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This article includes frank discussions of eating disorders and disordered eating. Take care of yourself, and reach out for immediate help from the National Eating Disorders Association if you feel you need additional support.
Unhealthy eating patterns are pervasive in fitness culture. Whether it’s the latest “wellness” trend on TikTok, advice from elite athletes, or general messaging from an industry that thrives on athletes’ desire to perform optimally or meet an unattainable aesthetic standard, this messaging can lead to patterns of consumption or restriction that are disordered, and eventually, meet a diagnostic standard for an eating disorder.
An eating disorder (ED) is a diagnosis, defined in The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, where a person’s disordered relationship with food meets specific diagnostic criteria determined by the American Psychiatric Association. There…
