Disordered Eating -
Time for a Wake-Up Call
By Abigail Natenshon

The statistics say it all. 40 - 50 percent of young women on college campuses today are disordered eaters. By the time girls reach age 13, 80 percent report dissatisfaction with their body and their weight and have been on diets. Today, disordered eating is considered to be "healthy" eating. Worse, disordered eating has become the norm; high school girls report that food restriction and weight management has become a constant preoccupation and topic of discussion amongst their peers. Otherwise benign disordered eating puts genetically susceptible people at high risk for the onset of a clinical eating disorder, the most lethal of all the mental health disorders.

We all eat weirdly during times of emotional stress. Some of us eat more, some less, in response to adrenalin surges. It is hard to avoid missing a meal now and again, when we are on the run or have had a large snack too close to dinnertime.

What distinguishes disordered eating from occasional quirky or spotting eating is the purpose and consistency behind the behavior, and whether or not the person maintains a sense of free choice with regard to eating behaviors. When people use food to resolve underlying emotional issues, there is a problem. When the decision about what and how to eat is based on compulsive and inflexible emotional needs, they have become a slave to the food ritual. By definition, an eating disorder is a misuse of food to resolve emotional problems.

Consider this scenario. A child runs out of the house in the morning without breakfast because she has overslept and is worried about missing the bus. That is a normal scenario, as seen in the child's response once she gets to school. Feeling hungry, she grabs a midmorning snack and eats a larger lunch than usual, taking in more calories to satisfy her appetite. Another child who skips breakfast before school believes that by skipping breakfast she is showing restraint and demonstrating reassuring self-discipline, giving her a leg-up on the day. If and when she does eat that day, she will probably feel fearful, guilty and anxious about having sabotaged her self-control and having given in to her “weakness.”  This youngster has a problem.

If only people would wake up to the fact that:

• Dieting is the worst way to lose weight,
• Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,
• The best way to be thin and healthy is to eat at least 3 meals a day consisting of all the food groups,
• Fat free eating is not healthy eating
• Any behavior that is excessive is unhealthy,

we would be a happier and healthier world.


The good news is that disordered eating need not develop into a clinical eating disorder, particularly when there is early recognition and effective intervention. Here’s an instance where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.