Is fasting just another name for a controlled form of anorexia?

This topic contains 6 replies, has 6 voices, and was last updated by Ruthi 11 years, 2 months ago.

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Momrussell

3:58 am
6 Oct 13
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Ii have been doing alternative day fasting since mid-August. I have lost 16 pounds. I was asked this week if fasting, for weight loss reasons isn’t a lot like a controlled form of anorexia? Thoughts?

Couscous

7:56 am
6 Oct 13
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Hi Momrussell, Absolutely not and I believe it is at the very least disengenuous and misleading to suggest a link or similarity. Anorexia, from my limited knowledge is a mental health issue with “sufferers” having a distorted view of both their physical and mental health in terms of what they perceive as healthy eating and how they appear.
Fasting is altogether different. People who fast do so for many reasons but mainly focused on physical health and well being. There is nothing hidden about fasting, it has been shown over the years to be a safe form of controlled eating and much medical research has been carried out into various forms of fasting. The 5:2 fasting system is achievable and safe (generally) for most people subject in some cases to medical advice.
It seems to me that to try to link fasting to Anorexia shows an ignorance of both issues.
Good Luck out there.

annette52

8:31 am
6 Oct 13
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Momrussell It’s something that I too wondered about when I started the 5:2 because it was just so different from any other methods of weight loss.

Anorexics do control their calorie intake all the time and have a distorted body image. I attempt to control mine for 2 days a week(with varying success) and have found that my view of my body is lagging behind reality in that I usually select clothes that are too large for my now smaller frame.

I found with WW the obsession about everything eaten or drunk that had to be calculated in the form of points was very destructive to any kind of healthy relationship with food.I never call it fasting either as I find that throws folk into a complete panic, but say that I am reducing my calories for 2 days a week.

Well done on the 16 lb. Do you think that there may be an element of the Green Eyed Monster? I certainly found that when I had lost a similar amount.

Carla

10:37 am
6 Oct 13
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I agree, Annette.

The WW approach (and most diets) create an unhealthy atmosphere concerning food. This is good and that is bad…it sets one up for failure.

I like your approach (telling people you are restricting calories two days a week) and have encountered much the same reaction from people using the word FASTING. I stopped trying to justify it or explain it. I just let them watch the results. 🙂

I think often if people do not understand an approach, or it is different from their own…they end up throwing stones at it.

I just enjoy losing weight and still enjoying real foods/sauces and desserts!

Astrid

11:02 am
6 Oct 13
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Many of us have food around us all the time, so, yes to choose to fast or really restrict food intake would seem odd. There is though, a significant portion of the population that go with out food, or have very little food due things like poverty. Would we call these people anorexics?

annette52

3:48 pm
6 Oct 13
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Carla,I think that folk think that it’s another crack pot diet and dismiss it before they even find out about it.The best advert is ourselves.I avoid the word ‘fast’ at all costs but when pressed explain that you are asleep for a third of it anyway!

Good point Astrid.

Ruthi

9:15 pm
6 Oct 13
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Technically anorexia (as opposed to Anorexia Nervosa) is just a loss of appetite. When I am fasting intermittently my appetite on normal days does diminish a bit – especially where sugar is concerned, so yes, there is an element of this.

But of course that isn’t what the naysayers mean. They mean we are crackpots. If losing weight and feeling great is crackpot, I say ‘Bring it On!’

That having been said I did worry slightly when I got to the stage of looking forward to my fast days. Its so easy – no worrying about what to eat – AND I get to feel great and go browse the clothes stores.