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What is bulimia?

It was only in 1979 that bulimia nervosa was recognized by doctors as an eating disorder in its own right. The term bulimia nervosa means literally ‘the nervous hunger of an ox’.

It comes from the Greek word βουλῑμια (boulīmia) which means ravenous hunger.

Bulimia is an eating disorder in which a person engages in recurrent binge eating followed by feelings of guilt and depression. The person then takes compensatory behaviors to make up for this excessive eating. This compensatory behavior is commonly known as "purging". Purging can take the form of fasting, vomiting, using laxatives, diuretics, and over exercising or a combination of all.

Definition of Bulimia

A person who is bulimic has recurrent episodes of binge eating, meaning the person eats large quantities or food over a fixed period of time.     

The person feels a lack of control over eating during this episode and many feel they simply cannot stop eating or control what or how much they eat.

The person has recurrent compensatory behavior to prevent weight gain, this behavior (purging) is usually an inappropriate way to deal with weight control and includes self-induced vomiting; abuse of laxatives, diuretics or other medications, fasting or excessive exercising. 

The two types of bulimia nervosa

  • Purging
  • Non-purging

Purging is more common, this involves self-induced vomiting or the use of laxatives and diuretics as an attempt to try and remove food from the body before it has been ingested.

Non-purging: A bulimic who does not purge occurs in only approx 6%-8% of cases. This person involves themselves in excessive exercise or fasting after a binge. The attempt is to offset the caloric intake after eating. This can also be very prominent activity in bulimics who purge.