How to Recognize Eating Disorders in Everyday Life

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) is the standard tool for diagnosing mental health conditions, including eating disorders. While it’s a valuable resource, this blog aims to explain what eating disorder signs might look like in real life, using everyday language. 

Put simply, if you’re worried you or someone in your life may be facing an eating disorder, this post will be important. Read on to explore some of the most common signs of eating disorders for anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder and more.

Anorexia Nervosa Signs

Anorexia nervosa is often misunderstood, but its eating disorder signs can show up clearly in everyday behaviors and attitudes around food, body image, and control. Here’s what to look for.

• Obsessive focus on food: Constant talk about calories, meals, or portion sizes.
• Avoiding social meals: Frequently skips meals with others or eats only in public.
• Excessive exercise: Rigid or extreme workouts, even when unwell.
• Frequent weighing: Constantly checking weight or body measurements.
• Denial of hunger: Frequently claiming they’re not hungry or insisting they’re “fine” despite clear signs of malnutrition.
• Fear of weight gain: Intense anxiety about gaining weight.
• Perfectionism: All-or-nothing thinking around food, appearance, or fitness.
• Mood swings: Irritability or anxiety linked to food control.
• Rigid eating: Rituals like cutting food into tiny pieces or eating only certain foods.

Bulimia Nervosa Signs:

Bulimia nervosa can be especially hard to detect because many symptoms are hidden. Still, there are common behavioral and physical signs that may indicate someone is struggling.

• Compensatory behaviors: Purging, excessive exercise, or laxatives—often after eating.
• Bathroom trips post-meal: Frequently leaves to vomit after eating.
• Physical signs: Swollen cheeks or jaw, callused or scarred knuckles (“Russell’s sign”).
• Binge eating: Eating large amounts quickly, often in secret, followed by guilt.
• Body image fixation: Constant dissatisfaction with body or weight.
• Extreme dieting: Restricting or fasting might occur to “make up for” “overeating.”

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) Signs:

Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) goes beyond picky eating—it’s rooted in anxiety, fear, or sensory issues around food. Here are some of the key signs to watch for.

• Extreme pickiness: Limited food variety or refusal of certain textures, colors, or types of food
• Fear of new foods, choking, or gagging:  Anxious about unfamiliar tastes, textures, or potential choking hazards. Refuse foods they perceive as dangerous to swallow
• Low interest in eating: Not driven by body image, they simply might not be interested in food or eating.
• High mealtime anxiety: Panic or distress related to food. Could result in meltdowns, avoidance, or extreme reluctance to eat.

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) Signs:

Contrary to popular belief, restriction can occur in BED as well. This creates a restrict-binge cycle, where someone tries to restrict food but then binges due to physiological hunger and emotional triggers. Here are some signs of binge eating to look for:

• Binge episodes: Eating large amounts in a short period of time, feeling out of control, or on “autopilot.”
• Emotional eating: Eating without hunger, continuing after fullness, often followed by guilt, disgust, or shame.
• No purging: Unlike bulimia, there’s no compensatory behavior.
• Chronic dieting: Restriction followed by binges—creating a cycle of guilt, “starting over.”

Signs of Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED):

This is an umbrella term for eating disorders that don’t fit neatly into anorexia, bulimia, or binge eating disorder. OSFED can include behaviors that combine elements of different eating disorders or don’t meet the full criteria for any one condition.

Dieting vs. Disordered Eating vs. Eating Disorders:

Recognizing eating disorder signs can be challenging. We live in a world where diet culture and weight stigma are the norm. This makes it difficult to distinguish between healthy mindful changes and harmful, obsessive behaviors. 

The U.S. diet industry is estimated to be worth about $70 billion to $72 billion annually. This includes diet foods, weight loss programs, supplements, fitness equipment, and services like personal training, gym memberships, and meal plans. 

So how can we tell the difference between a diet and disordered eating or an eating disorder? 

• Dieting is typically temporary and focuses on a specific health goal. 
• Disordered eating involves unhealthy patterns like extreme restriction, emotional eating, or constant dieting, but without clear, diagnosable criteria. It can cause emotional distress, but it’s not always life-threatening. 
• Eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating disorder involve severe, harmful behaviors that affect physical and mental health, including a strong fear of weight gain, body image issues, and psychological distress. Eating disorder signs are more extreme and consistent than signs of disordered eating.

Get Help with Eating Disorder Signs

In our diet-driven society, it can be hard to tell when someone has crossed the line from common eating habits to patterns that may be physically or emotionally harmful. If you or someone in your life is displaying some of these common signs of an eating disorder, it’s important to get professional help.

Therapy for eating disorders can help individuals develop a healthier relationship with food, exercise, and body image. Contact Coastal Collaborative Care today to learn more about our eating disorder therapy options or visit us at our Alexandria, Norfolk or Fredericksburg locations.