Winston Salem Eating Disorders Coalition
Founded in 2019, we are a community of mental health counselors, dietitians, and medical providers located in Winston Salem, North Carolina committed to providing informed, inclusive, and compassionate care to patients/clients with eating disorders. We know that recovering from an eating disorder can be like following a maze, full of twists and turns and setbacks. It’s scary to know when to let go of what was-at one time- a close ally, a coping skill that you clung to. The professionals in Winston Salem work closely with each other, as the best practice for eating disorder recovery is the treatment team approach. This website will provide you with information about eating disorder diagnoses, best treatment options, and professionals to contact for help because you are not alone.
Eating Disorder Terms & Diagnoses
If you have an unhealthy relationship with your body and/or with food, you may be experiencing body image concerns, disordered eating, or an eating disorder. Fear not, as this page will provide you with the information you need to navigate the treatment process.
Body Image Issues- Many Americans experience body image concerns, as we live in a culture preoccupied with thinness and fitness. In short, poor body image means dissatisfaction with one’s body, whether that be its appearance, size, skin color, or other physical characteristic. Body image concerns can easily lead to disordered eating, but alone, they represent the feeling of dissatisfaction but not the behaviors to try to alter the body.
Disordered Eating- Disordered eating is defined as unhealthy behavior associated with bodies and eating that does not meet or does not yet meet criteria for an eating disorder. Often disordered eating emerges from poor body image and a desire to alter one’s size or shape. This can look like having a preoccupation with thinness and losing weight and beginning to restrict food intake. Disordered eating can turn into an eating disorder without adequate education and prevention measures.
Eating Disorder- An eating disorder is a diagnosable problem that meets criteria for one of the disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) under Feeding and Eating Disorders. To have an eating disorder, one’s behavior must clinically impair his/her daily life and impact their relationships, work, etc. For example, a person with an eating disorder might restrict his/her caloric intake to well below the normal caloric range per day. Below you’ll find a list of eating disorders, their symptoms, and how we treat them.
Best treatment for eating disorders includes a treatment team approach between a therapist, a dietician, and a medical provider (physician, physician’s assistance, nurse, nurse practitioner, etc.) in which each provider supports the client in promoting non-distorted thoughts and behaviors related to bodies and food. Depending on its severity, the disease may be treated through outpatient therapy, intensive outpatient, partial hospitalization, or inpatient hospitalization. The professionals in the Winston Salem Eating Disorders Coalition are all skilled at determining the appropriate level of care for patients.
Anorexia Nervosa
Anorexia Nervosa involves energy restriction (resulting in significant weight loss), a fear of gaining weight (or behavior to promote thinness), and body weight disturbance (an inability to acknowledge oneself as underweight. Anorexia has two subtypes, the restricting type, which involves food restriction over the last three months leading to weight loss, and the binge-eating/purging type, in which the person has binged and/or purged in the last three months.
Anorexia can be treated with a combination of medical intervention (tests, lab work, medication management, etc.), dietetics, and mental health therapy.
Bulimia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa involves eating a larger amount of food in one setting than one typically would in the same situation as well as an experienced lack of control around eating. Additionally, bulimia nervosa includes compensatory behavior such as purging, laxative use, excessive exercise, etc. The behavior occurs at least once a week for three months apart from other diagnoses and is driven by body image.
Bulimia can be treated with a combination of medical intervention (tests, lab work, medication management, etc.), dietetics, and mental health therapy.
Binge-Eating Disorder
Binge-Eating Disorder involves recurrent consumption of food in one setting that is more than someone else might eat under similar circumstances, a lack of control eating, and unpleasant symptoms/distress related to eating. This behavior occurs at least once a week (on average) for three months and, unlike bulimia, does not include compensatory behaviors to lose weight.
Binge Eating Disorder can be treated with a combination of medical intervention (tests, lab work, medication management, etc.), dietetics, and mental health therapy.
Other Specified Feeding or Other Eating Disorder (OSFED)
This diagnosis is used for feeding or eating disorders that impairs one’s quality of life but do not fit the full criteria for another eating disorder. OSFEDs include:
Atypical Anorexia Nervosa
Bulimia Nervosa (of low frequency and/or limited duration)
Binge-Eating Disorder (of low frequency and/or limited duration)
Purging Disorder
Night Eating Syndrome
OSFEDs can be treated with a combination of medical intervention (tests, lab work, medication management, etc.), dietetics, and mental health therapy.
Rumination Disorder
Rumination disorder involves a person regurgitating food on a repeated basis, for at least one month, and is not correlated with another diagnosis that could explain the regurgitation (reflux for example).
Treatment may include teaching the person breathing techniques to apply post mealtime.
Pica
Pica involves a person repeatedly eating non-edible substances, unrelated to cultural practices, and to the degree that warrants medical attention. The behavior must have occurred for at least one month to meet the DSM-V criteria. Common non-food substances that people consume include soap, paper, hair, chalk, and paint.
Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder
Characterized by an intense fear or disinterest in eating certain foods, Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) results in weight loss, nutritional loss, a need for enteral feeding (or supplements), or disturbance. ARFID is not caused by another disorder or illness or poor body image. In other words, the person’s motivation for not eating has nothing to do with a desire to lose weight or manipulate his/her body.
Unspecified Feeding or Eating Disorder
These are disorders that significantly impact or impair one’s quality of life but do not meet criteria for any of the feeding or eating disorders listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V).
Upcoming Winston Salem Eating Disorder Coalition Events
2021 Speaker Series through Northwest AHEC