Isn't a diet a form of eating disorder, really?

I mentioned sometime ago on my post Discovering shared journeys that I'd been having lunch with a new friend only to discover that she had been reading my site for months without knowing it was mine (spooky, hey?).

Anyhow, I'm sure she won't mind me saying that this friend is Sarah, who has since begun her own blog called Finding serenity within me, connected with her recovery from an eating disorder.

Sarah's latest post is really interesting, where she brings attention to some definitions between eating disorders and dieting that she found on a newsite.

I will also repeat those definitions here (with my comments in italics underneath), because like Sarah, I'm also a bit stunned by them:

· Dieting is about losing a little bit of weight in a healthful way. Eating disorders are about trying to make your whole life better through food, or lack of, and eating.

>I say: Isn't a diet also about trying to make your whole life better through food?

· Dieting is about doing something healthy for yourself. Eating disorders are about seeking approval and acceptance from everyone through negative attention.

>I say: Isn't a diet really also about seeking approavel from others by attempting to reach an 'acceptable' weight?

· Dieting is about losing a bit of weight and doing it healthfully. Eating disorders are about how life won't be good until a bit, or a lot, of weight is lost, and there's no concern for what kind of damage you do to yourself to get there.

>I say: Hmm, Cabbage Soup Diet, Lemon Juice Diet, South Beach Diet, Atkins Diet, food combining, etc etc. The majority of diets out there are 'faddy' and therefore by no means healthy. They don't teach us about incorporating many foods into our eating, and they restrict many other. And yo-yo dieting has been proven to cause damage to the immune system. And many people keep on with dieting in an aim to lose as much weight as they can. In fact, it can often be the start of an eating disorder if they fail to lose as much weight as they think they should!

· Dieting is about losing some weight in a healthy way so how you feel on the outside will match how good you already feel on the inside. Eating disorders are about being convinced that your whole self-esteem is hinged on what you weigh and how you look.

>I say: Well, no, as we've just said most diets aren't about losing weight in healthy way. And they are still hinged on what you weigh and how you look.

· Dieting is about attempting to control your weight a little better. Eating disorders are about attempting to control your life and emotions through food, or lack of food, and are a huge neon sign saying, "Look how out of control I really feel.

>I say: There isn't an awful lot of difference in these definitions, between dieting and eating disorder. Whoever wrote them needs a BIG FAT reality check! One is just a more socially acceptable form of eating disorder, in my humble (and for what it's worth) opinion.

Now, if the authors of this are the people who are helping people with eating disorders, is it any wonder that recovery is such a hard thing to do?

A diet can often be the thing that leads someone to an eating disorder, and if we worked on trying to teach people not to diet, then there wouldn't be the pieces to pick up after the food control has turned into a more serious eating disorder!