It's summertime, and naturally many of us are thinking about our 'beach bodies.' While it’s perfectly acceptable to strive for health and to want to look and feel our best, it’s important to be mindful of how we go about doing this, especially because women receive toxic messaging daily from the diet and fitness industry about what we need to do to be “healthy” and “beach-ready.”
Instagram is flooded with bikini photos that have been FaceTuned to oblivion and celebrities selling diet teas, shakes, and systems.
It’s no surprise that higher social media use is correlated with a heightened risk for disordered eating.
I felt compelled to write this blog to remind myself and other individuals that we have a choice when it comes to how we treat our bodies, and that there is an alternative to the cycle of crash dieting, starvation, and binge eating that so many of us are familiar with.
*Please know that this blog is not meant to replace medical or nutritional advice. Please consult your doctor and/or nutritionist before you make any changes to your diet or lifestyle.*
Today I want to debunk two common diet/health myths to steer clear of as you start a health or fitness journey:
1. We all need 2,000 calories a day for optimum health.
2. Short, sedentary, or inactive women should eat 1,200 calories a day to lose weight.
We can look to the Minnesota Starvation Experiment to debunk both myths.
At the end of WWII, researched called out for volunteers to experience starvation under medical supervision in order to learn more about starvation, and how to recover from it.
What they found was that the 36 (all male) volunteers came into the study eating on average 3,200 calories a day. This is quite a bit more than the 2,000 calories suggested to us by USDA guidelines. These men maintained their weight eating this amount of food while having energy to work, exercise, tend to their families, friends, hobbies, and responsibilities.
They found that the men in their study began to starve when their calorie intake dropped to 1,600 calories per day. When they entered a state of starvation, these men became preoccupied with food. They began to clip pictures of food out of magazines and paste them to the wall to stare at, as well as hoard recipes to leaf through in their spare time.
The men began to exclusively talk to each other about food, what food they wanted and were craving, and what type of food they would eat when they got out. Additionally, they had extreme cravings to binge eat, and a few of the men snuck away from researchers for long enough to binge eat in secret.
During starvation, participants reported losing their drive for sex and intimacy, and reported heightened levels of irritability, depression, anxiety, and reported feeling like they had suffered a decline in cognitive ability.
What's more is that these men, under starvation, did not lose as much weight as the researchers predicted, given their calorie intake and bodyweight. It appears that their bodies were holding on to fat reserves for survival. The numbers were not adding up, suggesting that weight loss and gain is much more than a simple numbers game.
What concerns me after learning about this experiment is how many diet and health apps prescribe starvation diets to consumers. Some women type in their information to MyFitnessPal to find that the app suggests that they eat somewhere anywhere between 1,200 and 1,600 calories.
I'm also troubled to see the idea that short or less active women should strive for 1,200 calories per day to lose weight. I have seen this idea perpetuated on message boards on Reddit, on Instagram, and on Facebook, usually coupled with an advertisement for some sort of diet food, tea, or supplement. This is absolute BS!
If no less than 1,600 calories caused the men in the Minnesota Starvation Experiment to starve, it's not much to assume that for most women, 1,200 calories must be starvation, too.
In fact, even 2000 calories may not be enough to fuel some women throughout their active lives. If active men eat an average of 3,200 calories per day to be functional members of society and to continue living an active and meaningful life, than it follows that women may need more like 2,500 - 3,000 calories per day to truly thrive and be active, too.
So where did that magic number of 2,000 calories come from anyway?
Well, it came from a self-report study conducted by the USDA in the early '90's. Men reported eating anywhere from 2,000-3,000 calories on average, and women reported eating 1,600-2,200 calories on average.
The problem with self-report studies like these is that people are notoriously bad at estimating how much they've eaten, and often eat much more than they report.
What's more is that after the USDA conducted this study, they just kind of decided that 2,000 calories seemed to be a nice even number to use for standardization, and without any scientific or mathematical reasoning, settled on that as the standard daily intake amount.
What I'm trying to convey here is that you cannot trust any one-size fits all recommendation for how much or when you should eat to "lose weight," or "be healthy." Additionally, using starvation or crash diets won't help you lose weigh in the long term, but it will cause acute mental and physical distress that may linger long after you've ditched the diet.
Luckily there is another way to take care of our bodies and look and feel our best:
Intuitive Eating
Intuitive eating has ten principles:
1. Reject the diet mentality
2. Honor your hunger
3. Make peace with food
4. Challenge the food police
5. Discover the satisfaction factor
6. Feel your fullness
7. Cope with your emotions with kindness
8. Respect your body
9. Engage in joyful movement
10. Honor your health with gentle nutrition
Intuitive eating as a concept is simple. It's the practice of getting in touch with your hunger and fullness cues, and learning to respect those cues. Intuitive eating places emphasis on eating food that is both nutritionally and emotionally satisfying.
“Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel good. Remember that you don’t have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. You will not suddenly get a nutrient deficiency, or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of eating. It’s what you eat consistently over time that matters. Progress, not perfection, is what counts.”
Intuitive eating doesn't label foods as good or bad, and acknowledges that in order to live a rich life, sometimes you may choose to eat when you are not hungry. For example, you've just eaten dinner and your best friend calls you to get Fro-Yo. You may be full, but Fro-Yo does sound really good, and you can't wait to catch up with your girlfriend.
Intuitive Eating also allows for that moment where you might choose to eat your favorite comfort food for dinner instead of the salad you had planned, because Intuitive Eating places emphasis on feeling emotionally and physically satisfied with one's food choices as a way to combat the cycle of binge eating.
So how do you embark on the practice of intuitive eating? I suggest reading the book Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole, as well as starting a Food and Mood journal to begin. Consider recording, each time you eat:
1. The time
2. Where you are
3. Who you are with
4. How you are feeling
5. What you are thinking
6. What you ate
7. And how full you are before and after your meal
from 1-10
Over time, you will begin to notice when you are most likely to eat in response to emotions, circumstances, or events, you will get more familiar with your body's own hunger and fullness cues, and you will learn to eat mindfully and get greater satisfaction out of mealtime.
Allow yourself to mute or unfollow any accounts that make you feel bad about your body. Do not hesitate to put a friend on “mute” for a while if you need a break from triggering content, and don’t be afraid to just go ahead and unfollow those health and wellness influencers peddling diet products and advocating for starvation diets. You may just be happier (and healthier!) without them.
Meet the Author:
Sarah Miles, Graduate Student Intern
Sarah is a graduate student intern at Space Between Counseling Services. As a budding therapist-in-training, she has been working with clients as they navigate depression, anxiety, body-image concerns, career, life transitions, and the creative process.
Sarah practices from an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and strengths-based perspective. She is passionate about working with clients to:
Reframe destructive thoughts and self-beliefs
Cultivate acceptance toward their mind, body, and emotions
Recognize and cultivate their unique strengths and gifts, and
Clarify and live a life in line with their deeply held values
When Sarah isn't working with clients, she enjoys reading, writing, listening to music, noodling on her instruments, spending time with family, and going for long walks with a good audiobook.