If you or a loved one are struggling with bulimia nervosa (BN), anorexia nervosa (AN), binge eating disorder (BED), or other eating disorders, you may need specific types of treatment in order to make the fullest recovery possible.

Eating disorders like anorexia nervosa (AN) and (BN) were once thought to be primarily socially driven, caused by factors like low self-esteem and a desire to keep up with certain beauty standards.

Many eating disorders, including bulimia nervosa (BN) and binge eating disorder (BED), are marked by episodes of compulsive eating or eating large amounts of food even when not feeling hungry or already feeling satisfied.

Binge eating disorder (BED) is one of the newest entrants to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the list of all officially recognized mental health problems. But the condition is already considered the most common eating disorder in the United States. [1]

People who experience gender dysphoria (also referred to as gender identity disorder) may engage in these behaviors to try to change parts of their bodies to more closely align with their gender identity. These disordered eating behaviors can progress into a clinical eating disorder.

Everyone overindulges every once in a while, but binge eating is different. These episodes are an extreme form of overeating, involving large amounts of food consumed in relatively short periods of time.

A binge eating episode can leave you feeling uncomfortable, but if this behavior starts recurring, it can lead to more concerning issues.

Eating disorders and substance use disorders frequently occur together. The conditions operate through similar genetic, biological, and environmental mechanisms, and often work in complex ways to maintain one another. 

Eating disorders are complex mental health conditions that can manifest in any number of ways, causing a range of physical, behavioral, and emotional consequences.

Still, some of the most common eating disorders have a number of more-predictable symptoms. And learning to spot them can be crucial if you think you or a loved one may have one of these conditions.

An eating disorder isn’t just a person “choosing” to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors. It is a serious mental health condition which can have serious consequences if left untreated.

Eating disorders are dangerous mental health conditions that can lead to a number of physical and emotional complications if left untreated. But determining when it’s time to seek treatment can be tricky.

The signs of an eating disorder can vary widely, depending on the type of eating disorder and the specific physiology, medical history, and present circumstances of the person.

Still, across all those factors, there are some signs that are more common than others.

“Diet culture” has made an increasing mark on society over the years.

While sometimes cloaked in the language of “wellness,” this system of beliefs and social expectations, in fact, revolves around the idea that there exists an “ideal” body type. And rather than achieving a healthier lifestyle at any shape or size, the goal of diet culture is achieving this idealized body type, regardless of a person’s natural physiology or health history.

Whether well hidden or directly addressed, this concept is not only pervasive but can be dangerous, spreading ideals and ideas that may promote disordered eating behaviors, as well as encourage low self-esteem, poor body image, and other factors that often lead to eating disorders.

What is Diet Culture?

Diet culture is an umbrella term that refers to a number of different beliefs which revolve around the concepts of body weight, shape, and size. Often, these beliefs are tied to different methods for achieving an “ideal” body weight, shape, and size.

Almost always, diet culture promotes a thin body—or possibly a “fit” body—as the ideal type and will equate this body type with not just optimal health but moral virtue.

Most diets promoted by these beliefs focus heavily on how to lose weight and speak little, if at all, about the potential health consequences involved in essentially forcing the body to become a certain size.

Diet Culture Beliefs

Diet culture is typically very black and white. There are “correct” types of bodies and inferior types of bodies. There are also foods that are widely considered “good” and foods that are widely considered “bad.” This false dichotomy can involve certain foods, such as chocolate, or an entire food group, such as carbs.

Strenuous exercise is also often part of these weight-loss programs. Rather than focusing on the joys of moving the body, exercise is presented in diet culture as a means to “earn” a treat or “burn off” a certain number of calories.

Essentially, diet culture centers all aspects of self-worth around physical appearance in general and a specific body type in particular. This sets up the idea that all other body types—and the people occupying them—are, by extension, less than ideal.

This concept can easily be internalized, leading someone to believe they’re lazy, unworthy, or generally “lesser” if they don’t look a certain way. It can also lead someone to take extreme measures to lose weight, which can, unfortunately, sometimes lead to the development of eating disorder behaviors.

Negative Effects of Diet Culture

Diet culture does not promote a healthy relationship with food or exercise, and it can contribute to disordered eating, harmful thoughts and behaviors, and other mental health concerns. 

Dieting, especially the restrictive dieting generally promoted by diet culture, can lead to unhelpful thought and behavioral patterns. In fact, dieting is often considered one of the most common forms of disordered eating. [3, 4] 

It’s generally not healthy to cut out entire food groups or to eat only during limited hours of the day. This kind of unhealthy relationship with food can lead to yo-yo dieting or extreme weight swings, which are accompanied by their own set of health concerns, particularly around cardiovascular health. [3]

And when eating is no longer pleasurable but rather seen as the means to an end, people also may start to fixate on nutritional facts or eating habits. This is a driving factor in many eating disorders.

