MEGAN BOSCHMAN
Nutrition Student

The eating disorder conversation isn’t a new one. Over the past several decades a war has been waged against the increasingly prevalent issue of eating disorders in both women and men.

The National Eating Disorder Information Centre estimates that 3.5 per cent of women and two per cent of men will be affected by an eating disorder in their lifetimes. This statistic, however, reflects only those people with a clinical disorder who meet all of the diagnostic criteria used by doctors to determine if an individual requires an immediate medical intervention.

The criteria is stringent, with the result being a large number of people exhibiting disordered eating behaviours who can’t be neatly bundled into a disorder category, which gives the illusion that the problem is less significant than it is. In fact, it’s likely that over half of your high school graduating class engaged in some type of unhealthy weight control behaviour.

The escalating incidence of disordered eating is symptomatic of the societal pressure to be thin, which is fueled by the relentless advertising and pervasive consumer culture we live in. It joins plastic surgery, excessive consumerism and anabolic steroid use in the unrelenting pursuit of the ideal body that has become a religion. The current standard of beauty fuels the diet, cosmetic and entertainment industries as people desperately try to reach an unobtainable ideal. The more exposure to this artificial ideal we have, the more we come to expect it and the more industry benefits.

The consumption of media portraying thin women and hypermuscular men leads to the internalization of these ideals and body dissatisfaction.

There is a narrowing in the definition of beauty occurring in our society and elsewhere, producing a majority of people who feel like they don’t measure up. From a young age we learn to align our sense of self-worth with our appearance, which has detrimental emotional, social and economic consequences. We are judged, and judge, by appearance.

A focus on weight or any other indicator of attractiveness at the expense of other qualities is commercializing our bodies and undermining our capacity as human beings. A self-worth hinged on a number on a scale is volatile and reinforces disordered eating along with other dangerous health behaviours.

What can you do? Refuse societal projections of the “ideal” and stop the fat/thin dialogue. Commit to accepting a truly healthy ideal that looks different for every person and treat food for what it is: an integral component of a happy and healthy life — not the enemy!

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image: Chrisi Nielsen/Flickr