An Unhelpful Attitude About Dieting

The New York Times this week ran a fascinating story related to food and eating, one that has provoked some strong opinions on the paper’s web site. The subject of the article is MeMe Roth, a Manhattan woman who has clashed with administrators at her children’s public elementary school. Ms. Roth, reports the Times, strongly objects to the sugary snacks and baked goods that her kids and others have been offered at school, such as the cupcakes that parents bring into class for birthday celebrations. “I thought I was sending my kid to P.S. 9, not Chuck E. Cheese,” the Times quotes her as saying.

It is true that it is tough for kids to make healthy choices when they are constantly exposed to sweets. It’s tough for adults, too, to make those healthy choices if their own refrigerator is packed with ice cream and cake. Reducing children’s exposure to junk food makes it easier for kids to avoid eating it.

But in trying to eradicate all traces of snacks and sweets from a child’s (or adult’s life), a person can go too far. By going to extremes in making a diet healthy for oneself or someone else, one can end up perpetuating an eating disorder that can be just as harmful as a steady diet of Tootsie Rolls.

One unhelpful approach is to categorize foods as good or bad. A cupcake by itself, for example, is not intrinsically evil. But if it is demonized and taboo--think of the tree in the Garden of Eden-- it becomes more seductive and desirable. In the likely event that a person eventually does yield to temptation and eat the forbidden fruit (or junk food), he or she ends up feeling terrible and guilt-ridden -- and, feeling defeated, keeps on eating. A key goal in working with people with eating disorders is to help them prevent one slip from turning into a binge. And one way to do that is to stop demonizing certain kinds of food.

Another unhelpful approach is to fast for long periods during the day. Often, people with eating disorders will eat little during the day -- letting themselves get extremely hungry -- and then binge at night. Feeling horrible and guilty, they decide to start dieting the next day -- and begin the cycle anew. So part of treating people with eating disorders is to help them get comfortable with eating regularly, to not let themselves get too hungry and to move away from dieting and deprivation.

For people with food and weight issues, it is not easy to navigate all the external cues and social pressures to eat. At the same time, outlawing fat and food are hardly the way to help.