Study finds “maladaptive eating patterns” prevalent among women. Duh.

22nd December 2009

Study finds “maladaptive eating patterns” prevalent among women. Duh.

posted in Body Image, ED-NOS, Eating Disorders, Health, Nutrition & Fitness, Rachel |

It’s estimated that some 10 million females and one million males in the U.S. have an eating disorder. Shocking numbers, but what about those who don’t meet the clinical requirements for a diagnosis? A new study by the University of Montreal and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute reveals that those kinds of cases may be more prevalent than you might think.

Investigators completed a phone survey of 1,501 women. The average age of these urban-dwelling participants was 31, the majority of respondents were non-smokers and university graduates. Not one participant was classified as having anorexia. Researchers found that some 13.7 percent of women interviewed reported binge eating one to five days or one to seven times per month; 28 percent of women completed intense exercise twice a month with the sole objective of losing weight or influencing it; and 2.5 percent of women reported forcing themselves to vomit, use laxatives or use diuretics to maintain their weight or shape. The study also established a link between problematic eating behaviors and self-rated health. In other words, disordered eating behaviors are more likely to occur in women who perceived themselves to be in poor health (considering the daily barrage fat people are subjected to in which they’re constantly told that they’re one doughnut away from death’s door regardless of actual health, is it surprising, that disordered eating is more prevalent among those who perceive themselves to be unhealthy?). In all, researchers found that “maladaptive” or disordered eating behaviors and attitudes affected 10 to 15 percent of the women. The study is published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

“Our results are disquieting,” says Lise Gauvin, a professor at the Université de Montréal Department of Social and Preventive Medicine. “Women are exposed to many contradictory messages. They are encouraged to lose weight yet also encouraged to eat for the simple pleasure of it.”

“We practice a sport for the pleasure it provides, to feel good, but when the activity is done to gain control over one’s weight and figure, it is indicative of someone who could be excessively concerned about their weight,” says Gauvin. “Our data suggests that a proportion of the female population displays maladaptive eating patterns.”

This study is actually quite conservative in its estimates, owing perhaps to the relatively small sample size and demographic polled. A recent online survey of 4,023 women by Self magazine in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill revealed that 65 percent of American women ages 25-45 harbor some degree of disordered eating and that another 10 percent suffer from an outright eating disorder. Even more frightening is that 53 percent of the respondents said they were already at a healthy weight and were still trying to lose more! For a breakdown of those results, read here.

So, what distinguishes disordered eating from the occasional quirky eating? In a nutshell, it’s the purpose and consistency behind the behavior and whether or not the person maintains a sense of free choice with regard to eating behaviors. The greater problem now is not only the prevalence of disordered eating; it’s the fact that disordered eating has become normalized and repackaged as healthy eating. Carbohydrate restriction, obsessive calorie counting, strict food rules, thinking inordinately about food, daily weigh-ins, eating a lot of no- or low-calorie foods, adopting a vegetarian or vegan diet solely for weight loss, juice or water fasting, taking diet supplements to encourage weight loss… how many of these helpful “health” tips have you seen recommended by commercial diet programs, health magazines and even doctors and nutritionists?

It’s important to note that not all who have disordered eating will go on to develop an eating disorder. While I consider disordered eating to be mostly a cultural phenomenon, eating disorders have been shown to have far more complex origins, including biological and genetic factors. But considering that most eating disorders begin as a simple diet gone horribly awry, these findings take on an entirely new significance. After all, it only takes one misstep for those already teetering on the edge of extremity to fall down the rabbit hole.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009 at 12:14 pm and is filed under Body Image, ED-NOS, Eating Disorders, Health, Nutrition & Fitness, Rachel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On December 22nd, 2009, Greta said:

Great article Rachel! I couldn’t agree more. BTW, thanks for the purrrty Christmas card!!

Greta

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 12:32 pm

2 On December 22nd, 2009, Lady Di said:

A friend of mine asked me the other day if vegetarianism lead to eating disorders. I said that in some cases, yes, it can. However, I became a vegetarian during my recovery from an eating disorder. In fact, I am now a vegan and I have been recovered and healthy for 4 years nows. Rachel, do you have any articles about the link between vegetarian/vegan diets and eating disorders?

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 1:06 pm

3 On December 22nd, 2009, Rachel said:

@Lady Di: I also think being vegetarian has helped me greatly in my own eating disorder recovery. There was a recent study done of adolescents, vegetarianism and disordered eating, but I’ll have to find it. I don’t know off-hand of any that address any causal links between vegetarianism and eating disorders.

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 1:19 pm

4 On December 22nd, 2009, Greta said:

I don’t think vegetarianism causes eating disorders. I do know, however, a lot of anorexics who become vegetarian to have a plausible explanation for their elimination of certain foods/food groups.

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 1:48 pm

5 On December 22nd, 2009, buttercup said:

Next thing you’ll be telling me is that water is wet!

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 2:46 pm

6 On December 22nd, 2009, melponeme_k said:

This isn’t a surprising outcome at all. Considering that 9 times of 10 any conversations women engage in is about eating and dieting.

I had weird eating habits when I was younger and barely managed to sidestep serious ED.

Even after GERD weight loss, I find myself falling back into long ago mindsets of wanting to lose more or contemplating what I can do to stay the same weight. It takes a bit of relaxation and thought to kick myself out of that well worn rut.

