Please, do not wish for an eating disorder
“I wish I could have an eating disorder.”
This is a statement I hear too often, generally followed up with, “but…I love food too much, I don’t have that much discipline, or my body doesn’t want to let go of my fat.”
The statement is problematic and harmful for a number of reasons:
1. Eating disorders are not a choice. It is not a behavior you can turn on or off at will.
2. Eating disorders disrupt a person’s life, and can be life threatening. This is not something to wish upon yourself or anyone.
3. Eating disorders do not have a look. People with eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes. You can not tell if someone has an eating disorder by looking at them. People of all ages, genders, races, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and ethnicities are impacted by eating disorders.
4. It is not a weight loss plan. Restricting, limiting food groups, food anxiety and preoccupation, compulsive exercise are all alarming and harmful behaviors + warning signs of an eating disorder. Eating disorder screening.
4. Thinness is not something to prioritize over your physical, mental or spiritual health. This speaks to a culture that believes illness is a worthy choice if it promises thinness. Note, it is still an eating disorder when these behaviors occur at a higher weight, and malnutrition can happen at any size.
5. This statement upholds weight stigma, which allows eating disorders to thrive. Dismantling fat phobia and oppression is imperative to healing. We need a world that celebrates body diversity, and weigh-neutral treatment to support health for every body.
Please, consider how your words and beliefs collude with eating disorders and systems of oppression. Lean more about eating disorders @ nedawareness.org