Constantly Obsessing About Food? Here’s the Wake-up Call You May Need.
How many food decisions do you think you make in a day? Believe it or not, you can make over 250 daily decisions that involve food. What to eat for breakfast? Do you want eggs or oatmeal? How do you want your eggs cooked? Should you eat the cookie? “If I eat the cookie, I’ll feel guilty about eating it afterwards. Maybe I’ll just have half and grab a cup of coffee.” Sound familiar? When every moment seems to be obsessing about food, it becomes a food obsession. What happens if you obsess about food over and over? Let’s take a deeper look.
Clients come to me for help with their health and nutrition goals, support for their eating styles and choices, as well as expert input about food, recipes and information seen on social media. I love to help! I’m happy to share my inspiration, education, and health information with my clients.
After getting to know my clients, most often, there is almost always a level of food obsession. I hear, “I can’t stop thinking about food.” “I feel like all day long all I’m doing is deciding is if this food is “healthy” or “not healthy” “good” or “bad.” There is constant self-criticism, judgment and obsessing about food and certain ways of thinking about your body and food that can become harmful. Sometimes it involves eating too much, too fast or maybe eating too little.
Many people have concerns about their health, weight, and eating styles. Most of them are generally okay and don’t experience distorted body image or have an unhealthy relationship with food. However, some people are affected by disordered eating patterns that may involves a ritual of purging or excessive exercise. The wake-up call you may need to hear is, obsessing about food non stop may lead to distorted body image or disordered eating.
What is Disordered Eating?
Disordered eating patterns and eating disorders can affect any gender, any age and they come in all shapes and sizes—I’ll address the most common types of eating disorders in this article. Sometimes they involve eating too much too fast other times they result in eating too little. One thing that all eating disorders have in common is the mental health aspect. Eating disorders involve a constant obsessing about food, negative thoughts about weight and body shape, and these thoughts can translate into eating behaviors that can become concerning and detrimental.
First, eating disorders are not lifestyle choices. They’re not your average concerns about health, weight, and nutrition. An eating disorder is not just anorexia (which I’ll discuss in a bit) it can include restrictive eating (limiting calories or certain food groups i.e. carbohydrates), over exercising, binge eating and diet cycling (constantly trying a new diet) resulting in distorted body image, and often result in nutrient deficiencies. Orthorexia is another type of disordered eating that leads to consuming only the “healthiest” and “cleanest foods.”
Bottom line, they all involve obsessing about food. They can lead to serious complications and/or life altering changes of the heart, kidney, liver, brain, lung, gastrointestinal, metabolic, skin, hormone, teeth, blood, and bone. In worst cases some eating disorders can lead to death.
My intention isn’t to scare you but to be honest and open because it doesn’t matter your age, weight, size, gender. I see women, men, and teens struggle with their relationship with food on a daily basis. Just the other day a 75 year old woman told me she still struggles with her relationship with food and has to catch herself from restricting. A ten year old girl told me she thinks her belly is too big!
The causes of eating disorders are not clear, but they seem to result from complex interactions between genetic, biological, behavioral, psychological, social factors and social media. Constantly trying new diets in an effort to change your body, how you feel about our body, it’s time to stop shaming and judging and start accepting. It’s time to heal your relationship with food and stop obsessing over food.
The three most common eating disorders
I’ll talk about the 3 most common types of eating disorders and how to know if you are struggling with one and how to overcome them and strengthen your relationship with your body image and self esteem. The three most common in the U.S. include binge-eating disorder, bulimia, and anorexia. Other disordered eating behaviors include over exercising, diet cycling and orthorexia involving an obsession with only eating healthy and clean foods. It’s also not uncommon for someone to experience multiple eating disorders.
1. Binge-eating disorder
Binge-eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the U.S. It’s when eating feels out of control; like there is no ability to stop. Eating resembles gorging and continues well after the stomach is full. Binge-eating results in feelings of physical discomfort, often followed by guilt, shame, and distress, wreaking havoc on how you feel about yourself and body.
2. Bulimia nervosa (binging-purging)
Bulimia nervosa is the second most common eating disorder in the U.S. Bulimia occurs when episodes of binge-eating are followed by purging. Purging is trying to make the binged food leave the body to prevent weight gain (e.g., by making themselves throw up, using laxatives, etc.). A person may feel trapped in this cycle further adding shame to their self esteem and body image.
3. Anorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is the third most common eating disorder in the U.S. It happens when people avoid or severely restrict food. This often occurs along with a relentless pursuit of thinness and feelings of overweight, even when the affected person is malnourished and underweight. Someone experiencing anorexia may feel the need to suppress the body’s cravings for food. They may feel a sense of pride or strength from their level of control, self-denial, and perfectionism. Anorexia can become very serious. [In fact, it has the highest death rate of any mental illness.]
Signs and symptoms of Eating Disorders
Is it okay to be concerned with your health and nutrition? Yes. Having concerns or a want to improve certain aspects of your health in no way means that there is an eating disorder. One of the main differences is that someone with an eating disorder becomes fixated and obsessed about food, obsessed with their weight and body shape. People with eating disorders may deny, minimize, rationalize, or hide their symptoms and the seriousness of the disorder.
