Q: Playing Coach: How to approach eating disorders with a team?
If you were the coach of a collegiate women’s cross country team, how would you approach the issue of body image and weight?
A:
I don’t know how I would approach it with a high school team, but for a college team, I think this is an issue that should be addressed from week one, alongside all other important factors to performance and team dynamics. If I were coach, (which I’m not, so take it for what its worth) speaking to a collegiate team tomorrow, given my personal experiences up to this point, I’d probably say something like this:
“Weight and body image are issues that every single runner deals with at some point. For some of you it may already have happened, and for others you might not give it a thought until your 30′s. Just know that the athletes that make it to the highest levels and have the longest careers learn how to manage their weight in a healthy way without getting obsessed, and know when to say enough is enough. That is the goal for each of us.
“From what I’ve seen, only a small percentage of female athletes develop a black or white eating problem. Its important that we don’t look at the issue that way. The rest of us are all shades of grey*, working our way through a tough sport with lots of pressures to be perfect. We all have periods of time where we pick ourselves apart and periods of time where we accept ourselves…even those of us who appear to have it all figured out.
“In our sport we will see mirages of perfection who are silently destroying their bones and setting themselves up for years of problems for one or two seasons of success. That is a short cut. That is not how this team operates. We aspire to do things the best way, the ethical way, and we do not sacrifice our health. There will be times of the year where you need to lose a few, times in your season where you will need to maintain, and times of year where you will need to gain a few, and the goal is to learn to do that with as little thinking as possible. Know that it is possible to do that.
“People love to tell you that being light improves performance, but many women take this further than they need to; they would get the same effect with less weight loss and it would be sustainable. There is a wider range in weight for success than you may think. Make sure you pay attention to the healthy looking athletes that compete well, not just the overly skinny ones. Celebrate them. They have always existed, and they always will.
“And finally, recognize the power you all have to influence one another for either success or failure in this area. We can be a healthy, well adjusted team that improves incrementally and sets ourselves up for many years of success. Or we can spend all our time thinking about weight and food, letting disordered eating spread like a virus through our team, not only affecting our bodies, but robbing us of enjoying our experiences together. Do not let the dominant story of your season and your relationships be about food. Its simply not necessary, and more importantly, it takes the fun out of everything.
“My door is always open on this subject, like any other. I want you all to be healthy and successful, and I’ll help you any way I can.”
That’s the best I’ve got. Can you think of any other points collegiate women would benefit from hearing from their coach?
*Credit goes to Dave DeLong, Vin Lananna and especially Dena Evans for their influence on me in this area. Dena is the person who talked about people being shades of grey, which really stuck with me, not just on this issue but many others.
The “shades of grey” thing is probably the best way I’ve ever heard it put. I mean, I know lots of girls who don’t have a diagnosable (ie black and white) eating disorder, but whose (who’s ?) relationship with food constitutes some sort of…pathology? (clearly been hanging out in the hospital too long if I’m using pathology in a regular sentence). And, girls, especially in adolescence (which I believe lasts through mid-20s) are particularly influenced by what their peers are doing so things like bad relationships with food can become rampant.
This has nothing to do with eating but my parents and coaches always emphasized looking beyond my sport and having goals outside of it to pursue once that was over. I think that helped me keep my sport in perspective of the grand scheme of my life. (most of the time, I’ve thrown a few tantrums on the court in my day). Again, tennis isn’t really an eating disorder sport (but gymnastics, something I was involved with young, is — one of my coaches, when I was 11, told me she couldn’t believe I was eating pizza) so it wasn’t really a problem on my team ever.
I need to learn to write with less words.
Did girls, in your experience, ever get kicked off a team for having an eating disorder? For some reason, I think this would backfire…that a conversation is needed, rather than a punsihment/example made of someone.
What you said about adolescence being characterized by one being influenced by what one’s peers are doing…that is the money line right there. Anyone of that age group will be doing that, athlete or not.
Put athletics on top of it, where being successful REQUIRES looking to your teammates and those who came before you for examples, and it becomes likely that you will pick up the bad habits of those people along with the good…its impossible to tell the difference between the two sometimes.
As for being kicked off the team for an eating disorder: there were definitely times when an athlete’s privilege to race in the team’s uniform was put on hold until their health and outlook were improved. I am in support of this.
What advice would you offer for an athlete whose coach encourages negative ideas about self image? A young girl suffering from an eating disorder probably won’t know enough to stand up to such a coach, but an athlete on the sidelines might see what her coach is doing and not know how to stop it.