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 3:39 pm

7 On December 22nd, 2009, BrieCS said:

Reading this made me think again, as I have reading more blogs regarding body image and health, that there is a possibility I have somewhat disordered eating. I have never purged or eliminated food entirely for longer than periods of 8-15 hours, but I swing between not wanting to eat or not feeling I should be allowed to eat because I am “so fat” (I weigh 180ish, am around 5′6 and have imbalanced cholesterol levels and too high of glucose), but then I binge and say “so what, I’ll still be ugly/fat/stupid”, eating half a pizza and then not eating for as many hours as I can before I feel a little faint or sick. I think about my weight constantly, and feel guilty every time I eat, and mention my weight in so many conversations.
The thing is, I’ve had friends who binge and purge, friends with serious Anorexia, and I feel like it’s not legitimate, it’s not extreme enough to be a “serious” disorder.

I just am so tired of caring about it, being scared and frustrated. To know it is almost normal and that other women feel this way is both uncomfortably reassuring and really upsetting.

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 4:49 pm

8 On December 22nd, 2009, Rachel2 said:

Dude(-ette). Seriously. Can we give it a “No Shit, Sherlock! How long did it take you guys to figure THAT one out?!”

Wonderful article, Rachel. And, like BrieCS up there, it made me think that if I am not careful, my eating patterns slip very easily into the “disordered eating realm”. I am trying to lose weight right now, but I am trying very hard to do it as healthfully as possible. I have been writing down and tracking my calories, just to see what my intake was, and that was A.) a shock. and B.) I have found that it is quite the challenge to shoot for that 1800 calorie marker on a day-to-day basis. Especially on particularly stressful days like today. It’s *so* easy to think: “Yeah, if I got a LITTLE longer, eat a LITTLE less, SKIP that granola bar for breakfast, I’ll be good.”

On the one hand, I’ve got Rational Rachel telling me: “YOU NEED TO EAT TO FUEL YOUR BODY!!! YOU NEED 1800 CALORIES A DAY MINIMUM TO SURVIVE!!!”

While I’ve got Roguish Rachel whispering in the back reaches of my brain: “Eat a little less here. A little less there. Forget the granola bar. Feel that empty feeling in your stomach? It feels good, doesn’t it? Just go a little farther. Shaky and dizzy now? Okay, eat. But only a little.”

It’s SO easy to slip and fall. I’ve never been diagnosed fully with any sort of ED, but the obsessive tendency is there. Especially when I’m feeling bloated and icky from female things and I’ve had some Cheetos (GASP!!! OMG!!!).

So, I STILL need to track my calories and be diligent about it to ensure that I can keep my eating stabilized by EATING ENOUGH. It’s a struggle, for sure. But there are many reasons why I’ve sort of turned this in on myself. If I spend too much time talking to other people about it, it WILL get me down, as EVERYBODY has image issues, and if I open that can of “Whoop-ass” on myself, I will surely regret it.

…Mmm… Cheetos. Those sound really good right now… Baked Cheetos, of course.

posted on December 22nd, 2009 at 9:26 pm

9 On December 23rd, 2009, living400lbs said:

Considering that 9 times of 10 any conversations women engage in is about eating and dieting.

Maybe that should be an addition to the Bechdel Test?

posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 2:23 pm

10 On December 23rd, 2009, living400lbs said:

“talking about something other than dieting” I mean

posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 2:28 pm

11 On December 23rd, 2009, Loud and Proud said:

Doesn’t vegetarianism fall under the definition of “disordered eating?” So would a diabetic who avoids eating sugar. That term is so broad as to be almost meaningless.

posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 4:29 pm

12 On December 23rd, 2009, Rachel said:

Doesn’t vegetarianism fall under the definition of “disordered eating?” So would a diabetic who avoids eating sugar.

I don’t believe so unless the reason one is vegetarian is solely motivated by weight loss. I don’t think that anyone who eats a special diet due to spiritual, religious and/or medical reasons has disordered eating necessarily.

posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 5:48 pm

13 On December 23rd, 2009, cassi said:

I don’t think that anyone who eats a special diet due to spiritual, religious and/or medical reasons has disordered eating necessarily.

No of course it’s not actually disordered in the common sense of the term, but the point is still valid, I think, because when they ask questions on a survey they don’t take that into account. They ask things like, “have you ever eliminated an entire category of foods from your diet?” and if you say yes, they put a check in the box… even if you go one to try to explain that you’ve gone vegan or decided to keep kosher or whatever.

I tend to believe that large swathes of women in the US have what I would call disordered eating, but I still find these surveys useless. Mostly because women are taught to eat so little that most women will report having “binged” if they’ve eaten more than two pieces of pizza in a single sitting.

posted on December 23rd, 2009 at 8:26 pm

14 On December 24th, 2009, julie said:

I think maladaptive eating patterns are a side effect of dieting. The people who I know that don’t seem to be disordered eaters are the people who’ve never tried to lose weight. Mostly men, some women. I no longer consider myself a disordered eater, but I have to consciously work at it sometimes.

posted on December 24th, 2009 at 1:40 am

15 On December 29th, 2009, Annabel @ www.FeedMeImCranky.com said:

Here is a link to the Time article that talks about the study involving adolescents, vegetarianism (and veganism) and eating disorders: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1889742,00.html

posted on December 29th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

16 On December 29th, 2009, Liza said:

I had a doctor prescribe phentermine. I was on it for months before the lightbulb flashed on and I was like, wait, something isn’t right with this. Yes, I’ve gained weight back. But I no longer have worry about side effects like heart palpitations or “hostility with urge to attack.”

posted on December 29th, 2009 at 8:48 pm