Eating Disorder Awareness & Perinatal Mental Health
Did you know:
9% of the US population, or 28.8 million Americans - ranging from kids to older adults, will experience an eating disorder at some point in their lives.
We are starting to see disordered eating and negative body image in children as young as 8-years-old.
Binge eating is the most common eating disorder in the United States, which affects 3.5% of women and 2% of men.
According to the American Pregnancy Association, eating disorders affect about 7 MILLION American Women each year, and tend to peak during childbearing years.
The National Alliance for Eating Disorders states: 16% of pregnant women will have experienced an eating disorder at some time in their life, and 50% relapse within a year of delivery.
Nearly 12% of pregnant people report eating disorder symptoms during their pregnancy or postpartum.
Only 1 in 5 people with an eating disorder seek treatment from someone who specializes in working with eating disorders.
I want to take a moment to acknowledge that these statistics and information is from diagnosed and reported cases of eating disorders.
If we were to know the numbers of how many people experience struggles with food judgements, negative body image, and compulsive exercise, I can guarantee that those statistics would be significantly higher.
All of this is why it is so important to me that I do the work I do. The intersectionality between perinatal mental health and eating disorders is not talked about enough.
Even if you do not have a diagnosable eating disorder, if your relationship with food and your body feels distressing, or has a significant impact in your day-to-day life, your experience is also VALID.
The sooner people are able to recognize an eating disorder, the sooner a person is able to get help and increase their chances for recovery.
If you, or someone you know, is struggling with an eating disorder, here are some helpful resources:
National Eating Disorder Association’s (NEDA) website
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders’ (ANAD) website
I hope you find these resources helpful, and please share them with others who might need them at this time.’
And if you want to get more information about my NEW upcoming course: Finding Peace With Food & Body (During Pregnancy, Postpartum, & Beyond), click HERE!
