Lots of people have different eating habits. You might eat loads one day, be less hungry another day, or go through phases of wanting to eat more or less healthily. But that doesn’t mean you have an eating problem.

But if you’re focussing a lot on controlling what or how much you eat, or if you have urges to get rid of the food from your body, these are signs you could have a problem.

Eating problems are common and they can affect people with any body shape or lifestyle, regardless of gender, age or ethnicity and can be caused by a number of factors such as:

• Worry or stress may lead to comfort eating. This may cause worries about getting fat.
• Dieting and missing meals lead to craving for food, loss of control and over-eating.
• Anorexia or bulimia can develop as a complication of more extreme dieting, perhaps triggered by an upsetting event, such as family break-down, death or separation in the family, bullying at school or abuse.
• Sometimes, anorexia and bulimia may be a way of trying to feel in control if life feels stressful.
• More ordinary events, such as the loss of a friend, a teasing remark or school exams, may also be the trigger in a vulnerable person.

The images we see online and in social media can also add to the feeling that we have to look a certain way, or be a certain weight, which may not be healthy for our body. But there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to look - everyone’s body is different.

Our training courses can help you understand more about eating disorders, the signs and possible underlying causes of why young people develop eating disorders and how to help someone get the help they need.