While the obesity epidemic needs tackling, printing calories on menus will do more harm than good

EXCLUSIVE | 3 min read | Trigger warning: calorie counting

And there they were - my three meals for the day, all prepped, side by side. One orange juice, one orange fruit juice and one flavoured water. 300 calories precisely. And even better - only liquid.

This scene - at the height of my disordered eating - will be shocking to most. But for millions who suffer from eating disorders, or have in the past, they’ll hardly bat an eye-lid. For this pained community, this is life.

And so it was with dismay that I learned of the Government’s plan to enforce the inclusion of calories on restaurant menus by law, as well as targeting money-saving deals on ‘junk food’. 

There are several problems with both of these policies, not least that they come across as shallow attempts to shift the blame for the strain on the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic onto plus-sized people, but also entirely avoiding the underlying issue of poverty, for which there’s a direct correlation with obesity.

Forcing restaurants to list calories has already caused outrage, and rightly so. In particular, there is widespread worry that calorie counts on menus will be triggering for those who have struggled, or still do, with eating disorders. It brings to the fore the dreaded and damaging calories in vs out narrative.

FOREVER COUNTING

I know first-hand the unforgiving and frankly destructive nature of this mentality.

I spent the best part of three years following the advice I read on pro-anorexia blogs and forums, not realising just how insidious the content really was. I was forever counting because these sites had taught me one message loud and clear: I didn’t want to exceed more than 800 calories per day (less than half the daily recommended allowance for women).

For most people, restaurants are an escape from the humdrum of home and the toil of prepping, cooking then washing up. But for those of us with eating disorders restaurants can mean so much more.

SAFE HAVEN

I would relish restaurant visits as it allowed me an escape from the grasp of calorie-counting apps, providing solace from the constant mental pressure I put myself under as I checked and double-checked food labels.

Restaurants were a safe haven where there was no way to find out how many calories were in my meal.

As a young person with little to no substantial education surrounding energy and food, I was a susceptible victim of pro-ana sites. These sites, which endorse disordered eating and behaviours relating to the likes of Anorexia and Bulimia, were fundamental in the destructive relationship I had with food and, especially, calories growing up. 

Some of these sites are more malicious, some see disordered eating as little more than a lifestyle choice, whilst others are less ill-intentioned and set up with the supposed objective of creating a safe, forgiving and relatable space for those suffering from eating disorders.

It’s easy to ask why this is relevant. After 30 years of existence and 20 years of press coverage, you’d think pro-ana sites were old news. But they are still relevant. And thriving.

They’re especially relevant now, as they are known to push extremely low-calorie diets into the hands and minds of people who don’t know any better. They are designed to force the calories in vs calories out narrative which, while scientifically accurate, leaves too much room for manipulation without the proper context and supporting education.

‘THINSIPRATION’

The danger of these sites are relevant to anyone who has been, or continues being affected by the extreme diets and jealousy-inducing ‘thinspiration’ pictures that continue to plague pro-ana websites and linked hashtags on social media. 

It’s relevant to me. It’s relevant to 3.4 million people in the UK, a quarter of whom are men, that suffer with an eating disorder. 

These sites taught me and many others to count calories. To hate calories. To fear calories. It was all I thought about: calories, calories, calories. 

And now, with the execution of Public Health England’s Better Health Campaign coupled with the already-rising pressure to come out of lockdown fitter than ever (despite a public health crisis) the work I’ve done – that so many have done – to forget the amount of calories in one slice of bread, banana, or Mars Bar, has the potential to slowly be unravelled every time we take it upon ourselves to ‘Eat Out to Help Out’.

DECLINE

With the continuous decline of mental health services in the United Kingdom – even before COVID-19, the number of NHS hospital beds available for in-patient mental health care England had fallen by 73% since 1987 – more and more vulnerable people are open to the risk of falling into the trap of harmful dietary advice and inescapable calorie-counting.

This issue should be relevant to anyone who cares about the mental wellbeing of young girls, women and men. According to a report, the amount of admissions for eating disorders is on a ‘worrying’ incline, with 19,040 in 2018/19, up from 16,558 in 2017/18 and 13,885 in 2016/17. 

I am one of the people who was affected by the lack of interest and concern surrounding pro-ana sites, and the rise of the eating disorders they help to cultivate.

Whilst - thanks in part to campaigning by major media outlets including Vogue - these sites stopped appearing so prominently in Google searches, the culture grew elsewhere, housing harmful imagery and inspo in subtle, easily-abused social media hashtags across Twitter, Instagram and, now, TikTok. It goes without saying that the pandemic and its social isolation and increased screen time during lockdowns have only increased the popularity of such sites.

LACK OF SUPPORT

Counsellor and life coach Georgina Lynch worked within NHS mental health public services for 11 years. She believes pro-ana sites contribute in developing eating disorders in young people and insists these sites - that have no regulation or professional input - are dangerous and will not provide sufferers with the therapeutic support they need. 

Under the circumstances of growing waiting lists and inadequate services, she can see why sufferers turn to the internet above professional help.

Georgina says, ‘The problem they have with accessing professional help is unless the young person is seen to be a danger to themselves or to others, intervention services will not be deemed necessary. In the mean-time, a young person will grow more and more desperate and will understandably seek their own level of support.

‘For this to stop being a growing trend, adequate services are required, with shorter waiting lists, quicker response times and the need for a young person to self-refer.’

In Georgina’s view, putting calories on menus ‘does not seem to take into account the health needs of vulnerable people in our society.’ She adds: ‘Consideration and care needs to be shown to all.’

The challenges faced by those with eating disorders, especially in the early stages, forge the path towards dangerous, misleading communities and the spaces they inhabit on the ever-accessible internet. 

Now, with calories being plastered across every menu in the UK by law, there is going to be absolutely no escape for people like me who have succumbed to the suffocating claws of an eating disorder. 

I don’t know what the solution is to obesity but there has to be another way. Education? Tackling poverty? A better way. I pray we find it.

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