Anorexia and Dieting: What’s The Connection

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Last updated on October 27th, 2024 at 06:26 pm

There is a strong connection between dieting and eating disorders. Dieting is becoming more frequent, more extreme, and occurring at younger ages.

Dieting is connected to eating disorders because:

  • It promotes rigid eating behaviors
  • It creates a community around food restriction
  • Diets capitalize on poor body image
  • Diets promise solutions for feeling low self worth, anxiety, grief or fear around your body
  • Dieting offers community which can escalate restrictive behavior.

Dieting contributes to a drive for thinness, an insatiable pursuit that last a lifetime. The constant desire to change the body or restrict certain food types is what puts a person at risk for an eating disorder.

Most people that diet will not develop an eating disorder. However, many will develop disordered eating behaviors and a disrupted relationship with food and their bodies.

This article will explore the relationship between dieting and disordered eating, which types of diets are more likely to result in developing an eating disorder, and what you can do instead of dieting to heal your relationshipw with your body and food.

Dieting and Eating Disorder Relationship

More people are dieting longer, earlier, and more intensely than ever before in history.

We can see as the rates of dieting increase in both men, women, and young girls and boys we are also seeing that eating disorders are on the rise.

anorexia dieting connection infographic

Can Dieting Make You Anorexic

It depends.

Many people will diet at some point in their lives. Most people will not develop an eating disorder as a result of occasional dieting. 

While dieting is the number one behavior associated with developing of an eating disorder, but it is not the only variable that contributes to an eating disorder. 

Extreme dieting tends to increase risks for anorexia. Extreme dieting might include:

  • Extremely low-calorie dieting (think HCG diet)
  • Diets that eliminate entire macronutrient groups such as the keto diet 
  • Intermittent fasting that includes a long duration fast 
  • Extreme veganism 
  • Extreme raw diets or clean eating

The more restrictive the diet, the greater likelihood it could trigger symptoms associated with anorexia. 

Other risk factors for anorexia include genetics, other psychiatric conditions, a history or trauma or sexual abuse, perfectionist mindset, developmental issues and other social determanants of health.

Dieting might best be described as often that “one last push” to send someone into developing anorexia nervosa or other types of eating disorders.

dangers of pro ana diets infographic

What Do Anorexia And Dieting Have In Common 

Most behaviors of diets overlap with behaviors of an eating disorder. This is why dieting can be such a powerful contributor to eating disorders.

Both dieting and eating disorders can include: 

Many of the warning signs of anorexia ARE glorified dieting behaviors. Many people will strive to attain thinness at all costs because they have a heightened awareness of the thin privilege which exists in western culture.

Most diets will result in weight loss rebound including a weight that is higher than the starting weight. This can increase restrictive behavior and lead and increase the likelyhood of developing an eating disorder.

Dieting Risks

Dieting can be a gateway into behaviors associated with anorexia nervosa.  The more restrictive the diet, the higher the probability that it could trigger an eating disorder.

As we begin to diet we will notice: 

You might be obsessing over food as a way to feel in control in your life.  Many of us think if we simply “fix our bodies” by following a certain set of rules, we’ll eliminate problems in many areas of our lives. 

You might notice yourself thinking about food 80% or more of your day.  This might be a key indicator that dieting and obsessing over food is transitioning into anorexia or another type of eating disorder. 

infographic on pro ana pro mia diet examples

Pro Ana Pro Mia Diets

While all diets have the potential to lead to eating disorder behavior, some diets are more risky than others.

Pro ana/mia diets are diets specifically designed to start or continue an eating disorder. These abbreviations are Pro Ana/Mia are designed to make the practices seem more friendly and appealing to participants.

weight loss diets are harmful at best and potentially deadly in extreme situations.

Pro ana weight loss is designed to: 

  • Facilitate rapid and extreme weight loss
  • Utilize extreme restriction practices
  • Excessive food rules
  • Potentially advocates for the use of purging through pro ana workouts or other extreme exercises
  • Purging through vomiting, or laxative use
  • Potentially offers up ways to conceal harmful behaviors from loved ones or friends
  • Create a network through social media, websites, chat forums 

The community support that the pro ana/mia movements offer increases the likelyhood that these types of diets can lead to an eating disorder. Participants of pro ana pro mia diets will find a spaces where food shamers and those with disordered eating are encouraged to engage in toxic eating disorder practices. 

