Eating Disorders Awareness Week
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses that involve disordered eating behaviour.
This might mean limiting the amount of food eaten, eating very large quantities of food at once, getting rid of food eaten through unhealthy means (e.g. purging, laxative misuse, fasting, or excessive exercise), or a combination of these behaviours.
Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2024
The theme for this year's Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2024 is ARFID, which stands for avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder.
ARFID is a largely unknown and misunderstood eating disorder. The number of people affected by ARFID is unknown, but it can have serious consequences for health if left untreated.
Treatment is not available nationwide and people with ARFID, or who suspect they may have it, struggle to access the help they need.
We need to change that.
Find out how to get involved with Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2024.
More about eating disorders
It’s important to remember that eating disorders are not all about food itself, but about feelings. The way the person interacts with food may make them feel more able to cope, or may make them feel in control.
- Approximately 1.25 Million people in the UK have an eating disorder*
- Around 25% of those are male*
- Recent research from the NHS information centre showed that up to 6.4% of adults displayed signs of an eating disorder*
Visit our eating disorders page for more information
*BEAT - Statistics for Journalists, sourced 02/02/2020
Real stories
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I felt powerless. Now I feel powerful.
"I was admitted to hospital for the first time during my GCSEs. Aged 17 I was sectioned under the mental health act because I was a month away from dying of anorexia."
Read Juliette's story Read Juliette's story -
When your head’s feeling right and the diet’s right, you can become the best version of yourself.
"Whilst I was learning how to eat again, people I knew were getting married."
Read James's story Read James's story
