Tough to Swallow: What is disordered eating that one in five children are struggling with worldwide?

Your colleague at work tells you at lunch they have stopped their intake of carbohydrates. An individual engaging in disordered eating behaviours may become obsessed with “clean eating” and use extreme language to describe certain foods, such as “toxic” or “poisonous.” Is disordered eating an eating disorder? “Isolation and anxiety intensified significantly during this time, leading people to struggle with disordered eating thoughts and behaviours,” said Dr Jillian Lampert to Medical News Today. “Disordered eating is anything that disrupts a harmonious, body-connected eating experience,” says Anna Sweeney, owner of Whole Life Nutrition Counselling in the US, where she helps people recover from eating disorders and disordered eating. “Disordered eating can take away and limit someone’s quality of life as they fill your brain with thoughts about food and your body,” therapist Jennifer Rollin, founder of The Eating Disorder Center in Rockville, Maryland, said to CNN, adding that the behaviours often keep you from other things you value in your life.