Have you seen the memes on social media joking about gaining weight while staying home? Claire Mysko, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, notes that these weight-gain memes and comments are damaging to all of us, and particularly to people who are personally affected by eating disorders.
The Harvard Health Blog states that staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic can lead to increased anxiety and boredom which can cause people to abandon their healthy eating intentions and snack on whatever is around. But with a little thought and planning, you can continue to make good food choices. However, that doesn’t mean going on a diet.
The National Eating Disorders Association reports that 95 percent of dieters will regain their lost weight in 1 to 5 years. This may be because diets rely on a rule-based system that can cause us to develop unhealthy relationships with food, which can lead to eating disorders and nutritional deficits. Instead, intuitive eating could be the answer. Intuitive eating is mindfully determining how much you eat. The concept has been around since Evelyn Tribble and Elyse Resch wrote the first book on intuitive eating in 1985. They offer suggestions which still apply today. The top three are:
1. Reject the diet mentality by understanding that there is not going to be a miracle way to lose weight.
2. Honor your hunger
3. Make peace with food by realizing that food is not your enemy.
Resources:
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn
https://www.intuitiveeating.org/10-principles-of-intuitive-eating/
https://alextimes.com/2020/01/intuitive-eating/
Statistics & Research on Eating Disorders. (2020, March 27). Retrieved April 2, 2020, from https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/statistics-research-eating-disorders
Murphy, D. (2000). Why Diet Drugs Can Be Diet Dangers. Current Health 2, 27(4), 18.
Content for this segment was created by Danielle Wilding as part of a project for SC301: Foundations of Health Communication, taught by Dr. Clubbs.
Recorded at home with Eli Hildebrand Clubbs engineering; edited at KRCU Studios by Dan Woods
