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Health knowledge made personal
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Health knowledge made personal
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Hi Runcait,
Athletes are prone to have the kinds of issues that you describe, especially if there is an environment where restrictive eating is the norm. The thing is, studies show that the more you restrict your eating, the more likely you are to obsess over food...it comes with the territory, so to speak.
The kinds of feelings that you describe (guilt after eating, etc.) may even signal that you ave an eating disorder, or at the very least, unhealthy attitudes about food and weight.
I have an entire section about athletes and eating disorders in my book 100 questions and Answers about Anorexia Nervosa. You don't have to have anorexia to read it! among the things that I mention, that you might want to consider, is that athletes often have "myths" that they believe about food and exercise, such as "the leaner you are, the better athlete you will be", and others.
Feel free to contact me if you have more questions...
Dr. Sari Shepphird
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Posted by runcait
I run D1 track and field/cross country and the enviornment is just really negative as far as food goes. our view on food is so screwed up. We restrict it so much (saying its a sacrafice we must be willing to make). We CONSTANTLY think about food. Because food should be enjoyable and is a normal part of life and we focus on it too much, it is becomes obsessive-first in a negative way, then we begin to want it more than we should.
It takes incredible amount of self discipline to not over eat, because we want it more than we should. We just want to be normal and take food for what it is-just food. anyways, its like we are slaves to food- and it's a cycle we can't but want to break. it totally controlls our thoughts-wishing to eat 'whatever'...feeling guilty/running 5 extra miles afterwards...but 1 treat is never enough... see the cycle?? not fun.
Any suggestions??