Most people can find something on their body that they are not happy with. Very few of us are able to look in a full-length mirror and not cringe at one body part or another that is the bane of our existence. However, if you are obsessed with the way your body looks or your own weight, you may find it helpful to find out how to know you have an eating disorder.

If you find yourself compulsively looking in the mirror at your body or thinking about how much you weigh on a regular basis, you may have an eating disorder. Also, if you begin to restrict your diet severely, you can suffer from malnutrition, and you may need to seek professional help. Here are a few more ways that you can determine whether or not you may have an eating disorder:

- Make an honest assessment of your thoughts. Do you find yourself thinking about food an awful lot, as in what you will eat, how many calories each food contains, or when you will eat during the day? Think about how you feel about your own body and your personal weight. Are you ashamed of your current weight? Do you feel that everyone else thinks that you are overweight? Do you get angry with yourself after you eat? Are you guilty or ashamed after you’ve eaten? If you are answering yes to many of these questions, you may have an eating disorder.

- Analyze your recent actions and behaviors. Do you avoid eating meals in front of other people because you are afraid of what they may think of your strange eating habits? Have you avoided attending events, social get together, or functions because of the possibility that food will be involved? Think about the past and how it relates to the present. Have you changed the amount of food and how many times you eat a day recently? Do you exercise more than the average person would consider normal? Do you get enough sleep at night, at least six to eight hours? Are you taking laxatives or diuretics on a regular basis?

- Consider how others feel about your habits. Think about your family and friends. Have they been concerned about your eating habits lately? Are your friends and family always encouraging you to eat more? If others are concerned that you may have an eating disorder, you should be very honest with yourself and think about whether their feelings are unfounded. The people who care about you the most are the ones whose opinions you should value the most, as well.

Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa and bulimia are difficult to admit to having. You may feel embarrassed to claim these eating disorders. Admitting that you are starving yourself and not eating enough, or that you are binging on foods and then vomiting to rid yourself of the unwanted calories, is not an easy task. You should talk to someone that you trust, whether it is a close friend, family member, or a qualified professional. The odds are that if you found this article through a google search, you may have an eating disorder.

Hello everyone

I thought I’d address a serious issue here. Sometimes it is easy to get carried away with dieting and exercise and before you know it you may be focusing all your attention on it. There is help out there if you feel you may need it.

A few differences between an eating disorder and dieting:

. An eating disorder is trying to make yourself look better by depriving yourself of food in an unhealthy way whereas dieting is about losing weight by regulating your diet in a healthy way.

. Eating disorders are all about your confidence being based on your weight and how you look, whereas dieting is just a matter of losing weight in a controlled manner.

. Eating disorders are losing weight to look good not considering the damage you could do to your system, whereas dieting is losing weight in a healthy way so you feel good about yourself on the inside as well as on the outside.

. Through negative attention, eating disorders are a way to seek approval and acceptance from people whereas dieting is about losing weight and doing it to feel good about yourself.

. Eating disorders are all about stress, acceptance, fear, coping, anger, etc. whereas dieting is just about losing a bit of weight.

A few points to ponder upon:

. Hunger is a natural thing and has to be satisfied. If you deprive yourself of food needed to satisfy your hunger this could be the beginning of an eating disorder. Dieting in the short run causes weigh loss but almost 95 percent of it is regained in addition to extra pounds. What happens if you go off your diet is that you end up bingeing because the body starts reacting to what is called the built in starvation reaction which is natural.

. Everybody’s genetics are different, an individual could be thin, fat, or in between. As long as you accept this position there will be no problem. Trying to be what is not natural is when you end up with an eating disorder.

. Try not to be influenced by what you see in advertisements. Advertisements always try to make you feel that there may be something wrong with you for instance a not so natural standard of beauty which may make you feel not so good about yourself and that you are lacking something by comparison.

. Hunger should be satisfied completely with nutritious food rather than with today’s available food, which is nothing more than junk food, or low nutrient food.

. If you maintain a healthy diet and a regular exercise routine, you will be able to maintain your natural weight throughout your life.