Pregorexia
The most common term for pregnancy is probably “eating for two”. Strangely, women nowadays are moving more and more away from this stereotype, fighting the growing energy demand into a disease called pregorexia. Pregorexia or anorexia in pregnancy, is not yet recognized as a disease, but rather another abnormal state in the pregnancy, threatening mainly the developing child, but also the future mother.
It is impossible not to mention the excessive interest in your body, the control of weight, the diet during pregnancy. Women do not accept increasing weight, rounded belly and hips or bigger breasts. The distorted image of the silhouette unfortunately translates into the behaviour of the future mummy. The woman regularly controls the quantity and quality of consumed food, leading to serious malnutrition. It causes excessive and often intense physical activity, vomiting, explaining to others that it is only an accompanying gestation of nausea, and worse still the impact of laxatives or diuretics, the use of which may adversely affect the growing foetus or even cause miscarriage.
Let’s start with the reasons for this phenomenon. The cult of beautiful, slim silhouette can be observed every day in the media, newspapers or television. Often, this illness is also linked to the future mother’s lifestyle in groups such as models, actresses, journalists. This phenomenon during pregnancy is more common if episodes of anorexia appeared before getting pregnant or where a woman had suffered from trauma or low self-esteem in the past. Mechanisms of this eating disorder are not fully known, but it is possesses a strong psychological factor, which develops deep in the consciousness of women to maintain a beautiful, firm and slim figure even in pregnancy, often favouring her body over the healthy development of the child.
The effects of pregorexia can be attributed to both the mother and the foetus, i.e.:
Effects on the mother: hypertension, anaemia, postpartum depression, weakness, hair loss, osteoporosis, feeding problems
Effects on the baby (more serious than for the future mother) involve: premature birth and lower birth weight of the new-born, mental and physical handicap, miscarriage.
When it comes to treatment, it requires specialized psychological help, support from the attending physician and the immediate family.
As a reminder to all future mothers – the latest guidelines for weight gain in pregnancy based on BMI are as follows:
- For women with BMI <18.5 kg / m2: 12.7- 18.2 kg
- For BMI 18.5- 24.9 kg / m2: 11.4-15.9 kg
- For BMI 25 – 29.9 kg / m2: 6.8- 11.4 kg
- For BMI> 30 kg / m2: 5.0-9.1 kg
- For twin pregnancies: 11.4 to 24.5 kg
Remember – pregnancy is not a disease! Changes in our bodies are a normal consequence of this condition. Excessive kilograms, with proper diet and physical activity, will be dropped after giving birth to a beautiful and healthy baby.
written by Agnieszka Tokarz
