The Rise in Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders in a Culture Obsessed with Thinness

When I was a graduate student and training to become a psychologist, I learned about the eating disorders anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. But, since this was not an area I was specializing in, my education on this topic stopped there. As my professional development continued, it wasn’t until post pandemic that I began to see and hear a lot about disordered eating among my clients. As most of us are aware, there has been a significant rise in mental health disorders, particularly among teenage girls, over the past few years. With this exponential rise I also noticed an increase in concerns about body image and disordered eating behaviors. I knew it was time for me to seek more training in this area so that I could be better equiped to help my clients. I began attending continuing education courses on body image, disordered eating, and eating disorders. I began to see the world in a whole new way, through the lens of diet culture and it’s vast pervasiveness not only in our culture, but worldwide. If you’re familiar with diet culture, good for you and if you are not I hope you are open to expanding and challenging your perspective. I feel part of my purpose is to share helpful information to dispell and point out diet culture’s influence so we can learn how adults and our kids are affected.

So what is diet culture? It is often disguised as “health, wellness, and fitness.” It is a idealized view of thinness and it has distorted and equated the perception of “health” to being thin. Embedded in this are concepts of thin priviledge, fat phobia, and great stigma and discrimination towards people in larger bodies. There is a bombardment of messages encouraging weight loss, no matter actual health status. This industry is misleading and dangerous and tricks people into believing that diets i.e. nutrition plans, cleanses, etc. are necessary to be “healthy.” Here’s the catch. None of it works. Even if there are short term “results”, our bodies are smart and it is expected and common to gain the weight back. Our bodies are programmed to survive. People often feel guilty or believe that they lack self control, but that message is dangerous and inaccurate.  In fact,  95-96% of those who lose weight, will gain it back within 1-5 years. 25% of those who follow an “eating plan” (i.e. disordered eating such as counting calories, portions, macros, points, eliminate food groups, restrict times of day to eat, etc) will develop an eating disorder.

So what is actually happening? Diet culture disguised as “wellness” or “fitness” is making us sicker. As a result, we lose the ability to trust ourselves and our intuitive sense of hunger, satiety, fullness and when we restrict that leads to binging and feeling shame. Orthorexia nervosa is summarized as an obsession with healthy eating with associated restrictive behaviors. This is also disguised as “clean eating”  that many online “fitness influencers” promote. However, the attempt to attain optimum health through attention to diet may lead to malnourishment, loss of relationships, and poor quality of life. It is not uncommon for this restriction to precipate the development of Binge Eating Disorder. In fact, there are health risks associated with fluctuations in weight caused by constant dieters and many who do not even think they are “dieting.”

Since the pandemic, inpatient eating disorder treatment admissions have increased by 85%. In my practice, I would estimate a 50% increase in disordered eating and our young girls are particularly vulnerable. although boys and men can be affected as well.When we feel our lives are out of control, whether it’s restrictions due to quarantine, anxiety, depression, going through a divorce, or whatever, the allure of getting healthy and being able to manipulate and control your body shape can be an easy trap to fall into. Many people do not even realize they are engaging in unhealthy behavior due to the distortions and manipulations by diet culture and the fitness industry that have persisted for generations and among cultures. Our culture reinforces diet culture when we praise others for self discipline or control, rather than recognizing the associated risks on mental and physical health.

You may be wondering what you can do in the short term to help yourself or loved ones.

1. Stop commenting on weight. Remember there can be many reasons someone’s weight and body may change such as normal development including adolescence, puberty, pregnancy, fertility issues, menopause, stress, illness, medication, metabolic, endocrine, or genetic conditions etc.
2. Don’t categorize foods as good vs. bad or healthy vs. unhealthy. We can learn to integrate ALL foods into a healthy diet.
3. Don’t diet or restrict. If you can’t resisit these urges and want help in recovery from disordered eating or an eating disorder seek the help of a qualified professional trained, registered dietician, who specializes in intuitive eating.
4. Don’t feel guilty or ashamed for gaining weight back after a diet. It’s not your fault and you are not lazy or weak. Remember that your body is just doing what it is supposed to do.
5. Work on loving yourself for who you are, no matter your shape or size. Our size does not define our value.
6. Think about how our language about our own bodies and others effects our children and youth. Let’s work to break the cycle. Don’t comment on your own or your children’s weight and size and NEVER encourage a child to diet. And regardless of our words, remember our actions speak volumes.
7. Eating disorders are real, serious, and dangerous. There is so much to learn and unlearn about diet culture. Keep an open mind. Once you see diet culture, you’ll see it everywhere.
8. Unfollow “health or wellness influencers” who promote weight loss and keep in mind it’s not always super obvious. Messages that encourage shrinking and changing your body, food rules, black and white thinking/ perfectionism, earning your food, clean eating, cleanses, and wellness is most often diet culture, pretending not to be diet culture. Instead look for intuitive eating resources and education from registered dieticians who have a (HAES) Health at Every Size approach.

I am not an expert in eating disorders and disordered eating, but I have learned a lot so far and I am happy to share my knowledge and continue learning how to heal and improve our relationships with food and body image.