{"id":33581,"date":"2023-11-13T10:46:24","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T18:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/?p=33581"},"modified":"2023-11-14T10:49:54","modified_gmt":"2023-11-14T18:49:54","slug":"food-shaming-can-we-please-stop-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/all-mfn\/food-shaming-can-we-please-stop-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Shaming: Can We Please Stop It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Once upon a time, food used to be one of life\u2019s pleasures and athletes would eat with gusto. Today, food has become a source of anxiety\u2014Will it ruin my health? Make me fat? Hurt my performance?<\/em> Food has also become a source of shame\u2014I shouldn\u2019t have eaten so much. I eat well during the day but I\u2019m so bad at night. I\u2019m afraid I\u2019ll eat too much pie at Thanksgiving.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A survey of Gen Z-ers (ages 11-26; born between 1997 and 2012) indicates 60% feel pressure to eat in a way that shows others they eat \u201chealthy.\u201d These student athletes and recent grads \u2014many of whom are fitness exercisers and athletes\u2014feel pressure from social media, if not from their parents, peers, and teammates, to choose a perfect diet (i.e., no chips, cookies, burgers, etc.). And then the binge-eating and sneak-eating happens: shame, guilt, embarrassment.<\/p>\n\n\n

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At the 2023 Food & Nutrition Conference & Exposition (FNCE) of the\u00a0Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics<\/a>\u00a0(the nation\u2019s largest group of nutrition professionals), food shaming was a hot topic. (This topic that is near and dear to the hearts of most registered dietitians (RDs), given \u201ceveryone\u201d seems to scrutinize what we eat. Ha!) Food shaming happens not just among athletes at team meals, but also at family dinners, school lunches, and office coffee breaks. Maybe you, too, have experienced shame-producing food situations where you felt like you did something wrong because you ate, let\u2019s say, a sandwich (tsk, tsk<\/em>) at a team meal, while your teammates ate lettuce leaves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Athletes can easily end up feeling awkward, inadequate, and embarrassed about their food choices. As one runner shared, \u201cAfter visiting xxx college for a weekend, I decided against going there because the women on the track team nibbled on only dry salads with grilled chicken for lunch and dinner. I felt very awkward as I refueled my tired muscles with a plateful of pasta with meat balls.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, in today\u2019s world, we live with a lot of morality around food. Morality can easily spoil one\u2019s peaceful relationship with food. Athletes who have been food-shamed start to focus on eating only (society-defined) \u201cgood\u201d foods and eliminate the \u201cbad.\u201d Consequences of being food shamed include feeling bad about themselves, a desire to eat alone, and increased self-criticism of perceived body flaws. (\u201cNo wonder I\u2019m so fat. I should eat better\u2026) The more shame athletes feel about their food choices, the more likely they are to restrict what they eat and cut out \u201cwhite\u201d foods, fast foods, and all fun foods. This can become a slippery slope into disordered eating, if not an outright eating disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many athletes might wish they could \u201cjust eat normally\u201d, they often hold too much shame to seek guidance from the healthcare professional who could help them: a registered dietitian (RD) who is board-certified in sports dietetics (CSSD). If they feel guilty, anxious, and vulnerable regarding their food intake, they\u2019ll fear being judged. \u201cI would feel too embarrassed to honestly tell a dietitian about what I eat\u2026\u201d If that holds true for you, rest assured, a professional RD will not make hurtful or judge-y, guilt-inducing remarks. (Most RDs have been food shamed themselves for enjoying fun foods, tsk-tsk, like Thanksgiving pies and holiday cookies. They understand how uncomfortable it can feel.