These disorders may or may not be linked to a person’s current weight or body shape. They may also not be linked with rapid changes in weight. Simply put, there is more to diagnosing an eating disorder than a person’s appearance—especially due to the mental health component.
Eating disorders can be diagnosed by a healthcare provider using medical history, physical exams, and other tests (e.g., blood, urine, electrocardiogram, kidney function, etc.). Different eating disorders have different signs and symptoms.
Signs of binge-eating disorder include:
- Uncontrollably eating very large amounts of food in a short period of time
- Eating when not hungry or after feeling full
- Eating very quickly
- Continuing to eat until fullness becomes uncomfortable
- Eating alone or in secret
- Feeling distressed, ashamed, or guilty about eating
- Frequently going on diets
Signs of bulimia nervosa
- Include the symptoms above
- Purging (making oneself throw up, or using laxatives, diuretics, diet pills, or enemas)—and the frequent bathroom trips and medications associated with this behavior
- Participating in intensive and excessive exercise
- Periods of fasting
Signs of anorexia nervosa include:
- Skipping meals or eating very small amounts of food during meals
- Repeatedly weighing themselves and a profound fear of gaining weight
- Participating in intensive and excessive exercise
- Extreme thinness and low body weight
- Denial of the seriousness of very low body weight
Eating disorders are often associated with mental health challenges such as mood disorders, depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, impulse control disorder, and/or substance use.
How to stop obsessing about food
If there is one takeaway about eating disorders it’s this: Eating disorders are treatable. There is hope and there is help. Many people recover completely from eating disorders—especially if they get the support they need.
Remember, no one chooses to have an eating disorder. If at any point, it feels that thoughts and behaviors about food, weight, and body shape are taking over your life and you can’t stop obsessing about food, consider seeking out help.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, fewer than half of those affected by binge-eating disorder, bulimia, or anorexia seek help—and I want to help change that.
The goals of treating an eating disorder are to restore physical and mental wellness. This may include:
- Restoring optimal levels of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients
- Moving toward a more healthful weight
- Ensuring exercise is at a level that promotes health
- Stopping binging and/or purging behaviors
How are these goals achieved? Eating disorders may be successfully treated in many different ways. They may involve one or more of: medical care, medicine, psychotherapy, and/or nutritional counseling.
Medical care – Eating disorders may cause medical complications of the heart, kidneys, liver, etc. If medical symptoms or abnormal test results are found, those may be treated.
Medicines – Depending on symptoms, people with eating disorders may be treated with medications that can also help with weight management, mood disorders, or other conditions related to the disordered eating.
Psychotherapy – Psychotherapy (talk therapy) may involve individual, group, or family counseling. This can help to identify and change negative thoughts and behaviors about food and weight. Psychotherapy can also help to build coping skills to manage situations that trigger disordered eating. This may involve cognitive behavioral therapy or other types of counseling.
Nutrition Counseling – If an eating disorder is diagnosed or suspected, it’s very important to get professional nutrition counseling. An effective nutrition strategy must be personalized to achieve optimal nutrient levels, and to promote more normalized eating habits and lessen the food obsession. This is why consulting with a registered dietitian is necessary for successful treatment.
Free Your Mind from the Food Obsession
In conclusion, eating disorders are serious health concerns that can be successfully treated. Whether they involve binge-eating, bulimia, or anorexia, there is help. The first step is to reach out to a healthcare professional who can help to confirm whether an eating disorder exists or if there is a level of disordered eating. Once an informed diagnosis is obtained, then getting a personalized treatment plan is key.
You’re not too old or to young to love who you are just as you are. If you’re a parent, keep in mind kids hear you and are keen observers. You may think they’re not listening but when you look in the mirror and nit pick every part of you or talk about belly fat or losing weight with family and friends, they hear you. I encourage you to be mindful of diet talk in your home, stop the cycle of negative body image. Honestly, when was the last time you felt happy talking about diets?
If you want to improve your relationship with food, yourself and stop obsessing about food. Start with being mindful of diet talk in your home. The second is to schedule an appointment and find out how I can help you start to heal your relationship with food. Stop obsessing about food and consider Booking an Appointment with me today to see if my service can help you.
I also want to invite you to a groundbreaking course on the power of yoga to help you transform your relationship with food and your body. Yoga helped me with my own personal relationship with food over the years, I’ve been practicing for over 20 years and been a teacher for the last 5. Yoga is full of tools that support healthy eating, emotional resilience, and positive body image —but you won’t necessarily find them in a regular yoga class. So I’m delighted to offer Eat Breathe Thrive, a seven-week on-line course that combines yoga, meditation, and psycho-education to help you transform your relationship with food, body, and self.
Learn more and apply now to catch the early-bird pricing it starts May 14th.
[Medical disclaimer: If you or someone you love struggles with disordered eating, please see your healthcare professional or book an appointment with me to discuss your needs and goals to help get on track with a healthful eating pattern and lifestyle.]
Marissa Perrotta is a Registered Dietitian and Registered Yoga Teacher owner and founder of Peaceable Nutrition & Wellness in Wayne, New Jersey.
