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Nancy Clark, MS,
RD CSSD (Board Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics) counsels
active people at her private practice located at Healthworks,
the premier fitness center in Chestnut Hill, Massachussetts
(617.383.6100). Her popular Sports Nutrition Guidebook, NEW
2007 Food Guide for Marathoners and Cyclist’s Food Guide
offers additional information. They are available via nancyclarkrd.com.
For online education and workshop information, visit sportsnutritionworkshop.com.
 “I
am worried about my daughter. She exercises too much and eats
too little. She says she’s fine, but I think she’s
becoming anorexic.”
“My Dad yells at me when I binge/purge: ‘You’re
wasting my money!!!’ I am working hard to recover
from my eating disorder, but he just doesn’t get it.
I don’t even try to talk to him anymore.”
Eating disorders, of course, can be devastating for families,
but also for teams. Coaches and parents alike want their athletes
to eat well and be healthy. The struggling athletes just want
people to stop policing their eating and exercise. The athletes
have difficulty talking about why they struggle with food;
they instead communicate unhappiness by starving or stuffing
their bodies. This distracts them from the pain of feeling
“not good enough” and other hard feelings.
Unfortunately, too many athletes struggle with food issues.
A survey of more than 400 female collegiate athletes indicated
they typically believed their bodies were not good enough
and wanted to lose five pounds.
- 43 percent reported feeling terrified of becoming overweight
- 22 percent were extremely preoccupied with food and weight
- 31 percent had irregular or absent menstrual periods (a
sign of inadequate fueling)
- 34 percent had had a stress fracture or broken bone. (Weakened
bones and stress fractures are common in athletes who experience
loss of regular menstrual periods)
- 18 percent of the women had/were at risk for having anorexia
- 34 percent had/were at risk for having bulimia.
~ Beals, International Journal of Sports Nutrition, 2002
While there are no easy answers to resolving disordered eating,
Dr. David Herzog, a psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School
who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders, has
addressed common issues in his book Unlocking the Mysteries
of Eating Disorders: A Life-Saving Guide to Your Child’s
Treatment and Recovery. Here are some key points that
might be helpful if you are the parent, coach or friend of
an athlete with food issues.
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First of all, eating disorders (such as
anorexia and bulimia) are a psychological diagnosis, not
a nutritional diagnosis. Eating disorders have little
to do with food. Food is just the symptom, not the problem. |
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Eating disorders affect both girls and boys
alike. For boys, society’s rule that “men don’t
cry” means they are not allowed to express sadness,
fears or hurt. If they do, they can easily be ridiculed
and rejected. So instead, they may starve or stuff themselves
to numb difficult emotions. Some exhaust themselves with
excessive exercise. Others take up body-building, believing
a muscular body means a perfect life. They need to be
assured that having feelings in not a sign of weakness. |
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Athletes with eating disorders tend to dislike
themselves and their bodies. They feel inadequate, not
“good enough.” Dieting seems a good way to fix
what is wrong with them and allows them to be good at
something—losing weight! |
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If the athlete had at one time been pudgy
and nagged by parents to slim down, she can now feel praiseworthy
and acceptable. Remind her of the many good inner qualities
she has that makes her special—kindness, caring,
humor, leadership. The athlete needs to learn she is valued
as a person, not for what she looks like. |
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Athletes with eating disorders tend to be
very talented, hardworking people who ache inside and
fail to see their strengths. Something inside them says
they should always be working or studying or exercising.
Taking time to hang out and chat with others makes them
feel guilty. They need to learn being "human"—like
the rest of us—is a more attainable goal than being
"perfect." |
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Athletes with eating disorders commonly
fear they won’t be able to stop eating if they start,
so they try to avoid eating. Some consistently restrict
their intake; others yo-yo between starving and stuffing.
In either case, they endure not just physical hunger but
also the mental anguish of feeling alone. It’s hard
to have much of a social life if you are afraid of (over-)eating
food. |
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If the athlete does not want to eat with
the team or join family meals, don’t try to force
the situation. Rather just acknowledge, “It must
be so hard for you when something inside you holds you
back.” |
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If the athlete starts talking to you about
how fat she is, don’t try to correct the misinformation
because the athlete will not believe what you say. Rather,
try to understand the turmoil. “It sounds like you
are very unhappy with your body…” Allow an opening
to share her concerns. |
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If an athlete shares the dark secret of
having an eating disorder, acknowledge the effort. “I
know this was hard for you to tell me, but I am really
glad you did.” |
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On the other hand, if you want to confront
the athlete who denies, let’s say, struggling with
bulimia, do not become a detective to prove him wrong.
Rather, try to understand why the athlete hides this and
has trouble letting you know. Is he trying to safeguard
you from being stressed? Or does he feel ashamed? |
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Telling an athlete to “just eat”
does not solve the inner emptiness that is intense, enduring,
hard to recognize, and hard to talk about. Plus, the athlete
believes eating will make her feel worse. Recommend counseling,
not as a means to “fatten her up,” but to end
the loneliness of the disorder and to find inner peace.
Just as it’s important to have a good coach to improve
athletic performance, it’s also important to have
a good “mental coach” (therapist skilled with
eating disorders) to improve quality of life. |
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