A couple weeks ago, I finished reading Hal Herzog’s Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat, an anthrozoological book studying the Western attitudes towards animals. This was not a Peta-thumping book at all–Hal Herzog eats meat and paints cock fighters in a sympathetic light–but the book shows how contradictory our perspective on animals can be.
The section that interested me the most was titled “Meat Avoidance and Eating Disorders: The Dark Side of Vegetarianism”. The section stated, while being vegetarian does not mean you have an less-than-healthy body image, studies have shown that proclaimed vegetarians are more likely to have an eating disorder. University of Minnesota researchers reported vegetarian teens are almost twice as likely than their meat-eating peers to diet frequently, and a University of Pennsylvania study found they are more obsesssed with their weight, diet and binge and purge more than omnivores.
Herzog’s colleague, Candace Boan-Lenzo studies eating disorders in young women, and quotes that, “vegetarianism does not cause people to become anorexic or bulimic. But some people, particularly teenage girls with these tendencies, use vegetarianism as a way to cover up their eating disorders…”
This section made me revisit my reason for why I decided to be vegetarian: Is my reason for being vegetarian really solely for the mistreatment of animals in factories?
Yes, this is a part of it. I know it’s cliche, but after watching those PETA videos of chickens’ beaks being snapped off and cows being probed, living in tight quarters waiting for their death, I broke down, soaked in real tears and vowed to go veg. Animals have always been important to me. I feel a kindredness towards them. Maybe it’s a combination of my love for Disney movies, my pet guinea pigs and spending time in nature as a child. I don’t get people who “just don’t get animals.”
However, my reason is not purely that of an animal activist. Like the onions in my Greek salad, there is more complexity and layers to my method of munchie madness. And some of it stinks selfish.
Though I have never had a full-fledged eating disorder, my body image and relationship with food, especially with college, has been less than perfect. I have attempted many diets, some unhealthy, and went through a binge-and-purge period my sophomore and junior year of college.
The first time I proclaimed I was vegetarian (though it was more pescatarian because I still ate fish), it was freshman year at Temple University. I was trying to control my weight, due to nights out guzzling beer at frat parties, something I had never done before. Meat equalled fat and actual meals. Not eating chicken or beef gave me the illusion that I was “making up” for all the calories I was consuming from my unhealthy lifestyle, though the pizza and packed salads along with the beer didn’t make me any skinnier. In fact, when I stopped drinking heavily, the weight peeled off quickly.
So basically, being vegetarian doesn’t mean I have shrunken to a size nothing–I still eat cheese and carbs galore–but, I do believe one of the reasons why I have decided to go vegetarian has to do with the desperate attempt to control my weight. Using the “veg” card is an excuse to skip a meal and just stick with salad. I get the false illusion that if I’m not eating hearty meat-and-potatoes dinners, I will become skinner.
To sum it up, the vegetarian excuse can cover an eating disorder with a morally-charged jacket.
Any other vegetarians think their intention might be weight control/body image related? If so, what do you make of your dietary decision?
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LagoLahMichelle 