Promoting understanding can help reduce stigma
February 1-7 marks Eating Disorder Awareness Week. According to the National Eating Disorder Information Centre, this week’s goal is to “increase awareness of the factors contributing to eating disorders, promote healthy body image and self-esteem, and celebrate the diversity of shapes and sizes.” This week is all about moving away from our narrow ideals of beauty to healthy lifestyles, self-acceptance, and self-empowerment.
It is important to emphasize that an eating disorder is a mental illness. It goes far beyond just a focus on food and weight, or a means to seek attention, but is rather a way of coping with difficult problems or regaining a sense of control. Like other mental illnesses, food and weight-related behaviours, thoughts, and feelings become a concern when they begin to interfere with a person’s everyday activities. Eating disorders affect a person’s sense of identity, worth, self-esteem, as well as their general health, and can lead to severe physical and emotional consequences in both the short and long term. A preoccupation with body image and weight can quickly lead to missed opportunities, isolation, loneliness, and drastically affects a person’s social and professional life and well-being. As such, the definition of an eating disorder covers any food and weight issues that limit one’s ability to live a full and pleasurable life.
According to Statistics Canada, about 1.5 per cent of Canadian women aged 15 to 24 years had an eating disorder in 2006. According to a recent study, eating disorders are the most common chronic illnesses in the female adolescent population. In another study, it was found that by 18 years of age, 89 per cent of girls reported that they would like to lose weight.
These statistics suggest that eating disorders may develop at a very young age, but what contributes to this high prevalence, specifically at such a young age and later on?
Andrea Lamarre is a PhD student at the Department of Family Relations and Nutrition at the University of Guelph and a co-chair of the Waterloo-Wellington Eating Disorder Coalition. She explains, “The statistics tend to underestimate the true prevalence of eating disorders, because a misdiagnosis exists and many people may not necessarily fit under a specific clinical eating disorder category, and many may not admit it.”
Every day, we are surrounded by messages from different sources that impact how we feel about the way we look. The media’s common portrayal of thinness as an ideal body type is a main contributing factor that creates pressure to meet an unattainable standard of beauty, and leads people to develop harmful feelings toward themselves and their bodies. Moreover, an eating disorder can indicate deep emotional difficulties that the person is unable to resolve, often coming from a lack of positive social support, familiar factors, cultural factors, as well as individual factors.
According to Lamarre, individuals who are struggling with their identity, self-image, perfectionism, or difficulties dealing with stress can be at a higher risk, as well as those who have experienced a traumatic event. In some cases, eating disorders can go along with other mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and OCD.
“Specifically for young adults, living away from home for the first time and being in charge of their own health and wellbeing while trying to navigate a new stressful routine may be very difficult, and may trigger the onset of an eating disorder. Moreover, the phenomenon of the “freshman 15” can provoke a fear in some, where they might go out of their way to try and protect themselves from gaining this weight,” says Lamarre.
The signs of an eating disorder often start before a person starts to show physical changes. Individuals with eating disorders often describe feeling powerless, and describe their relationships with food as a way to regain power. In other words, by manipulating their eating habits, they get a false sense of control, which makes food their method of coping with the world.
“Some worrying signs are ones that might not necessarily be obvious, such as anxiety when food is involved, [or] someone who used to be social suddenly isolating themselves, completely rearranging one’s life to go to the gym, going to the washroom often, and any other major changes in a person’s lifestyle and normal behaviour,” says Lamarre.
There are four main types of clinical eating disorders. Anorexia Nervosa is characterized by significant weight loss as a result of hardly eating any food or over-exercising. Bulimia Nervosa involves bingeing and purging. Bingeing occurs when one eats out of control, and purging occurs when the person is trying to get rid of the calories by fasting, making themselves vomit, using laxatives, or over-exercising. Binge-Eating Disorder involves over-eating for self-comfort, eating in secret, and having feelings of shame and guilt. Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified refers to a mix of anorexia, and/or bulimia, and/or binge eating symptoms that don’t fall into one of the other categories.
Restricting food can have very damaging health effects on a person’s entire body, including kidney problems, low blood iron, bone density loss, digestive problems, heart problems, fertility problems, and digestive problems. Binge-eating can increase the risk of type two diabetes and high blood pressure. Frequent vomiting can damage one’s teeth, mouth and throat. According to the Canadian Mental Health Association, as many as 10 per cent of people who experience anorexia die as a result of health problems or suicide, which places eating disorders as having the highest mortality rates of any mental illness.
One of this week’s main goals is to alleviate the stigma around eating disorders.
“Eating disorders tend to be thought of as predominantly related to body image and something that mostly happens to young, white girls,” says Lamarre. “However, people of all genders, sizes and ethnical backgrounds may be suffering from eating disorders, and for many, it is much more than body image. Some may feel their bodies not feeling right or taking too much space, which is less about ideal modellers and more about sensations.”
One of the most common stereotypes is that eating disorders don’t affect men, but research shows that while rates are lower for men, many males are also suffering from eating disorders. “For males, it is usually less about losing weight and more about wanting to become more muscular. There is an issue in the diagnosis since many of the questions in the diagnosis are very female-specific and do not apply to males,” explains Lamarre.
“People who struggle with an eating disorder might often struggle with moderation and listening to hunger cues, and societal values around what’s considered healthy eating may not help the situation. For example, if a person struggling with an eating disorder orders a salad at a restaurant, a person that doesn’t know about their eating disorder may say ‘Look at you, you’re being so healthy,’” says Lamarre, adding that this can make treatment difficult.
Many people who experience an eating disorder don’t seek treatment because of the fear that they will have to gain weight. Others feel shame and guilt, and some avoid treatment because food serves as a coping mechanism in their lives. If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, it is important to know that you are not alone, that eating disorders are treatable, and that there are many resources available on and off campus such as therapy, counselling, dietitians, support groups and self-help strategies.