Eating disorders, and disordered eating in general, are becoming terrifyingly normalized in our current society. The National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) published that 9%, or 28.8 million Americans, will suffer from an eating disorder in their lifetime. Anorexia nervosa, for example, is one of the leading causes of mental illness-related deaths in the nation. Eating disorders have become so common that they are practically a societal pillar, and that’s why it is important to be aware of the ways they permeate our awareness.
Types of Eating Disorders
Eating disorders are oftentimes classified under one umbrella — when people think of eating disorders, they automatically picture emaciation and restriction, or a stress response. However, the most common ones are:
Anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa (with subtypes of restriction, binge/purge, and unspecified other) is categorized as a mental illness that causes sufferers to severely restrict their intake, leading to malnourishment.
Bulimia nervosa. Bulimia nervosa is categorized by individuals consuming large quantities of food, and then attempting to “purge” the food through fasting, exercise, laxatives, or vomiting.
Orthorexia nervosa. Characterized by an obsession with eating “clean” foods, defined with relation to physical fitness and macronutrient ratios. Foods that do not fall under strict classifications of “purity” as defined by the sufferer cause distress.
A common misconception when it comes to eating disorders is the fear of and demonization of “binge-eating disorder (BED)”. Oftentimes, what is called “bingeing” is a survival response to any type of restriction. This conclusion was drawn from research done on sufferers of starvation, such as the Minnesota Starvation Study, which found that when individuals are in an energy deficit of any sort, their bodies would attempt to compensate for this deficit by gravitating mentally towards energy-dense foods. Sufferers of anorexia nervosa experience the effects of refeeding, called “extreme hunger” within the recovery community, but it is only in recent years that the stigma around eating high volumes of energy-dense foods has been fought.
Eating Disorders: A Lifestyle
Social media is notorious for being a snapshot of reality. It’s never the full picture, and for the most part, consumers know that. And yet, the prevalence of social media outlets like Instagram, X, and Snapchat make the messaging around a so-called standard of perfection almost subliminal. The use of filters, editing apps, and careful content curation and sponsorships make it so that the “perfect” lifestyle is yet another marketable commodity.
And for many influencers, this includes a faux-perfect, edited body. This unattainable body, especially for women, is touted as achievable and desirable to the male gaze. And the perfect diet, in tandem, cuts out almost all food groups to achieve it. The keto diet is a good example of a diet that is ultimately unsustainable in the long-term, but is touted as a miracle cure.
If dieting wasn’t enough, gym culture contributes heavily to perceptions of health and wellness. The concept of “bulking and cutting,” the perceived necessity of fitting in some form of high-intensity workout daily, the calorie counters, and the obsession with tracking macronutrients all contribute to a disordered view of food and eating — leading to a perception that food must be earned, and must perfectly contribute to an overall goal. These modes of tracking can become obsessive and create an insidious mindset that leads to deprivation — and disordered eating.
Final Thoughts
When we are surrounded by unsustainable standards of health and beauty, it is necessary to consider the long-term sustainability of the lifestyle we choose. At the end of the day, your health — not the outward projection of your body — is what matters more than any number on a scale or number of steps walked in a day. Eating disorders have numerous health impacts — they reduce sufferers’ quality of life down to a series of numbers and take away the ability for them to live in the moment. It is, therefore, important to always be conscious of the content we are consuming and how it affects our perception of our own lives — not the lives of people we don’t know.
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