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Food-shamed athletes prefer to eat alone, deprive themselves of their \u201cunhealthy\u201d foods\u2014and end up shamefully over-eating them at a time of weakness. According to FNCE speaker Tammy Beasley RD, shame thrives in secret, lonely places of over-indulgence. The RD\u2019s job is to transform that shame into self-compassion and self-kindness; to let athletes know they are not alone; they are not the only humans who have devoured a pint of ice cream in one sitting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solutions<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To derail the cycle of food shaming, we need to abandon food morality. Food is fuel; it is not good or bad and what you eat does not determine if you are good or bad. Your goal is enjoy a balanced intake of a variety of nutrient-dense foods with some fun foods included. Please stop scrutinizing and \u201cperfecting\u201d your food intake. Instead, focus on fueling for optimal performance. Trust that eating bread and pasta will not result in your body exploding into obesity, but rather will fuel your muscles and enhance your athletic ability. A cookie or two will not ruin your health forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social media is the number one instigator of food shaming. Given almost all of us use social media, and 57% use it more than 5 hours a week, we can see how food shaming can spiral out of control. Instagram photos with \u201chealthy foods\u201d can easily make anyone feel bad about choosing \u201cimperfect\u201d foods with less nutrient density. Hence, a good place to stop food shaming is at the source: limit the time you spend scrolling through endless triggering posts\u2014and stop following triggering influencers.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Moving Forward<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Three tips to help transform your \u201cshameful\u201d eating into pleasurable fueling include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Let go of being a perfectionist and enjoy being human, like the rest of us. Stop trying to eat a \u201cperfect diet.\u201d An excellent diet will do the job. The goal is 85-90% quality-calories and 10-15% \u201cwhatever\u201d, such as an apple some days, and apple pie on other days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 An excellent sports diet can include some \u201cevil\u201d sugar. No need to avoid all sweets and treats! The US Dietary Guidelines allow for 10% of total calories to come from added sugar. That\u2019s 240 to 300 calories (60-75 grams) of added sugar per day for most athletes, if desired. That\u2019s the amount of sugar in 3 gels, 36 ounces of sport drink, or 24 gummi bears. Sugar in any form helps (re)fuel muscles during and after a hard workout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Enjoy a satisfying breakfast and lunch. Stop eating when your body feels content, not just when the food is gone, you think you should, or you\u2019re feeling ashamed because you are eating more than your peers. Adequate daytime meals can curb afternoon and evening (shame-inducing) binges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Finally, bring fun back into your food-style. Yes, please shamelessly enjoy fun foods like Thanksgiving pie and Grandma\u2019s special holiday cookies, keeping balance and moderation in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD counsels both fitness exercisers and competitive athletes in the Boston-area (Newton; 617-795-1875). Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook<\/a> is a popular resource, as is her online workshop. Visit NancyClarkRD.com<\/a> for info<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Once upon a time, food used to be one of life\u2019s pleasures and athletes would eat with gusto. Today, food has become a source of anxiety\u2014Will it ruin my health? Make me fat? Hurt my performance? Food has also become a source of shame\u2014I shouldn\u2019t have eaten so much. I eat well during the day but I\u2019m so bad at night. I\u2019m afraid I\u2019ll eat too much pie at Thanksgiving. A survey of Gen Z-ers (ages 11-26; born between 1997 and 2012) indicates 60% feel pressure to eat in a way that shows others they eat \u201chealthy.\u201d These student athletes and recent grads \u2014many of whom are fitness exercisers and athletes\u2014feel pressure from social media, if not from their parents, peers, and teammates, to choose a perfect diet (i.e., no chips, cookies, burgers, etc.). And then the binge-eating and sneak-eating happens: shame, guilt, embarrassment. At the 2023 Food & Nutrition Conference & Exposition (FNCE) of the\u00a0Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics\u00a0(the nation\u2019s largest group of nutrition professionals), food shaming was a hot topic. (This topic that is near and dear to the hearts of most registered dietitians (RDs), given \u201ceveryone\u201d seems to scrutinize what we eat. Ha!) Food shaming happens not just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":33053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[139],"class_list":["post-33581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-mfn","tag-nutrition"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33581"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33583,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33581\/revisions\/33583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medfitnetwork.org\/public\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}