Good news to me. Finally, some attention paid to the fact that so many people think that "healthy eating" can turn into an obsession and an eating disorder.
The Today Show interviewed their health news editor and a blogger of I Village who spoke eloquently on the subject. Same day as the National Eating Disorder Association has their annual benefit this evening. NEDA is an organization that is focused on helping public understanding of eating disorders, and helps access to quality treatment for those individuals and families via advocacy and research.
With rising obesity rates and "healthy eating" such a focus in our culture though, little attention has been paid to date, on how much an obsession about eating can be woven into daily life. It has become ego-syntonic, or culturally syntonic, to be obsessed with healthy eating! So many people struggle with guilt or with preoccupation with eating healthy, or on losing weight, that it has become a part of our culture. This news segment affirmed how people's preoccupation with "healthy" eating be or become an eating disorder.
I am happy to see this beginning to be talked about, as I have gotten people in my office over the last five years particularly, worried about their concerns about healthy eating taking over their lives, and turning them into rigid, tense individuals, who can't enjoy food that is "off" the healthy eating plan.
I commend anyone out there who is able to questions their own behaviors and rigidity. That is always the start.
So pay attention if your wish to 'eat healthy' turns into too much guilt. There is always a path back to freedom with food.
Happy eating!
For more information on NEDA, visit their website at: NationalEatingDisorders.org