Chris Woolston, M.S.
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• March 11, 2013
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• • Eating / Appetite Disorders Food &, Nutrition: Misc. Stress Weight: Misc.

The first time I met up with eating disorders was in middle school. I had transferred from an artistic, diverse, public elementary school to a liberal arts school for the "gifted." I was one of three or four people who was not white and one of four or five who did not live in a mansion. When I try to think back on those years -- from 10 to 13 -- I find I can't remember much because I was so sleep-...

• Isabel Estrada
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• March 11, 2013
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• • Eating / Appetite Disorders Kids: Misc.