Women 's Lack Of Eating Disorders

Eating disorders have become very common today, not only with women but men too (Bordo 2). This fixation with being skinny can be seen most often with modeling. Men and women both are required to be a certain weight if they want to be accepted to a modeling agency. Failure to stay under the weight limit will most likely terminate their contract with that agency. Not only do we see this in modeling or fashion but professional sports. I will never forget watching the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders show a few years ago and watching how big of a deal that the cheerleaders stay within their set weight limit. One of the cheerleaders was five pounds over that limit and was called in for a warning or she would be kicked off the team. Her response, “I guess I’ll have to cut out my favorite snack, PB and J’s.” That moment forever stuck out to me, and made me realize I would never wish to be put under a weight limit for sports, jobs, etc. People often forget starving your body of nutrients is another form of an eating disorder. Bordo claims that, “Eating disorders are also linked to the contradictions of consumer culture, which is continually encouraging us to binge on our desires at the same time as it glamorizes self-discipline and scorns fat as a symbol of laziness and lack of willpower.” (Bordo 2). With the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders as just an example, it goes to show also how much of an effect

It is important to distinguish between normal eating and the behaviors that typify eating disorders or disordered eating. Even among those attempting to lose weight or maintain a lower percentage of body fat, normal eating is “flexible and not obsessive.” (Dunford and Doyle 455). Although athletes have a stricter nutrition plan versus the general population, their eating should actively support training through moderate levels of restraint yet should still allow for healthy eating patterns such as eating when hungry, not feeling the need to punish oneself after an indulgence through excessive caloric restriction or exercise, and the ability to participate in social events. Dunford and Doyle term this as “discipline, not…obsession” (456). While the eating disorders of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, and binge eating all have clear-cut clinical definitions, disordered eating is a more nebulous term that can define a wider array of

1,445 student athletes from multiple different Division 1 schools participated in order to see the prevalence of eating disorders in a variety of different sports. The student athletes were asked questions about their athletic involvement, eating behaviors, drug and alcohol behavior and attitudes about their body image. The first set of results showed that 16.19% of females and 12.57% of males binge ate monthly (Powers, 1996). 81% of females reported feeling out of control of eating while only 45% of males reported feeling out of control. 23.9% of females reported vomiting as a form of purging but only 5.93% of males reported vomiting. When it came to diet pills, 14.30% of women reported usage while 2.16% of males reported usage. Although males’ results were always smaller than women, they are still at rise and suffering from eating disorders. With this study it is obvious that all athletes experience demands that push them to turn to abnormal and dangerous eating patterns.

Numerous studies have shown that athletes are more prone to developing eating disorders than nonathletes, as well as female athletes being more at risk than their male counterparts. Disordered eating is seen in athletes of all sports. (Johnson, 1994). The prevalence of eating disorders in the female athletic population ranges from anywhere between one and forty percent, depending on the athletes questioned, and the methodology used (Sundgot-Borgen, 1994). Rosen and Hough (1988) found that 32 percent of athletes practiced at least one pathogenic weight-control technique(141). A study done by Sundgot-Borgen, in 1994, controlled for the possibility that self-report data could be unreliable in numerous ways, including not informing coaches of their intentions, and assuring 100 percent confidentiality to the athletes who participated. It found that the risk for eating disorders is increased if an athlete's dieting is unsupervised, if there is an early start to sport-specific training, and/or extreme exercise (Sundgot-Borgen, 418).

My audience is athletic trainers at the National Coaching Conference. Attendees of this conference are coaches, educators of coaches, sport science researcher, and students. They can use their extensive knowledge of coaching to develop a plan of action for the collection of coaches, across the nation, to take to combat eating disorders among athletes. The development of new regulations and educational requirements for coaches can only happen if a large number of coaches or coach educators are on board.

The American Psychiatric Association defines an eating disorder as an illness that causes severe disturbances in eating behaviors and related thoughts and emotions. Individuals with eating disorders typically obsess over food and their body weight (Parekh, 2015). Eating disorders can affect both men and women of all ages. However, men and women athletes seem to be at a greater risk for developing eating disorders. Female athletes who have eating disorders often have what is called female athlete triad. Female athlete triad is the term used to describe three prevalent interconnected disorders among female athletes: low energy availability due to disordered eating, amenorrhea and osteoporosis.

