What is Disordered Eating?
Disordered eating means that eating is being done in a way that is not truly healthful or sustainable. Spending a lot of time thinking about food. Feeling bad about yourself after eating something you didn’t want to. Trying to illuminate certain food groups feeling that some food groups are morally superior to others.
Disordered eating can also refer to someone who is engaging in extreme weight loss attempts or chronic dieting. An estimated 45 million Americans diet each year and spend $33 billion annually on weight loss products. WebMD lists over 100 different diets. It’s hard to escape diet culture when it is all around us every day.
Since chronic dieting is a very common form of disordered eating, let’s look more into it. Chronic dieters consistently report guilt and self-blame, irritability, anxiety and depression, difficulty concentrating and fatigue. Their self-esteem is decreased by continuous feelings of failure related to “messing my diet up again”. Dieting can be particularly problematic in adolescents and it remains a major risk factor to developing an eating disorder. Moderate dieters being five times more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who do not diet at all!
Dieting emphasizes food as “good” or “bad”, as a reward or punishment. It does not teach healthy eating habits and rarely focuses the benefit of regulated eating. Unsatisfied hunger increases mood swings and risk of overeating. Dieting forces your body into starvation mode.
“Yo-yo” dieting (repetitive cycles of gaining, losing, & regaining weight) has been shown to have negative health effects, including increased risk of heart disease, and long-lasting negative impacts on metabolism.
All in all, if you are experiencing a jaded relationship with food, I encourage you to get honest with yourself about whether or not you may have disordered eating or maybe even an eating disorder. These can be discussed, diagnosed, and treated by a therapist, dietitian, or medical professional with specialized eating disorder training.
If you are hoping to improve your relationship with food and yourself - Modern Eve’s team of therapists have specialized training and are ready to help. To see if you’d be a good fit, click here :)
