Disordered Eating and Athletes Around the World

Disordered Eating and Athletes around the World

Over the past decade, a pattern of disordered eating has grown around the world. Whether they are male or female, short or tall, elite or amateur, the growth has caused some concern for psychologists and coaches everywhere. Many questions arise, though, when it comes to elite athletes: Why, if they are so successful, do they need to stay thin? Does the sport that they compete in not keep them at an optimum weight? Eating disorders do not affect just one sport or body composition; they affect many different types of athletes. These athletes all experience the same basic body distortions.

Eating disorders are symptoms of underlying emotional stress. Athletes competing in all sports are susceptible to eating disorders, but they are found more in some sports than others. Athletes who are more at risk of having eating disorders include ballet dancers, gymnasts, cheerleaders, figure dancers, divers, wrestlers, and swimmers (Facts about Eating Disorders).

When it comes to weight management, most coaches only look at numbers. Coaches do not look at how much of that weight is muscle, fat, or water weight. Almost every sport has coaches whose athletes come to them wanting to lose or gain weight. According to Ken Mannie, author of “Bullet Points for Strength Training and Weight Management,” if you approach these athletes the wrong way, it can become a sensitive issue. There are many sports where weight gain and weight loss is encouraged, including football, wresting, and gymnastics. The loss or gain is seen as an advantage point over other athletes in their sport. In order to gain the necessary weight, these athletes often turn to a “potentially dangerous supplement industry and/or anabolic agents for answers.” (Mannie) When it comes to losing weight, the procedures used are much more harmful because they cause the body to deteriorate from the inside out, usually leading first to dehydration (Mannie).

Athletes’ physical performance is reliant on many different factors, including where they stand nutritionally. Since they have a higher level of exercise, they need to attain to the abnormal amounts of energy they expend, meaning nutritionally and energy wise. Over the past few decades, there have been an increasing number of women participating in sports. The increasing numbers have begun a larger awareness of the needs of these women nutritionally (Hasapidou). It has been shown through studies that “female athletes often show poor dietary behaviors,” observes Maria Hasapidou. These behaviors come across to others as disorders such as anorexia, amenorrhea, bulimia, and osteoporosis. Amenorrhea, which is a delay in the menstrual cycle for days, weeks, or even months at a time, has been shown to effect competitive runners, ballet dancers, non-competitive runners, swimmers, and cyclists. Bulimia and anorexia are also on the rise for athletes (Hasapidou). It has been revealed through studies that female athletes have “low reported energy intakes in comparison to high levels of energy expenditure.” The researchers conducting such studies have questioned how athletes can stay at a maintainable weight, and perform with such success with these low energy/nutrient intakes. When assessing the nutritional and energy intake of these athletes, the study was conducted during the in-season and off-season. It was shown that the energy expenditure was higher in the off-season (Hasapidou). Pressure to stay lean can increase an athlete’s susceptibility to self-criticism and poor body image. Sometimes a single word can trigger an eating disorder. This combination of emotions often leads to energy restriction and an eating behavior known as Dietary Restraint. Dietary Restraint is just that, deliberately limiting food intake as a means to lose weight and/or prevent weight gain (Energy Restriction, Dietary Restraint, and Athletic Performance).

Detecting eating disorders can be visible to the naked eye, depending on the disorder. Anorexia, a loss of appetite characterized by a pursuit of thinness, can be identified by the afflicted persons looking emaciated and eat little or nothing. Occasionally they wear bulky clothes to hide thinness and they may complain of being cold. Bulimic behavior is fainter. Many who suffer from bulimia have bloodshot eyes, swollen glands, and bruised fingers, from induced vomiting. These athletes may eat a substantial meal but they then rush to the bathroom; the sound of rushing water may fill the room as they try to distinguish the sound of vomiting. The bulimic athlete may also try to hide laxatives and/or display other secretive behaviors (Clark). Other ways to detect disorders may include preoccupation with food, for example, counting grams of at, obsession with weight or displeasure with their body, skipping