The link between food insecurity and eating disorders
I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog discussing the effects of eating disorders on individuals, the impact of diet culture on the average brain, and the prevalence of body negativity among the general populace. But what I haven’t written about is how eating disorders permeate into worlds where food isn’t always as readily available. In other words, the development and existence of eating disorders in food-insecure environments.
So in this post, I’ll dig into the connection between food insecurity and eating disorders and reveal what’s being done (or needs to be done) to ensure these communities have access to the nourishment, treatment, and support they need.
What is food insecurity?
The link between food insecurity and disordered eating
How does a food-insecure environment play a role in eating disorder development? Here are a few ways.
The restriction question
In situations where humans are deprived of food, whether voluntary or involuntary, the body can’t always discern the reason it’s not being fed. When you aren’t sure when you’ll eat next, your body might enter starvation mode, setting itself up to overeat if and when the opportunity arises. On the other hand, individuals who aren’t sure when they will eat next might binge on food when it’s available, hoping if they eat enough, they’ll stay full.
In Dead Weight: Essays on Hunger and Harm, Emmeline Clein writes: “Food-insecure households often live in a 'feast or famine cycle', bingeing in preparation for periods of scarcity when they must restrict.”
Regardless of the reason for restriction, limited food intake has the same effect on the mind and body: “preoccupation with food, heightened emotional reactivity, and a tendency toward binge eating once restrictions are no longer in place.” (Source)
Food access
Access to healthy foods is often geographically limiting. In “food deserts” throughout the U.S., the only available food has been shipped in from miles away and, therefore, is often processed and preserved for long-term shelf life. Without access to fresh and healthy food options, these communities have no choice but to eat foods with little nutritional value, which, when consumed, can correlate to decreased feelings of satiety.
Work-life imbalances
Food insecurity disproportionately affects BIPOC communities and low-income households. (Source) In these communities, individuals might work shift jobs or multiple hourly jobs, resulting in unstructured eating patterns and unpredictable schedules. As a result, they may reach for food that is fast, inexpensive, and often less nutritious than home-prepared meals.
Research on food insecurity and eating disorders
If we break this down by type of eating disorder, research has revealed the following:
“Participants with food insecurity were more likely to report binge eating than those who were food-secure (25.3% versus 18.4%).”
Adults and adolescents living in food-insecure households were more likely than those in food-secure households to report engaging in compensatory behaviors to counteract the effects of eating or control their weight.
Bulimia nervosa was more commonly diagnosed in participants with food insecurity (8.6%) compared to those who were food secure. (5.2%).
Additional barriers for food-insecure populations
Not having access to basic nutrition can have physical, mental, and emotional effects on the human body. Worrying about food can lead to symptoms of anxiety and depression, and not having enough to eat can result in nutritional deficiencies and health problems.
Food-insecure households also might lack access to basic healthcare or specialist healthcare to treat any symptoms that arise from limited food access. The care they do have might not be trained in spotting disordered eating behaviors. If they are diagnosed with an eating disorder, the next obstacle is finding available and affordable treatment providers.
Government programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) are helpful, but only doling out benefits once per month can mean individuals exhaust their funds shortly after receiving them. There is research that suggests “food intake decreases during periods of food scarcity and increases during periods of relative food abundance (e.g., after receiving a paycheck).'“
Food insecurity: What can be done?
Despite the research above, there is still much to be done to determine the prevalence of eating disorders among food-insecure populations. If individuals cannot get a proper diagnosis, for example, they can’t be included in these studies, which presents a huge gap in findings.
But one thing we know for sure is that food-insecure communities exist. Community-based support, food assistance, and affordable healthcare are just the start of addressing these issues, but greater gains need to be made at the local and national levels to combat food insecurity.
On a personal level, knowing what we know about how food insecurity affects the human body should allow us more empathy for these communities and encourage us to find ways to close the gap between access to food and human dignity.