Are my eating habits normal? Use this tool to know when to reach out for help

There are a few ways to screen for an eating disorder. One short and easy questionnaire is called the SCOFF. SCOFF is an acronym that is used to help people & professionals remember the specific questions. It is touted as being simple, memorable, easy to apply and score. It is designed to raise suspicion of the presence of disordered eating rather than to diagnose. It is mostly used by health professionals but since it is easy to understand, it can be used by anyone. 

The SCOFF questions

Do you make yourself Sick because you feel uncomfortably full?
Do you worry you have lost Control over how much you eat?
Have you recently lost more than One stone in a 3 month period? (or about 6kg or 15lbs)
Do you believe yourself to be Fat when others say you are too thin?
Would you say that Food dominates your life?

To score the questionnaire, give one point for every “yes”. A score of 2 or more indicates that there are symptoms present similar to those in anorexia nervosa or bulimia. In other words, if you (or who ever took the test) scored 2 or higher, you may need help in re-establishing a healthy relationship with food and your body. 

There are other more in-depth questionnaires for helping to determine whether you have symptoms commonly associated with an eating disorder. One very popular one is called the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (or the EAT-26). You can take the test anonymously here.

Thinking that your disordered eating is not "bad enough" to seek help or the idea that you aren't sick enough to merit the help of a professional is one of the main reasons people suffer from eating disorders. Getting help sooner rather than later helps to speed recovery and lift the burden off your shoulders. 

Eating disorders: "simple" solution, complex issue

Eating disorders can be hard to understand. What seems like a straight forward “skewed vision of one's body” is rarely this simple.

Providing a fridge full of good food or begging people with an eating disorder to "just eat!" very rarely works. No matter how minor the problem seems to be (and it is common to scoff it off as not serious enough for therapy) professional help is needed to recover. One problem that tends to be underestimated is binge eating disorder. Unfortunately, many people who suffer from BED have the same body image problems as people with anorexia or bulimia.

Why professional help? Because they help the sufferer deal with all the major complexities of an eating disorder. Believing yourself to be “fat” when you are thin (or a normal weight) is only one of the symptoms of an eating disorder. A major component that goes one step deeper is the fact that self-worth is based on weight. The higher the weight, the lower the self-worth. Rather than looking at all aspects of life that make up an evaluation of one’s self, like being a nice person, a good student, a kind daughter/son, punctual, reliable, etc-  weight is the most important aspect.

This is why exploring more than just body weight is needed for recovery. Specialized psychologists and dietitians can help with all behaviors of an eating disorder to help increase other aspects of life that make up self-worth.

When weight loss is the goal, no amount of weight lost is enough. Food becomes feared since it brings the person farther away from their goal of weighing less. This fear can be compared to a fear of dogs. If someone has an intense fear of dogs, they will likely do anything they can to get away from one or avoid being close to one. This intense fear can lead them to do things that puts their life in danger. Imagine running into traffic after being scared by a dog on the street or being confining to the house since there may be a dog outside. Neither of these behaviors are healthy but they are done to avoid the dog. Similarly, if someone is scared of food, they may avoid social situations where food is the main event, live with a dangerously low body weight or even sacrifice their teeth to get rid of any food eaten.

So, would offering food to someone who is scared help to decrease this fear? Well, in the short run, no. It is a process that takes time. Small exposures to the thing that is feared (whether it be dogs or food) and working up to the equivalent to petting a dog works best. Although someone who is underweight would benefit from eating high calorie foods, it takes time to work up to being able to do it. This process is best done with the help of a professional to help guide and provide support. Usually it starts by adding “safe” foods to a routine and progress to more “scary” foods.

One thing that has been proven time and time again, is that returning to a healthy weight by eating the foods your body needs is the most effective treatment for an eating disorder.