Eating Disorder? Or Disordered
Eating?
You may be wondering if you have an eating
disorder. If you do not feel good about how you are eating, you may have
disordered eating, or the beginning of an eating disorder or possibly you may
already meet the criteria for an eating disorder.
Regardless of which label you pick
for yourself, now is a good time to enlist the help of a psychotherapist.
First let's look at what “normal”
eating is.
“Normal” Eaters
There are normal eaters and there are dieters. Normal eaters eat when they are
hungry and stop eating when they have sensations of becoming full and have
feelings of satiety. Normal eaters spend very little time thinking about food.
Normal eaters occasionally overeat.
Normal eaters may get overexcited about a food item they have not eaten in
awhile that is a favorite and may eat past the point of full. Most likely they
recognize the overly full feeling and eat lightly for awhile. Dieters and
restrained eaters deny certain foods and restrict certain amounts of food.
Societal attitudes about body
weight and shape are very strong here in the United States, especially for
women. This pressure to be thin has created a societal preoccupation with
dieting and weight loss.
Unfortunately, the diet mentality
creates a shift away from natural, healthy thoughts such as, “Am I hungry?” “How
hungry am I?” “What am I hungry for?” “What would be healthy for me to eat right
now?” The diet mentality yields thoughts such as “What can I have?” (regardless
of whether there is any stomach hunger), “How many fat grams?” (no focus on
whether the food has any nutritional value) or “I can have twice as many of
these because they are low calorie and low fat.”
Some examples of healthy
thoughts are “Am I hungry?” and “What is a normal serving size?” It is better to
create good habits than to diet and overindulge. In our society, thinness tends to represent power, health, sex appeal, happiness
and all types of success. This societal pressure gives women the idea they
should eat enough to maintain an acceptable body size and no more.
When we hear
the phrase “normal weight” we are not sure what this means. “Normal weight” may
mean what is listed on life insurance charts. However, the term “normal weight”
could also be a statistical term meaning the population average or mean. The
population weight average for women may be seen as somewhat overweight by the
fashion industry. Society’s current preference for thin bodies has affected eating behavior and
attitudes toward food. The media bombards us with information on how to get
thin, with diets, exercise programs, medications and liposuction. Thirty years
ago women began to diet in high school and college. In the nineties, elementary
school aged children became concerned with dieting. When non-dieters are faced with stress, they tend to eat less or the same as
usual, which is in response to stomach hunger. When dieters are under stress,
they tend to begin thinking more about their food limits and have more food
thoughts in general. Dieters under stress tend to eat more and have a difficult
time stopping when satiation begins. Non-dieters tend to eat until feelings of
satiety begin. It appears that under normal, calm circumstances dieters tend to
eat less than non-dieters. If stress or depression comes up, the dieter will
most likely turn to food items that he or she has been deprived of. The pressure
of a strict diet and the cues associated with it can also increase a dieter's
thoughts and preoccupation with food. Restriction and Deprivation
The trouble with dieting is that it causes confusion between hunger and satiety
cues. Usually dieters have the goal of stopping eating before satiety is
established. There seem to be unfortunate consequences for this action. When the
dieter does make a “mistake,” she or he then shames her or himself so much that
a binge or a day of chaotic eating usually follows as a way of medication. When
you are bingeing, you eat past satiety cues and this is part of what causes you
to move further away from depending on your body as a self-regulating mechanism.
While you are bingeing, you are also distending, stretching your stomach,
creating the need for more food to reach satiety. Non-dieters have no need to
binge, because they do not have severe periods of restricting that create
feelings of deprivation or rebelliousness. Non-dieters also rely on the feeling
of satiety and stomach fullness to know when to stop eating. The more
restrictive the diet is, the bigger the binge will be following a small food
“mistake.” Another unfortunate side effect of ignoring hunger and satiety cues,
is that when a dieter no longer has any awareness of these cues he or she may
wait too long in between eating times and not feel anything until he or she is
extremely hungry. When most people are overly hungry, they tend to eat far too
much, thus once again distending the stomach wall. Most of you who have been dieters fear that when you allow yourself to eat
naturally, that you will uncontrollably binge or compulsively eat all day and
gain weight. Truly, uninhibited eating which relies on body cues does not lead
to overeating. Dieters can lose weight by dropping their diets and learning to
listen to their bodies. The obsession with dieting fades away as you see that
normal eating is not a threat to your well being. Long term disuse of normal
hunger and satiety signals for the purpose of weight loss undermines a person’s
capacity to perceive hunger and satiety cues and to use then efficiently. The
problem with dieters losing touch with hunger and satiety is that it takes more
deprivation to create an awareness of hunger and it takes more overeating to
create an awareness of satiety. It will be helpful for you to move away from the belief that you need to be thin
in order to be worthwhile. I hope you will work on self- acceptance and if you
continue to desire weight loss, small changes will be the most comfortable ones.
