Eating Disorders: A Formal Analysis

Formal Conversation

Conversing with another about your eating habits can be a very difficult task to tackle and is harder for some than it is for others. Although the topics of body image and eating disorders are delicate, it’s important to discuss them and bring them to light because several women struggle with that aspect in their lives and may not be fully aware of it. I was able to speak openly with another female Elon University undergraduate about her personal relationship with food and her thoughts on her body image. Throughout the in-depth conversation, several aspects of eating and body image stood out, including cultural factors such as how she grew up and what her parent’s relationship with food was like and how that has shaped …show more content…
When I asked the female that I interviewed what her relationship with food was like, she stated that it was “good.” To get her to open up a little more I asked, “do you ever feel guilty about eating food?” She then responded that she does feel guilty about eating her food when she is eating around girls who are skinnier than her. Her relationship on food depends on whom she is with. This is problematic because this is the early sign of anorexia nervosa. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by decreasing food intake to eventually attempting to not eat at all to lose weight. Several red flags showed up to me while speaking with this particular female. She mentioned that when she was little her mother would often put fruits and vegetables in her lunches, but as she became older her mother stopped packing her lunches the same way. She continued saying that now since she is older and knows that her body image is important to her she needs more foods like that in her diet. Although she is correct that having fruits and vegetables in her diet are beneficial, she said that her body image is more important now …show more content…
When she responded positively I asked her to explain. She shared that she is on a particular diet that is called the Raspberry Keytone diet. This entails two pills, one taken in the morning with breakfast and one taken in the afternoon with lunch. The only way that this diet will work is that if it is combined with exercise. Recently, I have noticed that she has become almost obsessive with going to the gym and tracking what she eats. I continued with the interview and found out that she eats more on a schedule and not when she is hungry. She often goes to bed hungry at night but just tries to suffice it by drinking water. She has been on several diets in the past, only for them to fail, which resulted in her gaining the weight right back. The main problem with the way she is going about her diet is that she is trying to fight biology. When underfeed you will obsess over food. It is all that you will think about because your body is craving it. According to Intuitive Eating, post-dieting eating is viewed as having “no will-power” but in reality it’s a natural response because energy is what your body needs at that point. The best way to go about losing weight is intuitive eating, which means eating when you are hungry and listening to your body cues about hunger. After discussing with this particular female a question arose: Why diet? I think that the main issue with women wanting to