Nutrition and Eating Disorders, Third Edition

By Lori Smolin and Mary Grosvenor

Praise for the previous edition:

"...easy-to-read...well-balanced...a good amount of detail."—School Library Journal

Media images of "ideal bodies"—which, in reality, are often dangerously thin—make it easy for people to start worrying about their own body shapes and compare themselves to these model ideals. For some people, this concern with thinness becomes an obsession, and they fall victim to eating disorders. The sufferer may starve him- or herself, exercise too much, or deliberately vomit to purge the body of calories. This new edition of Nutrition and Eating Disorders, Third Edition examines some of the most common eating disorders, from anorexia nervosa to binge eating.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chelsea House
• Release date: Jan 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781438143828

Book preview

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Nutrition and Eating Disorders, Third Edition

Copyright © 2019 by Infobase

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information, contact:

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Contents

Introduction

Chapters

The Meaning of Food

How Food Nourishes You

Normal and Abnormal Eating

Eating Disorders: Who Is Affected and Why?

Body Image

A Healthy Body Weight

Anorexia Nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa

Binge Eating and Other Eating Disorders

Support Materials

Glossary

Further Resources

Bibliography

About the Author

Index

Introduction

A hundred years ago,people received nutritional guidance from mothers and grandmothers: Eat your carrots because they're good for your eyes; don't eat too many potatoes because they'll make you fat; be sure to get plenty of roughage so you can more easily move your bowels. Today, everyone seems to offer more advice: Add kale to your smoothie, only choose organic vegetables and grass fed beef, and avoid GMOs. Nutrition is one of those topics about which everyone seems to think they know something, or at least have an opinion. Whether it is the clerk in your local health food store recommending that you buy supplements or the woman behind you in line at the grocery store raving about her keto diet, everyone is ready to offer you nutritional advice. How do you know what to believe or, more importantly, what to do?

The purpose of these books is to help you answer these questions. Even if you don't love learning about science, at the very least you probably enjoy certain foods and want to stay healthy—or become healthier. In response to this, these books are designed to make the science you need to understand as palatable as the foods you love. Once you understand the basics, you can apply this simple health knowledge to your everyday decisions about nutrition and health. The Healthy Eating set includes one book with all of the basic nutrition information you need to choose a healthy diet, as well as five others that cover topics of special concern to many: weight management, exercise, disease prevention, food safety, and eating disorders.

Our goal is not to tell you to stop eating potato chips and candy bars, give up fast food, or always eat your vegetables. Instead, it is to provide you with the information you need to make healthy choices. You’ll come to understand that potato chips and candy are not poison, but they should be occasional treats, not everyday choices. We hope you will decide for yourself that fast food is something you can indulge in every now and then. And while you recognize that you should eat your vegetables, not everyone always does, so you should do your best to try new vegetables and fruits and eat them as often as possible.

These books take the science of nutrition out of the classroom and allow you to apply this information to the choices you make about foods, exercise, dietary supplements, and other lifestyle decisions that are important to your health. This knowledge should help you choose a healthy diet while allowing you to enjoy the diversity of flavors, textures, and tastes that food provides, and also encouraging you to explore the meanings food holds in our society. When you eat a healthy diet, you will feel good in the short term and enjoy health benefits in the long term. We can't personally evaluate each meal you consume, but we believe these books will give you the tools to make your own nutritious choices.

Lori A. Smolin,

Mary B. Grosvenor

David W. Ambrose

Chapters

The Meaning of Food

Food provides the energy and raw materials we need to live, grow, and reproduce. But food does more than meet our physiological needs. From the time we are born, food is part of our interpersonal and emotional experience. Young children depend on caregivers to nurture and feed them and a loving bond develops between them. As children grow and become able to feed themselves, food continues to be a focus of social interactions from school lunches to family holiday traditions. Throughout life, our eating patterns are affected by the society in which we live and our position in it. The food that is available to us geographically and economically and what we view as acceptable, both personally and culturally, affect which foods we eat. In addition, each person's psychological and emotional states influence what and how much is eaten, and when it is eaten. Everyone develops their own personal relationship to food.

Sometimes it is difficult to separate food's physiological function from its psychological effects. When food takes on too much importance for reasons other than nutrition, eating behavior may become abnormal and an eating disorder may result. Although eating disorders occur in men and women, young women are most likely to develop eating disorders. The causes of these disorders are complex and multifaceted, but the emotional and sociocultural meaning that we place on food certainly plays a role.

