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  • Essay / Nutritional Intervention for Eating Disorders

    Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder where excessive weight loss and lack of inappropriate weight gain are indicators. Patients with anorexia typically restrict their caloric intake and have a narrow range of food preferences. Apart from this, excessive and compulsive exercise, as well as purging or vomiting and the use of laxatives are generally associated with anorexic behavior in order to lose weight. In normal people, they will easily gain weight if they increase their food intake, but not in anorexic patients. Marzola et. al (2013) explains that anorexic patients tend to become hypermetabolic when they resist weight gain. Therefore, a large amount of food is necessary for patients with anorexia nervosa to gain weight. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay There are many nutritional interventions and strategies to treat patients with anorexia nervosa. Marzola et. al. also suggests that to treat anorexic patients, caloric restoration can be improved by increasing the variety of foods prescribed to patients. This is because they generally have a limited preference when it comes to food. Additionally, this is important for replenishing essential micronutrients and macronutrient loss during the restriction period. During the restoration period, it is important to emphasize the intake of required nutrients. This can be achieved through a better diet. Better nutrition is said to help reduce anxiety and resistance to refeeding. For example, foods containing proteins with high biological value such as whey, casein and egg whites are recommended to treat anorexic patients. This is because this type of food has a higher concentration of amino acids per gram. Apart from this, protein food sources like fish and poultry are also recommended. Then, anorexic patients generally avoid consuming foods high in energy and containing mainly fats. Thus, they will have a lower level of fat in their body, which can impair their bodily function and prevent it from functioning properly. In order to replenish fats, lipid-rich foods found mainly in fish, meat eggs are recommended during treatment. Complex carbohydrates such as bread, rice and potatoes as well as fruits, fruit juices and vegetables are also recommended for anorexic patients. Finally, for vitamins and minerals, the RDA recommended amount can be covered by the supplement in liquid or tablet form. Besides anorexia nervosa, there are also other interventions and strategies to treat other eating disorders like bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder in terms of behavior modification. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps with the cognitive restructuring of patients with eating disorders. Incorrect beliefs about the relationship between eating habits and physical symptoms are replaced by more accurate perceptions and interpretations. CBT has been shown to be effective in reducing binge eating and helps normalize cognitions in people with bulimia nervosa (Varchol, L. and Cooper, H., 2009). Besides CBT, other behavior modification strategies like dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) have also become increasingly popular.,.