Following a diet can have a wide variety of different goals, some of which are beneficial: from losing weight by eliminating fat stored in the body, as is usually the case, to building muscle to be more fit. In this sense, it cannot be said that following an eating plan is something negative in itself.
However, when this becomes an obsession with eating healthy, physical and mental health changes do arise to take into account. In this article we are going to focus on one of the ways in which The constant need to control everything we eat can affect us psychologically: decreased self-esteem.
How can diet obsession negatively affect self-esteem?
These are the main ways that the obsession with diet and eating healthy can damage self-esteem directly or indirectly.
1. Obsession with the physique
Obsession with physical appearance is one of the first symptoms that we can experience when improperly managing an eating plan or diet.
On the one hand, certain diets surrounded by harmful marketing campaigns promise spectacular results that can make us focus more than usual on our physique and constantly look in the mirror, which not only leads to disappointment, but also It directs us semi-consciously towards the search for defects in ourselves.
On the other hand, it may also happen that the problem is not in the diet itself, but in our expectations and the degree to which we want to follow a plan to lose fat, define muscle, etc. to the millimeter. In both cases, the person internalizes the routine of constantly checking her appearance and focusing too much attention on what he would like to reverse.
People who become obsessed with a diet often end up also developing, in the long run, a great feeling of guilt every time they feel hungry or have the need to break the strict diet they are following.
And associated with this obsession with leading a healthy life, there usually arises a moralization of physical appearance: we cling to the idea that human beings are responsible for their beauty and/or their level of physical health through discipline, so that the experience of feeling hungry is often seen as a sign of weakness (sometimes although no one can really control the appearance and disappearance of that sensation).
This feeling of guilt becomes increasingly intense and the person ends up valuing themselves less and less, because they do not consider themselves “mentally strong” enough to achieve their desired lifestyle.
3. Rebound effect
The rebound effect is a phenomenon experienced by some people who follow a diet for the first time or when they are not very used to it. In this context, it occurs when to deal with the discomfort caused by an inadequate eating plan, the person ends up binge eating intermittently at times when you feel frustrated or experience a lot of stress.
This situation usually occurs due to the mixture of hunger caused by a strict diet and the tendency to think too much about food (even if it is to avoid it). This combination makes the concept “food” appear in the person’s mind constantly when they look for strategies to alleviate the discomfort they feel, even when it is not caused by hunger.
4. Social isolation
Diets can often contribute to feeling alone and displaced, as we find it difficult to find someone whose lifestyle allows us to carry out ours without constantly exposing ourselves to eating at odd hours, types of food that we consider inappropriate (for example, in dinners with friends or dates).
These difficulties in being “in sync” with someone mean that many people, because of having become obsessed with diet, adopt solitary habits, which generate a feeling of unwanted loneliness. And once this has occurred, it is very easy for us to feel bad about ourselves, having the wrong impression that no one wants to be by our side (although what has really happened is rather the opposite process, we have made it too difficult that others have access to us).
5. Affectation of physical health
Following a strict diet, especially for people who do it for the first time and without reliable knowledge in this area, also has a direct and obvious impact on their physical health, giving rise to effects opposite to those desired. This can be due to several causes, such as a lack of macronutrients (there are many harmful beliefs about the importance of avoiding fats and all types of carbohydrates), experiencing stress from always trying to control what you eat and anticipating ingredients necessary to prepare dishes during the week, excess physical exercise as a supposed “compensation” mechanism for excess calories ingested, etc.
Of course, this wear and tear of health It is reflected both in the appearance of the body and in the degree of physical well-being or discomfort, and these experiences impact the person’s self-esteem. If someone feels bad about what they see in the mirror or how they feel, they will have a greater predisposition to evaluate themselves from a pessimistic bias.
6. Demoralization linked to frustration
Frustration is also very directly related to the low self-esteem that many people who are following a diet have, since this is a reminder that you cannot eat everything you want at any time. And this fixation on food leads us to constantly question whether the sacrifice made is worth it judging from the progress that has been achieved. The answer to this is, in most cases, a clear “No”, but the idea of throwing in the towel generates great discomfort when keeping in mind all the effort and time invested in this process.
Thus, the combination of frustration and demoralization due to the relative lack of results makes the person learn to link their value as a person to the need to overcome those obstacles that they are facing and that at the moment they do not see themselves able to overcome. , which leads to a vicious circle. The person who has become obsessed with eating a healthy diet feels bad for not achieving what he had set out to do in terms of health or acceptance of his body, and at the same time he cannot help but value his own “I” through that constant frustrating fight.
7. Eating disorders
In the most extreme cases we find the appearance of an eating disorder. These pathologies are mental health disorders that affect the way in which the person relates to food, often based on an obsessive need to control what is eaten to reach a certain goal in relation to physical appearance. , while a series of dysfunctional self-perception thoughts arise. Anorexia and bulimia are the most popular eating disorders, but there are other psychopathologies that are included in this category, such as megarexia.
Furthermore, given that they affect such a fundamental aspect of health as nutrition, these disorders can trigger the appearance of other severe diseases associated with malnutrition or undernutrition. And since they expose the person to the risk of dying, it is important that professional help is sought at the first symptoms.
Related article: “Anorexia nervosa: symptoms, causes and treatment”
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