The Culture of Disordered Eating in Athletics

A focus on health instead of weight = better performance

I was reading a news story today quoting a spoke's person from a popular weight loss program on how to select foods that would help people reach their weight goals.  While some of these weight loss programs intend to help people become more healthy, I think their focus on weight completely misses the mark.  The reality is a specific weight does not necessarily reflect one's health.  Someone who by conventional standards may appear to be slightly over weight may be more healthy than someone who falls in the conventional parameters of an "ideal" weight.  We really are all different in this respect.  The BMI charts on display in physician's offices are a guideline.  These charts do not necessarily reflect where you need to be in order to be truly healthy.

This can be particularly true for athletes who mistakenly believe that weight loss = improved performance.  The reality is eating in a healthy manner will give your body what it needs to perform at its best.  And athletes typically need to consume more than their non-athletic counterparts in order to maintain their health and performance. 

Yes, there are foods that will do "this or that" so that you feel a certain way.  But when our focus is on how we feel so that we will achieve some magical weight then we are doing ourselves and our bodies a significant disservice.  Our bodies need fuel to simply make it through the day.  And they certainly need more fuel the more active we are. 

The wonderful women of my support group have started to make that shift in their thinking.  I have heard several of them say something like: "I just want to be healthy again."  One way to do that is to move away from a focus on weight as an indicator of health, and towards behavingin a healthy way as an indicator of health.

If you find that you are not sure how to be healthy (as some of the women in my support group have also indicated) then by all means work with your physicians, nutritionists and mental health providers to figure out what "healthy" looks like for you.  Whenever possible, try to enlist the help of those who not only know something about eating disorders but also something about being an athlete.

Here's to your health!!

Song of the Open Road

Afoot and light hearted, I take to the open road,

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

~Walt Whitman

Although your ED may effectively take some choices away from you, there are some things you can still decide upon and choose.  There is an Open Road before you.  It may be difficult to see sometimes but it is there.  When you find it, where will you choose to go...? 

Feel free to post you reactions to this or where your Open Road has lead.