Diet Culture and Eating Disorders

The tenets of diet culture commonly propagate eating disorders, make eating disorder symptoms worse, or complicate recovery for those who have previously struggled with these mental health conditions. [5] 

The perpetuation of an “ideal” body type, particularly one that is especially thin or fit, has been linked to worsening fatphobia and weight stigma. [1] This preoccupation with “fatness” and fear of being considered fat can manifest as fat shaming, or it can be internalized by people in bigger bodies, who may grow to believe they are the “wrong” shape or size.

Even those in smaller bodies may experience low self-worth when attempting to measure up to an “ideal,” which is often unattainable.

Low self-esteem of this kind, especially when chronic, is thought to be the primary prerequisite for developing an eating disorder, whether it’s binge eating disorder (BED), anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), or other common eating disorders. [2]

And frequent dieting is also widely considered to be one of the biggest risk factors for BED, which is thought to be the most common eating disorder in the United States. [6]

How to Spot Diet Culture

One of the most insidious aspects of diet culture is how easily its agendas can be hidden.

Many diets, companies, or influencers may claim they’re promoting “wellness” or a healthier lifestyle when they’re actually spouting the harmful beliefs of diet culture. Diet culture has become so embedded in popular culture that it’s possible these people and companies may not even be aware of the ideals they’re actually promoting.

Diet culture ideals often masquerade under different language. Buzzwords like “clean eating,” “wellness protocol,” “detox,” “cleanse,” or “reset” are often referring to measures that are actually designed to obtain an “ideal” body rather than optimal health. [7]

“Clean eating,” “detox,” and “cleanse” are common buzzwords that promote diet culture.

Similarly, diet culture often sets up false dichotomies and operates in very black-and-white terms. There are “good” and “bad” foods, “good” and “bad” body shapes, “healthy” or “unhealthy” diets, or “clean” and “unclean” meals. [7]

And when there are numerous rules around what “can” and “can’t” or “should” and “shouldn’t” be consumed, that’s usually diet culture talking. This can look like everything from restrictions on how much or when food can be eaten to the types of food that can be eaten to rules around the number of calories, fat, protein, or other nutritional values that can be consumed. [7]

Still, perhaps the best way to spot diet culture is to look for the focus. If a diet, company, or influencer is preoccupied with body shape, weight, or size rather than overall well-being, there’s a good chance they’re promoting diet culture ideals.

How to Resist Diet Culture (And Still Be Healthy)

Diet culture is unfortunately extremely prevalent in today’s society, with its tenets delivered both overtly and subliminally through various aspects of pop culture and media. But it’s still possible to resist these social messages and to build an individual healthy and happy relationship with your body.

Recognize and Resist

Resisting diet culture involves education, awareness, and acceptance of the fact that bodies can be healthy (and unhealthy) in any shape and size. Learning how to spot these unhelpful messages and ideals is a great place to start. Once you realize you’re actually reading, seeing, or listening to messages related to diet culture, you can tune them out completely, knowing their true harmful nature.

Prune the social media accounts you follow to minimize diet culture messaging in your feeds.

To this effect, it may also be helpful to go through your social media feeds with an eye toward pruning. Unfollowing accounts that regularly promote diet or diet culture ideals is an easy way to reduce these messages in your daily life, and you can also look for accounts that promote true body positivity and well-being.

Change Your Perspective

Just as diet culture uses certain words to create a black and white world where there is only one “ideal” body, you can use your own terms to reintroduce shades of gray to the conversation.

It may feel almost ingrained to comment on someone else’s body or looks, but even complimenting someone on losing weight or “looking skinny” can reinforce diet culture ideals. Instead, try to focus on comments about someone’s achievements or step back from talking about body- or weight-related topics all together.

Don’t just look at exercise as a way to burn calories or lose weight.

A perspective shift on exercise can also be helpful for creating a more positive relationship with your body. Rather than look to workouts as ways to create a caloric deficit, focus on moving your body in ways you enjoy or that feel good.

And rather than thinking about all the things your body isn’t, think instead about all the wonderful things it can do. Everything from swimming to stretching to dancing and even hugging loved ones is something that can bring so much joy to this life, and our bodies should be appreciated as the vessels that make these things possible.

Do Your Research

In terms of working on more internal factors, you may want to investigate the idea of intuitive eating. This philosophy promotes a more natural and healthy relationship with eating and doesn’t paint any meals or ingredients as inherently good or bad.

The Health at Every Size (HAES) movement has additional ideas on how to resist diet culture and better respect yourself and others.

