Proper Diet

A proper diet consists of a variety of foods from each of the food groups every day. We need meats and animal products, fruits and vegetables, dairy products, and grains and starchy roots. (For more information see The Latter-day Saint Woman: Basic Manual for Women, Part A, lesson 22: “Nutrition for the Family.”)

Do You Have an Eating Disorder?

If you agree with two or more of these statements, you may have a strong tendency toward eating disorders. Get help now!

     1.     I try to be thinner than all my friends.

     2.     I panic if I gain two pounds.

     3.     I use laxatives for weight control.

     4.     I go for long periods without eating much as a way to lose weight.

     5.     My friends tell me I am thin, but I don’t believe them because I feel fat.

     6.     I like to eat alone. I make excuses so I don’t have to eat with my family.

     7.     I sometimes eat huge amounts of food and then make myself vomit.

     8.     I enjoy making treats for others as long as I don’t have to eat any.

     9.     The thing I fear most is becoming fat.

     10.     I get upset if I can’t exercise as much as planned.

     11.     My family makes me angry when they keep pushing food at me.

     12.     I tend to be a perfectionist.

Danger Signs of Eating Disorders

• Caloric restriction, binge eating, secretive eating

• Extreme preoccupation with food—preparing food or shopping for others, reading cookbooks and food magazines frequently, dreaming about food, developing peculiar eating rituals

• Preoccupation with dieting and calorie-counting

• Abuse of laxatives, diuretics, enemas, diet pills

• Evidence of forced vomiting

• Insomnia, constipation, dry skin, hair loss, weak and brittle nails, feeling of always being cold, lack of menstrual periods

• Distorted body image—feeling fat when one is emaciated

• Inordinate amounts of exercise

• Depression

• Inability to concentrate

• Withdrawal from friends and social activities

How Do Eating Disorders Start?

Most eating disorders start with negative feelings toward self. Often, victims harbor feelings of despair and/or feelings of being flawed and defective. Many factors—including physical, sexual, or emotional abuse—can lead to these negative feelings. (Some victims may be genetically predisposed to depression and might be helped by antidepressants.)

Some eating-disorder victims come from families with poor communication skills and unhealthy styles of relating. Such families may have one or more of the following characteristics:

• The perfect family places undue importance on externals such as appearance and achievement. They are often overly concerned about how others perceive them.

• In the overprotective family, parents leave their children little room for making decisions and experiencing consequences. Family members are often confused about their own identities.

• The chaotic family is usually unstable. Family rules are inconsistent; children often distrust themselves as well as others. Parents may suffer from alcoholism or severe depression, and children are often the victims of physical abuse.

Eating Disorders—A Form of Substance Abuse

Individuals who struggle with eating disorders appear to go through addictive cycles similar to those suffered by alcohol and drug abusers. The obsession with food and dieting often becomes a way to alleviate inner distress.