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Eating Disorders and Vegetarianism:
Are They Connected?
by Carol LaLiberte
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If you are a parent of a teen, particularly a vegetarian teen, then perhaps reading the opening line that appeared in a recent newspaper article left you stunned, confused, or concerned. It read, "Teenage vegetarians may be at greater risk of eating disorders and suicide than their meat eating peers, according to researchers." You might be wondering if it is, in fact, true.
Those headlines caught my eye as well. I am a college professor who has watched too many young women starving themselves in the course of the semester during which they had me for their teacher. One woman in particular was one of the most attractive females I have ever met. She was bright and bubbly on the outside while inside she was dying a little every day. She was greatly disturbed and several times was hospitalized during the semester, each time returning to class afterwards only to hand in exemplary papers and earn perfect scores on exams. By the end of the semester she could barely walk into class unaided, a mere sheath of skin covering her bones. Her excessive dieting had nothing at all to do with vegetarianism. I didn't need research to tell me that. Her diet was not well balanced or eaten for health and well-being nor for the protection of animals. She followed the dietary regime that she did because she was striving for perfection in all aspects of her life and had a warped sense of her physical appearance. She did eliminate her intake of all animal products as well as nearly all other food groups. She was not a vegetarian but a person who desperately needed help.
The two most common eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, or self-starvation, and bulimia, or bingeing combined with purging. Eating disorders are more common in teen girls than boys, and even as early as fourth grade, girls are more likely than boys to be worried about their weight. One in 200 American adolescents have anorexia nervosa and three out of one hundred have bulimia (American Psychological Association 1994). About half of anorexics also have bulimia. Girls who have anorexia reduce their food intake so extremely that they lose 15 percent of their body weight. They fear gaining weight so much so that they starve themselves to death. Even when they are dying from starvation and extreme deprivation and thinness, their perception is still that they are too fat. About 10 percent of anorexics die from either starvation or the physical problems resulting from it.
Bulimics usually maintain a normal weight because in between their bingeing and purging they maintain normal eating habits. Similar to anorexics, bulimics do fear weight gain but unlike anorexics, they view their bingeing and purging as abnormal behavior.
Eating disorders are more common in cultures that emphasize thinness, especially Western countries. Also, girls living in middle to upper socioeconomic classes are more likely to have eating disorders as a result of the focus on striving for a slim figure. Eating disorders are most common in teens and early twenties when girls are paying most attention to media messages of what is a perfect figure and identifying with expectations about what it means to be a beautiful female in their culture. Females who have eating disorders often have other disorders as well, particularly depression. Warm but highly controlling parents can also play a role in a young woman's striving to be physically perfect.
The ADA states, "It is the position of The American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets are healthful, are nutritionally adequate, and provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases." They go on to state that "well-planned vegan and lacto-ovo-vegetarian diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle. Vegetarian diets are somewhat more common among adolescents with eating disorders than in the general adolescent population; therefore, dietetics professionals should be aware of young clients who greatly limit food choices and who exhibit symptoms of eating disorders. However, recent data suggest that adopting a vegetarian diet does not lead to eating disorders. With guidance in meal planning, vegetarian diets are appropriate and healthful choices for adolescents."(www.eatright.org)
Currently there is no connection between vegetarian diets and eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa. Recent research from Australia and the United States shows that after the onset of anorexia teens claim to have given up eating meat, however, they also claim to have given up many other foods as well, thereby leaving them in an unhealthy state. This study found that some young women are using vegetarianism as an excuse to avoid eating certain foods. Doctors are now making the distinction between these young women and those who are vegetarians in order to maintain good health and referring to the former as pseudo-vegetarians. (www.viva.org.uk/Viva!Guides/guide7h.htm)
As it turns out, looking beyond the claim that a teen is a vegetarian is a very important thing for parents and others to do. Nutrition experts at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say that parents whose teens want to eat a vegetarian diet should not be overly concerned. Rather this would be a good time to explore together what constitutes a healthy diet and perhaps consult with a dietician or nutritionist who is versed in preparing well balanced, nutritious, vegetarian diets. Pseudo-vegetarians or teens who are adopting a non-meat-eating regime solely to restrict intake and lose or control weight deserve and require psychological intervention.
Things to remember about teens who want to be vegetarians:
- Ask yourself why your teen wants to eat a vegetarian diet. Teens who care about animal or environmental issues or their own health are looking at the connections between their behaviors and the consequences to others in their world. If planned accordingly, teens can achieve both good health and a sense of giving back which is critically important throughout our lives.
- If your teen wants to adopt a vegetarian diet or a diet that appears to be extremely restrictive for weight loss reasons, you might want to probe deeper or consult with a doctor or nutritionist. Becoming a vegan is in fact a good way to lose weight but it should be done with overall good health in mind. Simply restricting intake can lead to an unhealthy diet. Remember that vegetarianism is about new food choices and not food restrictions. Simply not eating meat or animal products without increasing intake of other healthy foods is not something vegetarians should do. But opening up your choices to new food preparations and perhaps foods that you have never before tried are great ways to convert to animal free eating. Show your teen a vegetarian food pyramid and discuss the many varieties of foods necessary to maintain good health.
- The teen years are a time when young people are struggling with their own identities, trying to find who they are and where they fit in the world. For many teens that means trying on new roles, new styles of living. They may try vegetarianism for a short while or may convert from meat eating for the long term. But in either case, if done correctly, becoming a vegetarian can result in an increase in overall health as the risk of certain diseases lessens.
- As a mother, watch your own messages to your children, particularly young girls about your feelings about your body. Do you diet severely or wish you were thinner? Are there lots of messages promoting thinness in the magazines you have in your home and the TV shows you watch? Talk to your child from a young age about how perfect she is just the way she is and about how everyone is different in their own way. Discuss healthy food and it's importance to good health. Model a healthy self-image.
- Keep lines of communication open between you and your teen. Offer to join him/her as you consult with a dietician, subscribe to a vegetarian publication and try new recipes, or join local vegetarian groups for potlucks. Most importantly, try to stay open and follow your teen's ideas of good health. Encourage and reinforce the values that will develop as a result.
Remember that eating disorders are complex psychological problems that do not simply result in a diet change. That is merely a symptom of a destructive, deadly disease that involves a warped self-image, a striving for perfection, and a need for control. As a parent, ask yourself what your own feelings are about your body. Research shows that girls who fast, go on crash diets, and miss meals purposely, are often modeling their own mother's extreme weight loss behavior. (Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood, p.422) Outwardly, at first glance, these young women may appear to be vegetarians, but a closer look will tell you that there is much more going on inside. Often eating disorders are the result of relationship difficulties within families.
So if your teen is interested in pursuing a change in diet for the right reasons-for reasons that enhance good health and an overall quality of life-applaud her forthright thinking. If you feel it is just another strategy to lose weight or limit food intake, if it reflects a cry for help or a need to be perfect like the models in magazines and on TV, seek professional help immediately. Eating disorders, if left untreated, can and do result in permanent physical damage and death. Vegetarianism promotes life and living in all forms. Philosophically and pragmatically they are on opposite ends of a continuum, even though some teens may attempt to hide their disorders behind the guise of vegetarianism.
-Carol Laliberte, mother of Andrew, is a college instructor, newspaper columnist, freelance writer and consultant. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her son, her husband, Phil, and their two fish, Seaweed and Week Week. She has been a vegetarian for more years than she can remember.
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