In a culture so fixated on achieving perfection, tuning out the negative messages and embracing all the positive aspects of food, movement, and our bodies themselves may be the most radical resistance of all.

Resources

Tran R. (2021, May 16). The Distasteful Truth About Diet Culture. The UCSD Guardian. Retrieved September 23, 2022.

Silverstone PH. (1992). Is chronic low self-esteem the cause of eating disorders? Medical Hypotheses; 39(4):311–315.

Which Diet is Right for You? (2020, July 15). Heart Foundation. Retrieved September 23, 2022.

Disordered Eating & Dieting. National Eating Disorders Collaboration (NEDC). Retrieved September 23, 2022.

Chastain R. (2022). Recognizing and Resisting Diet Culture. National Eating Disorders Association. Retrieved September 23, 2022.

Howard CE, & Porzelius LK. (1999). The role of dieting in binge eating disorder: etiology and treatment implications. Clinical Psychology Review; 19(1):25–44.

Adams M. Diet Culture and How to Spot It. Halsa Nutrition. Accessed March 2023.

The specifics of how an eating disorder affects a person is based on any number of individual factors, including the types of eating disorders they’re struggling with, their medical history, and any mental health concerns, among others.

Eating disorder hotlines can offer a great extension of help for people struggling with these mental health conditions, or those who are looking for eating disorder treatment centers where they can find further help.

Negative body image and eating disorders are closely related, with negative body image being one of the most well-understood precursors to the development of an eating disorder.

Food addiction is an issue we’re only beginning to understand and thoroughly research, but there are a number of resources that can help with this condition and other associated disorders.

Watching a friend, family member, or loved one struggle with an eating disorder can be incredibly difficult. Though you want to help, you may be unsure how to help someone with an eating disorder.

Eating disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs) often coexist.

Researchers say up to 50% of people with diagnosed eating disorders use illicit drugs or alcohol, while 35% of people who are dependent on alcohol or drugs have an eating disorder. This represents rates 5 times and 11 times greater than what’s seen in the general population, respectively. [1]

Over the years, certain stereotypes have developed around eating disorders, including the idea that they primarily affect white women and girls. Of course, this isn’t actually the case. Disordered eating behaviors and the negative self-image and poor self-esteem that often drives them impact people of all genders, races, and ages.

As science, medicine, and culture continue to evolve, more attention has been paid to the concept of addiction and the biological and psychological mechanisms that lead to these types of unhelpful, compulsive behaviors.

If you or a loved one are struggling with an eating disorder, you’ll likely want to enroll in a treatment program as quickly as possible. And while it’s important to get help in a timely manner, some time should be taken to consider the type of treatment facility you choose.

Amenorrhea is the absence of menstrual periods in biological women. 

Certain scenarios have been known to naturally bring about this condition, including pregnancy, breastfeeding, certain hormonal contraceptives, and menopause. But sometimes, amenorrhea is a sign of a deeper problem.

Eating disorders affect a small percentage of the overall population, but that still translates to millions of people who are impacted by these conditions. 

And research suggests that many more people silently struggle with an eating disorder without ever being officially diagnosed.

Eating disorder treatment is often covered by health insurance, but for some, the cost of treatment for an eating disorder is just too high.

Some patients may still get copayment or deductible bills, and they must pay monthly premiums to keep their plans intact. Others don’t have health insurance at all.

Negative body image and eating disorders are closely related, with negative body image being one of the most well-understood precursors to the development of an eating disorder.

Eating disorders touch people of all ages, sizes, and orientations. But sadly, some groups, including the LGBTQ+ community, tend to be disproportionately affected by these conditions. 

As a whole, LGBTQ+ people struggle with eating disorders more frequently than those in the hetero-normative community. And many people identifying as LGBTQ+ face multiple treatment barriers.

Eating disorder treatment is covered by a large number of insurance policies. But most require families and their doctors to prove that care is needed; sometimes, care teams and insurance administrators disagree about how treatment should work.

A variety of overlapping factors often cause eating disorders. 

And while biological influences account for many of the underlying causes of these conditions, exposure to media can impact body dissatisfaction, increasing the rates of disordered eating and playing a role in the development of an eating disorder. [1]

Pro-anorexia websites and similar content represent a significant source of potential harm to people struggling with anorexia nervosa (AN) or those at risk of developing it. 

These sources spread dangerous misinformation and can encourage unhealthy ways of viewing one’s own body and the bodies of others.

It is possible for someone who presents as normal weight, overweight, or in a larger body to still struggle with anorexia nervosa (AN). This is called atypical anorexia nervosa, and a person can still experience most of the symptoms typically associated with AN.