What is pregorexia?

Marriage, family therapist Maggie Baumann, also an eating disorder specialist, explains what pregorexia is and how it can effect pregnant women. Pregorexia can be extremely dangerous for both the mother and baby, so watch this video for more information.
What Is Pregorexia?
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What is pregorexia?

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Pregorexia is a term that was coined by the media a couple of years ago. It essentially means a pregnant woman who has an eating disorder, such as anorexia and bulimia. Pregorexia, a woman that is pregnant, will be engaging in restricting calories, over exercising, binging, and purging. All of these unhealthy behaviors can be harming herself and baby. Someone could ask, how could a pregnant mom not take care of her baby when she's pregnant, because that's what we are supposed to do as moms. Someone with pregorexia has an irrational eating disorder. The will to care for her baby, is not as strong as the strong will of the eating disorder.

Marriage, family therapist Maggie Baumann, also an eating disorder specialist, explains what pregorexia is and how it can effect pregnant women. Pregorexia can be extremely dangerous for both the mother and baby, so watch this video for more information.

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Maggie Baumann, MFT, CEDS

Certified Eating Disorder Specialist

Maggie Baumann is a marriage and family therapist in Newport Beach, California, specializing in treating eating disorders, addictions and trauma. Maggie is a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist (CEDS) by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. As a woman in recovery from anorexia, she speaks on the topic of eating disorder prevention and treatment to a wide audience. She has been a featured guest on numerous national television shows on eating disorder awareness and quoted in newspapers across the country including the New York Times as well as in national magazines including Pregnancy & Newborn Magazine. Her area of expertise within the eating disorder field is on “pregorexia”, a term describing a pregnant woman who is also struggling with an eating disorder. This is a life-threatening condition affecting the lives of both mom and her unborn baby. 

On a personal front, Maggie has been married 28 years and has two healthy grown daughters, Christine, 25 and Whitney, 24. Being a mom has been the most rewarding experience Maggie has encountered. Maggie enjoys staying active with healthy exercise and loves to be outdoors. Living one mile from the beach allows Maggie the luxury of enjoying the peace of the ocean. Photography, reading and spending time with her two kitties (who are really grown up cats) are other passions she appreciates doing in her leisure time.   

More Parenting Videos from Maggie Baumann, MFT, CEDS >
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