Education
Our resources are provided by the National Eating Disorder Association to give information for those struggling with an eating disorder and to provide awareness, advocacy, support, and education to others.

Eating Disorders & the Brain?
Those developing an eating disorder lack the brain’s natural ability to produce a balanced amount of chemical responses (neurotransmitters) that send the proper signals to the receptors (neurons) in the brain that control hunger, appetite, and digestion. Other related biological factors may include body metabolism and co-occurring mental illnesses.
Co-occurring Health Conditions
Co-occurring Health Conditions
Biology
Genetics, hormones, underactive or overactive neurotransmitter responses, and other chemicals in the brain play a significant role in developing an Eating Disorder.
Co-occurring Health Conditions
Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, OCD, Auto Immune Disorders, PTSD.
All eating disorders are defined as brain-based biological disorders that inhibit an individual’s ability to intake and process food consistently with good physical and emotional health.
What is an Eating Disorder?

Personal Characteristics
& Relationship Issues
Low self-esteem, poor self-image issues, substance usage, unhealthy personal relationships and influences, and different forms of abuse.
Culture &
Social Influence
Weight loss, diet fads, fitspo-obsessed media, unrealistic practices for achieving “body ideals,” self-worth based on appearance, limited mental health education, lack of role modeling of healthy relationships with food & body image, and lack of available care & resources.
What Causes an Eating Disorder?
There is no single cause for Eating disorders. However, there are many contributing factors.
Stress & Life Changes
Major personal traumas, loss & grief, new unpredictable endeavors, stressful life changes, poor stress management, coping, self-care, and boundary-setting skills

What an Eating Disorder is not!
About getting attention
A lifestyle
Always visible
Glamorous
A phase
A result of the media, fashion, or Hollywood
About being attractive, pretty, or thin
Only serious when the person is emaciated
Fixed by eating and gaining weight
Always result of trauma or family problems
Impossible to recover from
A choice - but recovery is!