Can eating healthy food become a problem? Part 2

Health | Fitness

After having read part one of this article last week, you should have a good understanding of common eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia. So the question is, does restrictive eating habits and being scared of eating the ‘wrong’ foods create a prevalence to eating disorders in people and more specifically athletes?

Prevalence of eating disorders

Eating disorders seem more prevalent in individuals who have been overweight. The individual begins dieting, but at some point normal dieting develops into an eating disorder (Markey & Markey, 2005).

Taylor’s research (1991) showed that dieting efforts among teenage girls are more likely to lead to weight gain than weight loss, and females who had dieted had a 300 percent greater risk of obesity than those who had not (Taylor, Agras, Losch & Plante, 1991). A 1990 study found that adolescent girls who dieted were eight times more likely to develop an eating disorder a year later (Barlow & Durand, 2005).

According to the mentioned findings, it seems that girls who have a weight problem in their teenage years are more likely to develop an eating disorder compared to girls who do not have a weight problem at that age.

Apart from the eating disorders mentioned, we see more and more females and males with ‘Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified’. This means that a diagnosis of an eating disorder can be made without the person having the above-mentioned symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa or Bulimia Nervosa.

Those individuals will
• have their normal period.
• have the typical behaviours like females with Anorexia Nervosa, but do not lose weight. For example, they restrict themselves from having all or certain foods, but do not lose an excessive amount of weight.
• binge eat, but less than twice a week or for less than three months.
• chew repeatedly, but won’t swallow their food.

You can see that as soon as food becomes an obsession, it causes problematic eating. Any form of restrictive behaviour is seen as being a problem. Many people think of food already when they wake up and don’t stop thinking about it until they go to sleep. Only allowing themselves ‘very healthy foods’ is a problem, as they become fixated with the thought of not being allowed to eat anything else. If they do eat unhealthy foods (or food they THINK is unhealthy), they tend to feel upset, angry and guilty. Often they feel that they have to convert to behaviours such as over-exercising or restricting themselves to compensate again.

If we look at OCD, we can clearly see why being obsessed with healthy foods is a disorder. Obsessions are defined as
1) re-current and persistent thoughts that are inappropriate and cause marked distress and anxieties.
2) thoughts, impulses and images that are not just worries about real-life problems.
3) a person having to suppress such thoughts and images.
4) a person realising that these images and thoughts are a product of his/her mind.

Compulsions on the other hand are defined by
1) repetitive behaviour that the person feels driven to perform or a rule that needs to be applied.
2) behaviours or mental acts that need to be performed to prevent or reduce the distress. These acts are often mental acts that are not connected to a realist way with what they are designed to neutralize or prevent.

If people obsess about healthy foods, become too rigid, restrict themselves of certain foods, take up a lot of time thinking about food or preparing food and feel anxious and guilty if they have not eaten healthily, they could be diagnosed with either OCD or/and an eating disorder. OCD disorders are the most common co-morbid disorders we see and go hand-in-hand with eating disorders, anxiety and/or depression. Eating disorders need to be taken seriously because they are potentially life-threatening conditions that affect the individual’s physical, emotional and behavioural development, and may lead to premature death.

Among all mental disorders, eating disorders have the highest death rate. They can be seen as a slow form of suicide because self-starvation is an attempt to destroy the body. Therefore, seemingly innocent dieting could develop into life-threatening eating disorder.

I always say that as soon as a behaviour interferes with our daily living, it becomes a problem.

Any form of restrictive behaviour is seen as being a problem.