Since a person with an eating disorder won’t typically know they’re experiencing it, especially not right away, it can be hard for the individual to stop themselves. It can be hard to separate ‘healthy eating’ or ‘overindulging’ with something as drastic as ‘eating disorder’, especially at the beginning. Since people with eating disorders tend to decline, people can get used to behaving a certain way without realising the harmful consequences of certain actions (ie: being overly-focused on body image, skipping meals, perceiving a different body-shape than the one you have in the mirror). Likewise, more often than not, the typical signs and symptoms of an eating disorder aren’t recognised by friends and family right away. This tends to be due to a series of factors- from denial to being ignorant about what counts as an eating disorder. Hopefully, articles (like this one) can help to combat this, so that you can recognise the signs early on!