Eating and Body Image
Eating issues includes eating disorders as well as ways of eating, or not eating, that causes someone distress or overtakes their life. This can look like over exercising, binge eating, using laxatives or purging after eating, emotional eating, refusing to eat, eating only a few foods, eliminating entire categories of food, obsessing over food, inability to eat while in the presence of other people, rituals around food, and avoiding social situations which interfere with a food regime or is too “tempting” to eat eliminated foods (National Eating Disorders Association, 2020). Eating disorders are not a choice, they are serious conditions which require treatment. Full recovery is possible and early intervention is crucial.
College can be a time of transition and significant change in a person’s life, which can increase the risk of experiencing eating issues. In addition to the stress of change, people in college may also experience preoccupation with body image, societal messages of an “ideal” body, as well as bonding with others over our own perceived physical flaws. Athletes in college are also at an increased risk of experiencing eating disorders, one study found that 35% of female and 10% of male college athletes were at risk for anorexia nervosa; 58% of female and 38% of male college athletes were at risk for bulimia nervosa; and among female college athletes surveyed, 25.5% had subclinical eating disorder symptoms (National Eating Disorders Association, 2020).
All types of people experience eating issues and no one can tell by looking at another person if they have an eating issue. Transgender individuals experience eating disorders at higher rates than cisgender individuals. People of color are less likely to receive treatment for an eating disorder, despite meeting diagnostic criteria. Half of those who experience an eating disorder also abuse alcohol and/or drugs. Individuals who have a mobility-related disability may experience more dissatisfaction, dissociation, or sensitivity regarding their body size (National Eating Disorders Association, 2020). Eating issues effect everyone.
Eating issues, even when they do not rise to the level of an eating disorder, can cause significant health complications and we encourage you to speak to your medical doctor as well as a counselor who has specialized training in eating issues.
Resources:
- What are eating disorders
- Body image and eating disorders
- Disordered Eating as a Precursor to Eating Disorders
- How does social media affect your body image?
- There’s No Such Thing As “Failure” In Recovery
- Male Eating Disorders: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go Next? How Do I Open Up About My Eating Issues? AND Sharing Concerns About Your Eating Behaviors
- Eating Disorders: What Are They?
- Inside the Eating Disordered Mind
- National Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2020
- National Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2020 Video#2
- National Eating Disorders Association: Special Support for COVID-19
- National Eating Disorder Association
- Health At Every Size Principles
- Ten Principles of Intuitive Eating
- Why And How to Give Yourself Permission to Eat Anything
- Rethinking Food Addiction
- Food Psych Podcast by Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN
- Food Psych #150: Disordered Eating & Gender Identity with Sand Chang
- Columbia River Eating Disorders Network
- Eating Recovery Center
- Center for Discovery Eating Disorder Treatment
- Monte Nido Eating Disorder Treatment Nalgona Positivity Pride (eating disorder awareness organization centered on Black, Indigenous, people of color)
- Sage and Spoon: FREE Online Eating Disorder Peer Support Groups for BIPOC
- FREE Self-Compassion Exercises and Guided Meditations
- The Space Between Self-Esteem and Self-Compassion: Kristin Neff TEDxTalk
- Body Trust is a Birthright TEDxTalk
- Why Brene Brown Says Perfectionism Is a 20-Ton Shield