Food and Emotions

From birth, food is linked with affection. Infants suckling while cradled in their mothers' arms experience physical and emotional satisfaction. This is a time when we are comforted by physical contact and the assurance that we are loved and all our basic needs are being met. During childhood, the associations among food, affection, and comfort are reinforced. When a child is sick, comfort foods, such as hot tea and chicken soup, help him or her feel better. Sometimes these comfort foods may be sweet or fattening treats that, at least momentarily, make us feel happy. As adults, the foods that comfort us in times of sadness and emotional distress often are the same foods that brought us comfort as children. Throughout life, providing food is considered an expression of love and friendship. People serve lemonade or coffee when friends visit; grandparents offer cookies and other treats when grandchildren visit. Conversely, refusing food can be interpreted as rejection of the person who offers it.

We also use food to express or moderate moods and emotional states. When people are sad, they may eat a chocolate bar or a bowl of ice cream. People choose foods that they associate with comfort, love, and security. Some foods are associated not only with love, but also with sexuality. For example, chocolate is a sensual treat that is a traditional Valentine's Day gift.

Food even triggers our memories and the emotions that go along with them. Eating the same food today that you ate at a time earlier in your life can remind you of that time or experience. For example, eating a food your mother often served may give you the same sense of comfort and security you felt at home as a child. Eating a meal you once shared with a loved one on a special occasion may bring back the intense emotions you felt at that earlier time. In the same vein, a bad experience with food may create negative associations with certain foods. For instance, if you once became ill after eating a food, you may avoid that food for the rest of your life.

People enjoy comfort foods such as ice cream, chocolate, and tea because they make us feel better when we are unhappy or ill.

Source: Zjuzjaka. Shutterstock.

Nutrition Note: For Love or Chocolate

Few foods are as universally desired as chocolate. It is offered as a reward, a treat, and an expression of affection. It is eaten for comfort and loved for its smooth texture, sweet taste, and sensual appeal. When it was first introduced to Europe in the fifteenth century, it was the food of royalty. Through the centuries, it has been hailed as everything from an antidepressant to an aphrodisiac. What makes it so irresistible?

It turns out that some people's love of chocolate is not only due to its taste, but also to the effect it has on the brain. Eating chocolate leads the brain to produce compounds that dull pain and increase feelings of well-being. Chocolate also contains compounds that mimic the effect of marijuana. Dark chocolate contains more of these compounds than milk chocolate does, but scientists doubt that the amounts are great enough to have much effect. Even if we don't get a chocolate high, chocolate may quicken the heart rate and make people feel alert and content because of the chemical stimulants it contains. Phenylethylamine is a stimulant in chocolate that raises blood pressure and blood sugar levels, making us feel alert and happy. Chocolate also provides caffeine and caffeine-related compounds, which act as stimulants. So, there seems to be a physiological as well as a sensual basis for the chocoholic in most of us. No wonder Americans buy over $22 billion of chocolate every year.

Food Defines Who You Are

Food is a part of our personal, socioeconomic, cultural, and religious identity. Sometimes, these identity messages are based on stereotypes. For example, the upper class may be associated with meals presented on fine china and served with a degree of ceremony. Some people may imagine sophisticated people eating rare, expensive foods, such as caviar and truffles. In contrast, some associate the lower social classes with hot dogs in front of the television. We may assume that vegetarians are concerned about animal welfare, and that people who eat thick, rare steaks are macho. People sometimes choose certain foods to convey a particular image.

Food also can be used as a reward or a punishment. A well-behaved child is given a cookie, whereas a bad child is sent to bed without dinner. For some of us, this association, though somewhat different, continues into adulthood. We consider ourselves good when we eat healthy foods and bad when we overindulge in greasy fast food.

Food also is used to define relationships within a family or culture. Within most cultures, powerful individuals eat well. The head of the family (usually the father) gets first choice of foods. In some cultures, this tradition is even more extreme: The men get their fill before the women are allowed to eat.

Food is an integral part of our ethnic and religious identity. People in Asian cultures eat rice at every meal, and Italians grow up on pasta. Indian cuisine is recognized by curries, and Mexican food by refried beans and tortillas. Food patterns and ceremonies are among the most ingrained of all cultural traditions. Almost every religion has dietary rules or restrictions. Seventh-Day Adventists are vegetarians. Sikhs and Hindus do not eat beef. Devout Jews and Muslims follow dietary laws. Catholics do not eat meat on Fridays during the season of Lent. Many religions have special foods to commemorate religious events or holidays. Muslims do not eat before sundown during the month of Ramadan in order to recognize the first revelation of the Qur'an (Koran). Jews eat the unleavened bread matzo during Passover to remember their ancestors' flight from slavery in Egypt, which was too hasty to give them time to wait for bread to rise. Christians eat bread and drink wine during church services to commemorate Jesus's Last Supper before his crucifixion. Traditions around food can be found in every cultural identity.

Nutrition Note: Fly Soup?

How would you feel if you found a fly in your soup? Most of us would not be too happy; in our culture, we think of insects as contaminants, not food. This is not the case in many places around the world, however. Some societies rely on insects as a major source