Tough one Mandy. I’d say the best thing you could do is offer a competing voice on the subject at another time. Put positive things in her ears whenever you can. Also, I’d make an appointment with the coach and tell him/her what I thought about what I saw. Approach it from the perspective “I’m sure you don’t realize this, but when you say things like that to a female athlete, this is what goes on in our heads. I know you don’t intend that to happen, but I’m in the trenches here with the women, and that is the reality of what happens.”
What do other people think on this one?
I can’t tell you how much I support your advice to speak up to coaches on this issue. I am the captain of a D1 women’s distance program and time after time, I have seen well-meaning coaches touch on this issue in a way that has produced damaging effects for my teammates. When my coach speaks to me about his approach to handling our concerns about body image/relationship to food, he generally sounds very logical and I find myself nodding and agreeing with him, right up until I snap back to reality and realize that very few women I know think or act the way he is suggesting we do. I believe that he means well, but is ill-equipped to handle the topic, as he’s young and has simply never been a woman trying to compete at the Division 1 level. I have finally come to realize that it is my responsibility to address this disconnect with him. Thus far, this process has felt frustrating. I have felt misheard and disappointed when his behavior hasn’t changed in the way I’d hoped it would. But I believe that finding the courage to be honest with coaches who might be misguided on this issue is incredibly important, given the central role they play in our development into whole, happy people at this period in our lives. It is my hope that concerned women will speak up and be honest about “what goes on in our heads” and that coaches will make an effort to be open to hearing us on this.
i like this question a lot and as a college distance runner coach is something i have had to deal with fairly regularly. having a counseling degree or nutrition degree when dealing with these issues would be helpful but I don’t have one. i do the best i can to help them recognized unhealthy behavior (not always food related) so that they can make better decisions. i encourage them to seek outside help as well.
college age is difficult in a lot of ways because of the growth that is happening in their brains going from kids and becoming adults. i keep trying to support them and push them in a positive direction. ultimately though they have to decide things for themselves and in this case if the weight is to low they are not allowed to race for me. what is to low has been a big struggle. i have used the “you know it when you see it” idea but i don’t like that because to every rule there are exceptions.
i would love to learn more about this “grey” area though. i think some of my athlete who struggle would as well.
Thanks for offering the perspective of a real coach, Andy. I like what you have to say. It is apparent that you care and make an effort. Do you have any specific tips for how to do the following?
“I do the best i can to help them recognize unhealthy behavior (not always food related) so that they can make better decisions.”
That is such a KEY strategy for people while they are figuring out how they are going to operate. Dena Evans used to say (with regards to food decisions) “If you don’t feel comfortable doing something in front of other people, its probably not a good idea.” That was a way to help us understand that healthy eating habits are transparent eating habits. The same quote applied to the occasional athlete running secret “extra miles” or other compulsive behaviors that were dangerous. That quote served me well in determining what was unhealthy.
I think some other people touched on this but you have to build a culture of trust and honesty with in the program.
1. Building this culture is the coach’s job and as a man coaching woman often puts me a bit out of my comfort zone. However that is my role and I need to be a bit more sensitive sometimes with the women then my men’s team (the women still get on me about not being sensitive enough but…i try my best).
2. I also emphasis with all of my teams that in life there are always choices to be made and only one person really controls that…it’s them. I guess I try to help them feel empowered which is very valuable for anyone that is suffering from low self -esteem and many of the related problems that come with that.
3. Honesty. My woman’s team don’t always love that I am super honest with them in this culture because sometimes that becomes very uncomfortable for everyone. However because of the culture they are fairly accepting about what is being said (not 100% of the time but I’m very persistent). I know that they appreciate that honesty and generally trust that they can talk to me about almost everything.
4. Regular individual meetings are probably the most valuable thing i do. We have lots of conversations about lots of things (both formal and informal). Trying to slowly bring them around to what are healthy behaviors is tough and sometimes you have to repeat things over and over with people (not eating breakfast slows down your metabolism and doesn’t allow you to recover properly…). I always try to let them know that the choices they make are still theirs but I also let them know which path I believe is in their best interest if they want to be a healthy and successful student athlete.
5. I try to let them know that I will always love them and support them regardless of the decisions they make. Even the ones I disagree with. I try to not give conditional support (oh you ran great so I like you today….or you ran a bad race so I’m going to give you the silent treatment). However I also let them know that sometimes bad decisions can end in things that they don’t like (you can’t race until you get back to such and such a weight).
6. I try very hard to appeal to their intellect and explain why they need to do certain things and why other things may send them down a path that they really shouldn’t go. I also try very hard to appeal to their emotional side as well letting them know I care but that they really need to trust me as their coach. Then it is up to them.
