Is dieting a form of disordered eating?

 

With summer around the corner, the diet industry will be working overtime to try and convince us that we need to work on our 'summer bodies' by taking part in a new diet/cleanse/detox. 

This is harmful in more ways than one. We shouldn’t feel that we have to change our bodies with the seasons, and every body is already a 'summer' body as it's the body we live in all year round.

This blog post is a follow up from my previous post about why crash diets just don’t work. It links perfectly with this time of year when we are bombarded with messages about weight loss and what our bodies should look like.

There are many reasons why a diet doesn’t work, you can find the blog post with lots of reasons here. Another reason I’m against dieting is that it can easily spiral into disordered eating. I thought this deserved its own post.

What is disordered eating?

Disordered eating is a term used to describe irregular eating behaviours. This is different from an eating disorder which is a diagnosis of a mental illness. 

If you think you or someone you know has an eating disorder, please contact a healthcare professional, or see the links at the bottom for some support.

Starting a crash diet in spring, ahead of summer, can set you up for an unhealthy relationship with food and can lead to a disordered eating pattern.

Disordered eating can look like:

• A loss of control around food

• Strict routines around food and exercise

• Feeling guilty or ashamed when eating certain foods

• Using exercise or restriction to make up for eating certain foods

• Binge eating

• Always thinking about food and your weight

• Yo-yo/crash dieting

• Emotional eating

• Eating foods because they are ‘better’ than others even if you don’t like them

Starting a new diet can lead to disordered eating as a lot of these crash diets emphasise restriction and the demonisation of foods. 

A crash diet usually has similar features to the disordered eating patterns listed above, such as:

• Extreme calorie counting

• Cutting out food groups

• Strong emphasis on weight/body image

• Rigidity and strict rules with food

You may start a new diet with good intentions, but it can be a slippery slope into something else. And considering diets with the sole aim of weight loss rarely work, I’m not sure how worth it it is. 

I want to say that if you think have disordered eating patterns it’s not your fault, and this post isn’t to blame you. The diet industry has pushed this onto us through never ending diet culture.

I believe people should feel free to eat what they want. By allowing yourself to eat any and all foods it gives you the power to make choices that are right for you. 

Diets often want you to completely cut out a food group but by restricting something, it simply makes you want it more. When you're not allowed to have something, it can be all you think about. 

But if you tell yourself that no food is off limits, you become less preoccupied with that food and you know that you can have it whenever you want. This may sound scary to some people, but it is a great way to improve your relationship with food.

Tips to improve relationship your with food:

If you think you have disordered eating habits and want some support, it's worth seeking a registered dietitian or registered nutritionist to give your personalised help. 

I've also got some tips here that can help you break out of the diet mentality.

Allow yourself to enjoy your food. Try to stop any thoughts about whether the food is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and just enjoy it for what it is. We eat for nutrition but food is also so much more than that. What we eat has social meanings, cultural meanings and we eat because food tastes nice! So you can allow yourself to enjoy all food. 

Eat mindfully. Mindful eating allows you to be attentive to your food, feelings and senses when eating. It also means you're more in touch with hunger cues and you can tell when you're becoming full and satisfied.  

When eating, really pay attention to the food. What does it smell like? What flavours can you detect? What’s the texture? It’s easy to get distracted by Netflix or social media when eating but if you can, try and eat with no distractions. This allows you to focus and really think about what you're eating. 

Challenge an ‘all or nothing’ mindset.  The all or nothing mindset is a type of black and white thinking where it's either one extreme or another.

An example of this mindset is, if you eat something ‘unhealthy’ like a scoop of ice cream and then think that you’ve ruined your diet so may as well go all out and eat the whole tub. This type of thinking isn’t helpful. One thing you eat is not going to ruin everything. 

It’s more important to think about what you eat most of the time, as this has the biggest impact on your health. You can enjoy something less nutritious and then move on.  

Try not to label foods as ‘good' or 'bad’. Yes, some foods are less nutritious than others, but as I said earlier, food is not just about nutrition. 

Labelling food as bad doesn't help as food has no moral value. And by removing the emotions and labels from food, you'll feel more free with your food choices. This allows you to trust your body and listen to what it's telling you. Food doesn't have to be demonised and we don't have to punish ourselves for eating certain foods.

Don’t compare yourself to others. Everyone’s body is different and has different needs. Our metabolisms work differently, and anything can affect it. You could eat the exact same thing as someone, and your bodies will look different. 

I know it can be difficult but comparisons are not helpful. They’re not fair comparisons, we are all in our own bodies. Unfollowing people on social media or distancing yourself from people that don't serve you can help here.

Remember perfection isn't possible. There is no such thing as a perfect diet and as soon as you accept this, a weight will be off your shoulders. Every meal doesn’t have to be perfectly portioned and full of vegetables. Try to aim for more nutritious foods most of the time but no one is perfect 100% of the time. Remember that one meal doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. 

Key points:

• Disordered eating can look like: feeling a loss of control around food, cutting out food groups, and feeling you need to earn your food.
• Dieting can have similar features and usually involves severe restriction, cutting out food groups, and skipping meals.
• Ways to shift away from the diet mentality is to challenge the all or nothing mindset, remind yourself that perfection isn't possible, and practice mindful eating.

I hope you found this blog post helpful. It can be hard to undo all the years of food rules we’ve developed but having a better relationship with food is worth it. This also isn’t to discourage you from wanting to lose weight, that’s your choice, but it should be done in a healthy way without restrictions.

Bye for now! 👋

References:

Eating disorder support: https://www.rethink.org/advice-and-information/about-mental-illness/learn-more-about-conditions/eating-disorders/ and https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/eating-disorders/ and https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/eating-problems/treatment-support/ and https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/support-services

What is disordered eating? https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13679-019-00333-5 and https://www.eatright.org/health/diseases-and-conditions/eating-disorders/what-is-disordered-eating and https://www.thechelseapsychologyclinic.com/eating-disorders/do-i-have-an-unhealthy-relationship-with-food/

Improve relationship with food: https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8258/11-steps-to-rebuild-your-relationship-with-food.html and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28131005/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26162949/