Learn more about anorexi

Anorexia nervosa is a type of eating disorder that is characterized by restricted food intake that leads to extreme weight loss and very low body weight. Individuals with this condition may have an intense fear of gaining weight and develop persistent behaviour that prevents weight gain, even though they are significantly underweight. They may also have a distorted view of their weight or shape, either of their entire body, or certain parts of their body, such as their stomach, buttocks or thighs.

The two main subtypes of anorexia nervosa are restricting type, where the individual diets, fasts or exercises excessively, and binge-eating or purging type, where the individual engages in recurrent episodes of binge eating or purging behaviour, such as self-induce vomiting or misuse laxatives or enemas, that occur over a period of three months or more.

As self-esteem of people with anorexia nervosa is strongly tied to their body weight and shape, they tend to feel a sense of achievement with weight loss and perceive weight gain as a sign of failure in discipline and self-control. However, anorexia nervosa can bring about severe health consequences, such as gastrointestinal issues, issues with skin, nails and hair being dry and brittle along with poor wound healing, vital sign abnormalities, fainting, feeling cold and impairments to immune system functioning.