Make realistic small goals. When you reach these goals, you will feel good about
your progress and it will be easy to maintain these new achievements. To set
large weight loss goals would be a way of putting yourself down, or perhaps not
accepting yourself, or perhaps not accepting yourself now. Love yourself. Focus
on self -acceptance. If you have been starving yourself for awhile now, it makes sense that you are
preoccupied with thoughts of food. Do you read a lot of cookbooks? Do you
collect lots of recipes? Are you a chronic gum chewer? smoker? nail biter? Do
you constantly drink large amounts of fluid to keep your stomach full? Do you
have specific eating rituals? It does not help you in the long run to restrict
yourself from certain foods because those will be the foods that you develop a
preoccupation with and the foods that you binge on. It will be more helpful to
set limits with yourself instead of trying to cut certain foods out entirely.
Starving yourself may create more problems than just a preoccupation with your
empty stomach and obsessive food thoughts. Starvation can also lead to obsessive
compulsive thoughts and behaviors in general, an over focus on your body and
indecisiveness in general. Obsessive thinking interferes with your concentration
and alertness which can become a problem at work and socially. Listen to your
body. Try to practice normal eating for awhile. Most people do not gain weight by responding to their natural hunger and satiety
cues. When you begin to listen to your body’s signals, you are then in a
situation where you might actually satisfy yourself and feel content. Identify
your needs, wants and preferences in all areas of your life and work towards
satisfying them. When you develop self trust and healthy nurturing in the area
of eating, you will feel more in control of other areas of your life.
It seems that from a very young age women are groomed to be overly concerned
about their body image. This over concern can create anxiety around food, which
can lead to feeling a compulsion to eat. By the age of six a little girl has
already begun to receive much social pressure about the importance of being
thin. Many girls play with Barbie dolls. Barbie’s body is not realistic. Barbie
has an elongated neck and her legs are two-thirds the length of her body. If
Barbie were a human being she would have to have a rib or two removed to have a
waist so much smaller than her hips. Barbie’s buttocks are unusually flat along
with her abdomen. Barbie’s breasts stand up unnaturally. Most women would
require surgery to have breasts similar to Barbie’s. Some little girls develop the belief that to be lovable they must have an ideal
body. This overemphasis on body image begins to make food a more valued
substance. In almost every era there has been a socially dictated ideal body image. In the
1500’s, 1600’s, and 1700’s a well rounded body with many curves and dimples (now
known as cellulite) was valued. The well known artist Ruben's, painted a picture
of his second wife to be more ample than she really was in order to present her
as more beautiful. Remember the sixties? The Twiggy look was in, emaciated, waif
like, and most women developed anorexic traits if they achieved this look. Was
it in the forties that women were encouraged to have pointed breasts and pointed
toes to be in? Remember Scarlet O’Hara’s day when the women wore corsets so
tight that it was not uncommon for them to faint? Imagine what the lack of
oxygen was doing to their brains? Perhaps this is where the expression “dumb
blonde” originated. Who can think deeply when they can’t breathe?
The seventies
was a time when too thin was still in. The eighties was a time when the socially
prescribed body image was not only to be thin but also to be muscular (more
pressure and work!) Then in the nineties high fashion magazines were showing the
waif like emaciated look. Designers defend their desire for the emaciated model
by stating that the lines of clothes are most easily seen on the thin body.
However keep in mind most women are not emaciated so no one is going to look
like that anyway.
The problem with trying to be unnaturally thin is that when women try too hard,
they begin to rationalize their hunger signals and lose touch with natural body
hunger. If you can move away from the pressures of the media, ignoring
billboards, posters, and advertisements, and drop the pressure, it will be
easier for you to learn to trust your body and move away from compulsive eating.
Your body is a self- regulating mechanism. If you eat only when feeling true stomach hunger and stop when beginning to get
sensations of fullness, you will feel better. You have concentrated too hard on
rational thought, fretting about what you should and should not eat. It is time
to get back to the question of “Am I hungry?” Your thinking styles have made you
overweight and not dealing with your emotions have added to this eating problem.
Food cannot give you what you are really craving. Being thin does not mean being
perfect with all of your life in order. Over eating and under eating have not
made you unworthy, any less of a person. The thoughts you create about yourself
may lower your self-esteem but you are the same person.
Topics Often discussed
in Psychotherapy Sessions
Self esteem
Trust
Purpose of Distractions &
Obsessions
Perfectionism
All or Nothing Thinking
Being Special
Over-productivity
Control
Relaxation
Assertive communication
Myths
Empty Feelings
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