SELF Magazine recently surveyed over 4000 women between the ages of 25-45 about their eating and dieting habits. The findings should be disturbing to everyone woman who reads about them. In a culture with explosive obesity rates to foil toothpick, female media personalities, 65% of women are disordered eaters and another 10% qualify for a clinical eating disorder diagnosis. Three in 4 women have a disfunctional relationship with food.
SELF found patterns in the problem eating. The disordered eaters fell into one or more of these categories:
- Calorie prisoners are terrified of gaining weight, tend to see food as good or bad and feel extremely guilty if they indulge in something that’s off-limits.
- Secret eaters binge on junk food at home, in the car—wherever they won’t be found out.
- Career dieters may not know what to eat without a plan to follow; despite their efforts, they’re more likely than other types to be overweight or obese.
- Purgers are obsessed with ridding their body of unwanted calories and bloat by using laxatives, diuretics or occasional vomiting.
- Food addicts eat to soothe stress, deal with anger, even celebrate a happy event; they think about food nearly all the time.
- Extreme exercisers work out despite illness, injury or exhaustion and solely for weight loss; they are devastated if they miss a session.
Do you see yourself above? I’m easily categorized as both a food addict and a secret eater.
Even more disturbing than how many women are forever on a diet, 53% of those dieting don’t need to lose weight. Despite women’s magazines constantly reminding readers that skipping meals and crash diets will eventually destroy one’s metabolism, 37% use meal skipping and 16% have or do stick to less than 1200 calories per day as part of their dieting arsenal.
For 39% of women, food issues and dieting limit happiness. Even so, 12% regularly eat when they’re not hungry and 43% sometimes do.
Like any other addiction, over/under eating is a form of self-medication. Until 75% of American women get to the root of their emotional issues, the feast or famine will continue.
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