Trigger Warning: This article contains references to binge eating disorder
In March 2020, when the global COVID 19 pandemic hit, there was mass panic about this virus and how it would change our lives. The increasing number of infections were reported daily and the message ‘stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives’ was everywhere. One thing that the government didn’t take into consideration alongside this pandemic was the mental and physical health of the nation.
On 4th September, Dr Rosena Allin-Khan, Shadow Cabinet Minister for Mental Health, tweeted “The Health Secretary didn’t meet any mental health organisations during the first three months of lockdown. The Government are not taking mental health seriously.” And she’s right. Especially now that they’re trying to ‘wage war on obesity’ and ‘fat shame’ a nation into losing weight.
According to the NHS BMI calculator, my BMI is 27.6, which makes me overweight. This is despite the fact I am extremely active, exercising 5-7 times a week.
This information can be very triggering for people like me.
I have struggled with my mental health for most of my life and, in 2017, was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, a condition that affects how I feel and how I see the world. It affects my emotions (sometimes resulting in violent mood swings), means I have low self-esteem and partake in impulsive behaviours, such as excessive spending and binge eating. Low self-esteem and binging have been a major issue for me throughout my life but more so during lockdown. After speaking with a counsellor and GP, they said that I was experiencing binge eating disorder (BED) brought on by stress and extreme anxiety.
Binge eating disorder is when you lose control around food, eating quickly and to excess which results in feelings of guilt and self-hate. It’s not just a case of eating too much or feeling too full. It’s an upsetting experience. For me, I binge when I feel depressed and my self-esteem has hit rock bottom. I punish myself by, for example, eating an entire box of cakes, a giant chocolate bar or three or four bags of sweets all in a row. After I’m done, I get really upset, feel guilty and restrict my food to teach myself a lesson. During lockdown, it’s been easier to do these things because I’m at home around all the foods that I binge on. I can’t stop thinking about them and the more I try not to, the more I want them. It’s a vicious cycle. My partner and I were supposed to get married this year so around the proposed date, my bingeing was off the charts.
Like many other people, I’ve tried several diet fads in order to lose weight and help love myself but they’ve never worked out. The diet pills, intermittent fasting, drinking aloe vera gels and joining slimming clubs just exacerbated my bingeing. The focus was always on not eating any ‘bad foods’ and if you did, you had to explain why you had eaten them and then go through self-deprecating behaviour telling yourself you’d failed or that your willpower wasn’t ‘strong enough’.
When the government announced the ‘war on obesity’, it made me angry. According to The Telegraph, health officials have said that if you’re obese you’re at an increased risk of death by COVID19. This tactic of scaring people into losing weight isn’t the way forward and won’t encourage change. Those with eating disorders already worry about their weight and appearance and hearing these messages will only make things worse for them and make recovery even more difficult.
There’s also a government radio advert being played from the perspective of a ‘nurse’ telling people to lose weight in order to have a better chance against COVID19. This type of manipulative marketing may well get people to think about their eating habits but it’s also planting the seed for quick and unsafe ways to lose weight. The irony being that not long before this advert, the government were telling nursing staff to ‘practice what they preach’ and ‘set a good example’ by losing weight and making healthier choices. It’s sad that during lockdown the government were praising NHS staff and had us all clapping for carers but are now making an examples of them.
As I previously said, according to the BMI calculator, I’m obese and these types of adverts just make me feel like I’m letting the country down and that I have no willpower. They’re not encouraging me to make healthier choices or get help for my bingeing. They’re making it worse.
Shaming people into ‘being healthy’ will just make those people with eating disorders feel worse and is a very triggering approach. The government should be offering solutions not shame.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I found the ‘Eat Out to Help Out’ initiative extremely problematic. I accept that we need to get the economy going and making sure local businesses don’t go out of business but if you’re telling the nation they’re overweight, why are you sending them to pubs and restaurants where the majority of food is ‘bad food’? Calorie labelling has been introduced by some eating places but this alone will not ‘fight obesity’. It might help people to make healthier choices but on the other hand, for people with eating disorders, it’s a nightmare because they’re trying in their recovery to stop counting calories. Eating out, I’ve felt like I couldn’t have what I really wanted to eat because of the shame around certain foods. I wouldn’t have dessert because of the calories but then go home and binge instead.
Instead of shaming and making examples of people, the government should be working with charities such as Beat and Mind to see how they could work together in promoting healthier living and better eating. They should be working together on better messaging so that information being put out there isn’t triggering to those who struggle with eating disorders.
I would ask the government to not ‘wage war’ or ‘fat shame’ people like me. Help them instead.
By continuing to fat shame the nation, they are creating a stigma which might take years to undo.
For more information about binge eating disorder, visit NHS online.
Words by Beth Rees
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