But we cannot emphasise this enough - do try as hard as you can to be honest with yourself This is for YOU. No-one else.

It's also important to remember that an eating disorder is not an illness like measles. It is not something that you either HAVE or DON'T HAVE. It's a more graduated thing than that.

Most women - and many men - are concerned with what they eat and how they look, and that is entirely natural and perfectly heathy. But if our concern over what we eat and how we look becomes abnormal in some way - then it can lead to serious problems for our physical and emotional health. Then we need to look at why we're doing what we are doing.

There are three aspects to any eating disorder. Our THOUGHTS, our FEELINGS and our BEHAVIOUR. You can first check if you may have some kind of eating disorder by looking at these in your own life

THOUGHTS
Consider your own THINKING about food, eating, your weight and your body. Do you think about these things all the time? Are these thoughts negative? For example, do you think that you wouldn't like it if other people knew what you ate or what you did to avoid putting on weight? Do you find it hard to stop thinking about what you have eaten? What you are going to eat? Or what you 'should' be eating?

FEELINGS
Now consider how you FEEL about food, weight, eating and your own body. Do you feel a lot of guilt, anxiety and fear? Do you feel fat, even though your friends say you're not? Do you hate yourself for what you eat? Are you scared of eating normally? Do you sometimes feel out of control - as if you are doing everything you would rather not do? Do you feel helpless around food? Are all these feelings very strong?

BEHAVIOUR
Now consider how your thoughts and feelings lead you to BEHAVE around food, eating and weight control. For example, do you do things in secret, like throw up your meals, or over-eat? Do you avoid wearing certain clothes because of how you feel about your body? Do you avoid meeting people because of this? Do you constantly weigh yourself? Are you always trying a diet?

Many people with an eating disorder lose sight of what is normal. They are so used to doing things a certain way, that they don't remember what it was like to be any different. They don't remember enjoying a relaxed relationship with food. For this reason lots of people who behave dangerously with food are in denial about how serious their problems are.

By considering your thoughts, feelings and behaviour, as you have above, you can get a good idea of whether your relationship with food, eating, your weight and your body is healthy or not. If you have answered YES to several of the questions above, then you probably are suffering from some sort of eating disorder.

So - let's see if we can find out what type of eating disorder you are suffering from. Again - we must stress that you need to be honest with yourself here. We know it's hard - it can be very painful to admit what's going on - but this is where you can show real love for yourself. This is where you can begin to turn it around.

Below, we've listed some of the signs, or symptoms, that can indicate a person is suffering from anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder/compulsive overeating. Take your time, read through the lists, and see if you can recognise your own situation. Some things you simply might not know if you display the symptom or not - don't worry about that. If you feel comfortable about it, you could ask others - like friends or family members - if you show that symptom.

It’s important to know that not everyone will show the same signs. Some people will have a mix of symptoms and you do not need to show all of the signs to be suffering from a particular eating disorder.

ANOREXIA
People who suffer from anorexia:

• Are very fearful of gaining weight
• Eat very small portions of food
• Are often very interested in what others eat
• Develop rituals, such as self-weighing several times each day
• Have a distorted perception of their own body shape or weight
• Deny the existence of an eating problem
• Undertake excessive exercise
• Change in their personality from what they were like before
• Have mood swings
• Act out eating routines, such as cutting food into tiny pieces
• Feel restless and hyperactive
• Somtimes vomit deliberately or take laxatives
• Wear big baggy clothes to hide their body shape

• Have uncontrollable urges to eat very large amounts of food
• Think about food all the time
• Binge food and vomit afterwards
• Use laxatives, diuretics or enemas
• Feel 'out of control' around food
• Have a distorted perception of their own body shape or weight
• Have mood swings
• Feel anxious and depressed
• Have low self-esteem
• Have feelings of shame and guilt
• Often feel helpless and lonely
• Sometimes fast (don't eat anything) for a time
• Undertake excessive exercise
• Don't like to mix with other people
• Spend a lot of money on food - may go shoplifting to get money.
• Secretly hoards food

• Eat much more rapidly than they used to
• Carry on eating until they feel uncomfortably full
• Eat large amounts of food, even when they are not actually hungry
• Eat alone because they are embarrassed about how much they eat
• Feel very self conscious if they have to eat in front of others
• Feel 'out of control' around food
• Feel ashamed, depressed or guilty after bingeing
• Feel unable to vomit, or otherwise purge themselves

Now you have read through the list of symptoms of these eating disorders, you may well feel that you suffer from one of these. If you do, then don't despair recovery from these conditions is possible, and there are loads of people out there who will help you to deal with this. Just read the next page to see what help and support is available for you .