How To Fight Against Eating Disorders

Steps

1. Determine why you might be tempted to not eat right.
   
   
   • Are you happy with the way you look? Are you comparing yourself to others?
   • Do you eat junk food or eat more when you are emotional?
2. Analyze what you eat in a day and how many times do you eat in a day. This will help you see where you might be eating more or not enough and also the types of foods you might be eating
3. Now, if you need to change your eating habits, do so slowly. Maybe, start getting one fruit in per day if you are not eating any.  You could also eliminate one soft drink for juice or water. The key here is to start slow and small. As you get used to it, making more changes will get easier.
   
   
   • If it is a lot more serious such as serious depression or suicidal thoughts, talk to a professional.
4. Usually we are tempted to not eat right when we are either under emotional stress or we are comparing due to low self-esteem/self-confidence.
   • Ask yourself what you might be going through. Are you comparing yourself to models in magazines? Are you under tons of stress (school, family issues, peer pressure)?
5. If you are under stress or have low self-esteem, talk to someone. You can talk to someone you trust and would understand and can maybe help you. That individual could be your parents, sibling, teacher or best friend.
6. Write down things that you have accomplished in your life. It will make you realize what you have and the list will make you feel better about yourself.
   • You can write down what you want to accomplish in your life, in the next year, in the next month and then write down the small steps you need to take in order to reach those goals in the time period you allotted yourself.
7. You could also start focusing on doing things to get your mind thinking about other things:
   
   
   • Join groups either in school, community or work place
   • Do something you like every day such as writing, playing a game, doing an activity (swimming, skating, walking, running), cooking, reading, listening to music or watching a movie
   • Try new things and gain new hobbies; this will help increase your skills and you might gain a new interest and make new friends

Tips

• Models/actresses in real life do not look as perfect as they appear on magazine covers. They have professionals who make them look that good, so comparing to a magazine is unfair to yourself.