Obsession with Food, Calories and Dieting

Common anorexia symptoms include persistent anxiety over meals and meticulous calorie counting. Every single item, including water, that anorexics ingest may be documented. They occasionally even learn the number of calories in meals by heart. Obsessions with food are influenced by worries about gaining weight. Anorexics may drastically reduce their caloric intake and follow strict diets. Some people may cut off whole food categories from their diets, such as carbs and lipids.

Long-term food restriction can cause severe malnutrition and vitamin shortages, which can affect mood and exacerbate food compulsive behavior. Reduced food consumption can also have an impact on insulin and leptin levels, two hormones that control hunger. Other health difficulties include bone loss, troubles with reproduction, mental health, and development problems that might result from this.