Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2025
Eating Disorders Awareness Week (EDAW) is an annual campaign to increase education, support, and awareness of eating disorders. EDAW will be held from February 24 to March 2, 2025. To kick-off this special week, we wanted to share a blog post dedicated to better understanding eating disorders, including symptoms, common myths, tips for supporting your loved ones, and more.
What Are Eating Disorders?
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), eating disorders are defined as “serious illnesses marked by severe disturbances in a person’s eating behaviors.” In other words, eating disorders impact individuals’ relationships with food and their bodies, either due to biological, environmental, physical, and/or social factors. While cases of eating disorders are more commonly seen in women, they can affect both men and women and can be seen in children, adolescents, and adults. There are several eating disorders, some more common than others, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), and pica, among others.
Signs And Symptoms Of Eating Disorders
The symptoms of eating disorders can vary, as each disorder affects individuals differently. For example, with anorexia nervosa, individuals restrict food to lose weight, and, as a result, cause severe health problems, such as a loss of their menstrual cycle, tooth decay, hair loss, muscle weakness, and more. With avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), individuals avoid certain foods, either due to sensory issues or fear of choking. As such, they experience nutritional deficiencies and extreme weight loss.
Signs And Symptoms Of Eating Disorders
The symptoms of eating disorders can vary, as each disorder affects individuals differently. For example, with anorexia nervosa, individuals restrict food to lose weight, and, as a result, cause severe health problems, such as a loss of their menstrual cycle, tooth decay, hair loss, muscle weakness, and more. With avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), individuals avoid certain foods, either due to sensory issues or fear of choking. As such, they experience nutritional deficiencies and extreme weight loss.
If someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, some general warning signs to look out for include:
- Fear of gaining weight
- Avoiding social situations with family and friends, especially those surrounding food
- Excessive exercising
- Withdrawing or isolating from usual activities
- Mood swings and other changes in emotional behaviors
- Food rituals, like eating foods in certain orders or excessive chewing
Common Myths About Eating Disorders
Unfortunately, misinformation and misconceptions exist within our culture, causing myths surrounding eating disorders to run rampant. This misunderstanding often impacts an individual’s understanding and awareness of eating disorders. With popular social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, overexposure to diet culture and eating disorder information myths can cause individuals to delay seeking help and further regress into unhealthy habits.
Other myths include eating disorders only affecting women (EDs can affect individuals of all genders), eating disorders are only about food (EDs can develop due to an individual’s need for control), and eating disorders only affect teenagers (EDs can impact young children as well as adults).
Eating Disorder Recovery at BALANCE
At BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, our compassionate, highly-skilled team of clinicians is trained in diagnosing and treating the spectrum of eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, compulsive overeating, and other disordered eating behaviors and body image issues. In addition to our full-time PHP Program and Weeknight Program, we offer other drop-in groups and services. Our admissions team ishappy to answer any questions you may have about our programs and services as well as our in-network status with UnitedHealthcare as of March 7, 2025. Book a free consultation call with our team today.
References
- National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). (2025). Eating disorders. https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/eating-disorders
- National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). (2025). National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
- Eating disorder facts and Myths. (2024, July 19). Eating Recovery Center. https://www.eatingrecoverycenter.com/resources/eating-disorder-facts-myths
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Regina Colie (she/her).
Regina Colie is a blog contributor for BALANCE, whose previous work has been featured in Project HEAL and Nourishing NY. She is an alumnus of The New School of Social Research, where she received her Masters in Psychology. After attending Marymount Manhattan College, she had the opportunity to be published in Dr. Nava Silton’s book, The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child, Adolescent, and Adult Development.