In pro ana pro mia culture, those with eating disorders are reassured that their actions are justified and glorified.

These types of diets can have a drastic impact on hunger and fullness cues, and it can be difficult to get your hunger cues back after dieting.

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The ABC Diet

The ABC diet is short for the Ana boot camp diet. Its core principles include:

  • Extreme restriction for 50 days
  • Emphasis on “metabolism shifts”
  • Calorie intake of fewer than 800 calories a day (typically less than 500)
  • Encourages zero or very low-calorie foods
  • Rapid and extreme weight loss 

After 50 days, those who participate in the ABC diet are supposed to resume a regular diet.  Advocates for the diet claim that it is “healthy” as it kicks starts the metabolism into gear by altering how many calories are consumed each day.

The 500-Calorie Diet

This is a highly restrictive diet that limits daily intake to just 500 calories.

People following this diet are encourged to:

  • divide their intake into tiny meals throughout the day
  • focusing on low-calorie, high-water foods like vegetables.
  • eat only high volume foods

The 2468 Diet

This diet is based on calorie cycling.

People following this diet are incouraged to:

  • cycle calorie intake over four days: 200 calories on the first day, 400 on the second, 600 on the third, and 800 on the fourth day.
  • repeat the calorie cycling

The Rainbow Diet

This diet assigns a food color to each day of the week.

People that follow the rainbow diet are encouraged to:

  • eat only foods of a particular color for that day (e.g., red foods on Monday, green foods on Tuesday)
  • Any food can be included in the meal plan for the day but only foods of a specific color can be included
  • Encourages calorie restriction

The Ana’s Holy Grail Diet

The ana’s holy grail diet is designed with the actual intention of helping someone develop and sustain anorexia behaviors.

This diet encourages:

  • Long-term food restriction
  • alternating between days of extreme calorie restriction and moderate restriction
  • combining fasting days and small-portion meals. It is promoted as a means to achieve “perfection.”

Water Fasting or Liquid Diets

In this diet you are consumed to drink only water, tea, or other non-caloric liquids are consumed. Sometimes it includes light broths or juices, but often with minimal caloric value.

This diet encourages:

  • Complete restriciton of any solid foods
  • Calorie restriction
  • Using the volume of liquids to satisfy hunger

Calories In Pro Ana/Pro Mia Diets  

There is not one specific number of calories followed in a diet plan that will make a person develop an eating disorder.  It is the complex relationship between calories, psychological factors, exercise and body image that will determine an anorexia diagnosis.

However, any time you are restricting calories or types of foods you are at a high risk for developing an eanting disorder.

If you think you have an eating disorder, adding in calories after extreme restriction can be dangerous. You need to follow a carefully constructed eating disorders meal plan specially created for each persons unique needs by an eating disorder dietitian

Calories are low enough to warrant concern for anorexia when: 

  • Calories fall significantly below the demand needed to carry out daily activities. 
  • Excessive exercise leads to an extreme calorie deficit 
  • Someone is actively engaged in binging and restricting
  • You lose your period because of low energy intake

Calorie needs will vary greatly based on someone’s gender, exercise level, body weight and height.  

It is impossible to determine an exact calorie number associated with anorexia.  You can check out my anorexia story to see some of the signs and symptoms to look for in anorexia.

Are There Diets That Don’t Increase Eating Disorders

No.

Dieting sucks and is sometimes downright dangerous. You cannot eliminate the correlation between anorexia and dieting by simply selecting the “right diet.” 

Since all diets are fixated on creating energy depletion, restricting foods, and changing the body, we can’t engage in dieting without the potential to trigger an eating disorder. 

There are some much better ways to change our relationship with food and our bodies that do not involve dieting.  These include: 

Check out this food freedom quiz to see where your relationship with food is right now.   

When you see someone engaging heavily in dieting behaviors or you are doing so yourself, it’s time to examine the relationship with food. If you’re not sure what to say to someone with an eating disorder, ask an expert for support.

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Shena Jaramillo. Registered Dietitian
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