Eating disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa, bulimia) are not rare in today’s society. They have become increasingly common among young women. Research indicates that there is a link between the media’s representation of “the perfect body” as well as ideals of attractiveness with dissatisfaction of body image and eating disorders (Ferguson, Munoz, Garza, & Galindo, 2013). In this current literature review, I will focus on the impact of eating disorders among female collegiate student-athletes with an emphasis on how sports can play an influential role in the development of eating disorders. Female collegiate student-athletes are at risk of developing eating disorders not only because of societal pressures on women to be thin, but also due to sport-specific pressures to change their body weight, size or shape. Factors that contribute to sport culture and pressure on female athletes include performance anxiety, revealing uniforms, and coaches’ influences on their athletes (Coker-Cranney & Reel, 2015).

Over the past twenty years, there has been a great increase of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa which have come out as major psychological and health problems. This increase in eating disorders has resulted from the intense societal pressure to diet and conform to an unrealistic weight and body size. For the general population of women, the lifetime number of anorexia nervosa is approximately 0.7%, and that of bulimia nervosa is as high as 10.3% ( Taub & Blinde, 1992). Since many athletes contain almost the same behaviors to those with eating disorders, there has also been an increase in interest in whether athletes are at a risk for eating disorders.

The Article, from the Journal of Sport Behavior, “An Examination of Eating Disorder Profiles in Student Obligatory and Non-Obligatory Exercisers” written by Hilary Matheson, Anne Crawford-Wright (2000). The purpose of this study was “to highlight risk behaviors indicated in a student obligatory and non-obligatory exercise population comparing the result to other previous research” (Matheson & Crawford-Wright 2000). According to the authors there has been extensive research that focuses on the “relationships between

Firstly, what is the prevalence of eating disorders amongst elite female athletes and is this group more prone to the development of the condition compared to their non-athletic female counterparts?

Aesthetic sports such as gymnastics and dance demand a high amount of exercise and performance ability. For many female gymnasts, a lower body weight is associated with their success rate, however, a lower body weight often will cause eating disorders period. Prolong eating disorders can result in osteoporosis. A reported 28 percent of elite gymnasts have an eating disorder. The purpose of this study is to view how susceptible female gymnasts are to eating disorders.

Unhealthy behaviors, which are not typically self-reported, may be difficult to distinguish from normal diet behaviors that facilitate performance. These disorders are relatively common in athletes, with estimates as high as 62 percent for females and 33 percent for males. Recent literature also suggests that prevalence of these disorders is not necessarily dependent on participation in weight-sensitive sports, such as gymnastics and wrestling (Bonci, 2015). Student athletes are more at risk because of prevalence, genetics, sociocultural factors, and sport related factors. Eating disorders in sport occur more frequently in females than males. Epidemiological and molecular genetics studies suggest a strong genetic predisposition to develop

Athletes are often determined, competitive people, with perfectionist personalities (Manore et al., 2007). For athletes with classic symptoms of clinical eating disorders, it is paramount to involve appropriate mental healthcare professionals in their care and management. Patients are recommended to work with a dietician who can monitor their nutritional status and guide them to work towards a healthy weight goal (Laframboise et al., 2013). Sports psychologists should also have athletes suffering from disordered eating consent to an agreement that outlines their responsibilities and goals of treatment, including consequences, such as exclusion from training and competition, if certain parameters are not abided by (Siatras & Mameletzi, 2014). This way, there is likelihood that the athletes will voluntarily comply with the rules of the agreement, benefitting them in both their sporting achievements and their recovery from the Female Athlete

Typically athletes do not resolve the treatment of eating disorders themselves. In some cases athletes do not realize that they have fallen into a disordered eating pattern; in other cases the athletes staunchly deny that an eating problem exists. If a coach athletic trainer, teammate or any other individual associated with this athlete supsects that any degree of disordered eating exists they should think about ways to intervene. Early intervention is critical to meeting the primary goal of treatment becuase those with less severe or less prolonged problems have a better chance of successful treatment. Treatment involves three components physiological, nutritional and medical. Eahc needs to be treated by an expert so treatment involves

The altered eating and exercise patterns of those with eating disorders can seriously damage physical and emotional health. The ANAB (n.d.) contends activities associated with eating disorders place one in medical danger. Strenuous over-exercising is often seen in those with eating disorders even though they may be quite ill. The body of an eating disorder sufferer frequently has electrolyte imbalances and gastrointestinal problems. The