Counseling Center

Dieting Can Be a Precursor to Eating Disorders

Dieting may not be the cause of eating disorders, but it is often a precursor.  The National Eating Disorders Association reports that 35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting and that 20-25% of those individuals develop eating disorders.  It is far too common that eating disorders start off as dieting.  Dieting can be a way for individuals to exercise control - counting calories and fat grams, limiting types and amounts of food, and watching the numbers drop on the scale.  Focusing on dieting and weight loss can be a "perfect" escape from true emotions and issues.  Not only can the focus on dieting and weight loss be distracting, but also dieters tend to have slower reaction time and less ability to concentrate due to lack of adequate nutrition.

Our culture has brainwashed us into thinking being ultra-thin is equated with beauty.  To obtain this image, Americans put so much time, energy, and money into diets, and in the end the diets don't even work.  The dieting failure rate helps to explain the industry's rapid growth.  When a diet fails, the search is on for a new one that "really works."

Click here to read article, "Dieting is Out; Listening to Our Bodies is In."