This whole process is very time intensive and doesn’t always work. Sometimes people are just not ready to face up to what’s going on and at that point getting them more in depth help is very important (they can’t really stay on the team at that point either). However you can catch a lot of the women in the grey area who might be leaning toward unhealthy behavior with this approach. At least that is my experience.
Having dealt with 3 individuals on my track/XC team alone at my university, I feel the pressure as well. I know my strength comes from my size as I am one of the taller girls on the team as well as one of the more solid girls. However, coming from a high school team where I was considered small, to transitioning to a team where I am considered one of the bigger girls, I am constantly watching and comparing myself and the food I eat to my teammates. My freshman year was great but sophomore year was no where near freshman year. Could this be due to being distracted and caught up on the food and comparing myself and constantly watching what i ate?
I hope you can help and anyone else feel/felt this way?
I am more motivated this year to train faster and run quality mileage but and curious to see if my mental focus on the food aspect of the sport could be a distraction/reason as to why my times were no where near freshman year.
Danielle, I’d put money on your hypothesis being true. The best thing you can do is to get back to giving a rats ass about what anyone else is doing and have confidence in yourself. There are things about you that brought you your initial successes. Think of it like having a brilliant gem inside you that used to sparkle uninhibited. Then you got distracted for a while and moss and grime and dust accumulated on it.
Looking outside yourself is totally normal for a while, and a necessary part of becoming a great athlete; now you can return to the deepest you with conviction because you’ve seen what happens when you don’t. You don’t need to wonder anymore.
It doesn’t mean that you can’t learn from others. However, instead of focusing on the little quantitative crap that other fast people do (mileage, diet, etc), focus on the qualitative characteristics that make them continually great (attitude, confidence, being true to themselves, etc) and then start dusting and chiseling the crap off on your own internal gems so you can shine as brightly as is possible for you. BE YOU MORE FULLY. That is the only way to actualize your potential.
Get that done and the other stuff is just a small slice of the pie.
Thanks so much Lauren!! I really appreciate your response and will most definitely work on that this summer and into next year!!
I ran @ a d3 xc team in college. I thought the smaller the faster(and I just wanted to be skinnyu. I suffered from an eating disorder and it got pretty bad. However, my coach did nothing!!! It makes me so madwhen I look back. I was a running skeleton but nobody seemed to care. I was running #1 on the team and we were going to Nationals, so I feel like he didn’t care. How many more coaches are like this I wonder? I know deep down my coach cared, but he just didn’t know how to approach it. I’d say there are alot of others coaches in the same situation.
Thank you for sharing that, Runner4JC. I think you can offer some great insight on this topic given your experience. Please, tell us what you think could have made a difference for you when you were going through that? If you were the coach, what would you do? What could someone have said that would have made a difference? Thanks in advance. I look forward to hearing what you have to say.
I feel I had a similar situation to Runner4JC. My coach didn’t say much, nor did my teammates, but I think I had to find it within myself. Not until I fessed up to the situation did I begin to turn things around. And that’s when I found out everyone suspected I had an eating disorder. Part of me does wish they would have said something while I was really suffering from it, but a part of me knows that I may have only tried to hold onto it more. I feel like it would have been hard for me to change. This is such a difficult topic because as unhealthy as eating disorders are, they are addicting, and if they have a connection to success in a sport (while short), it makes it hard to let go of the eating disorder.
When I finally talked to my coach about a year later the best thing he did was give me his full, individual attention. He told me he was happier with the body I have now (after gaining 25 pounds). As difficult as it is to hear that part of me feels at peace with my body because my coach and team “approves.” My times are slower at the moment (I was injured for a while) but my coach told me that he doesn’t care about the times (they are still decent)–he cares about who I develop as a person while being on a collegiate team. I think those words are powerful, but at the same time hard to take in as well.
Thank you Lauren for exploring this subject. I reveal my experiences with dealing with an eating disorder and running at my website/blog.
Lauren, I think you are offering amazing help and advice on this topic. I’ve been debating whether to comment, since I don’t really feel qualified, but when has that ever held me back
I was a not very talented JV runner at a D3 school with a really good varsity x-c team. We had two girls, including the best runner on the team, with eating disorders that clearly went beyond the “grey area” into the zone of long- and short-term endangerment of their health. While I obviously don’t know what went on in the coaches’ heads, or behind the scenes, my impression was that the coaches simply had no clue how to deal with it, so they didn’t: the ostrich approach. In this case I think it was a lack of emotional intelligence combined with a simple lack of training or knowledge about the issue. Sometimes I wonder whether ambition played a role, but it seems a bit harsh to say that they would rather have the number 1 runner in the country than a healthy, happy (and possibly still number 1) runner…in any case, in hindsight, I wish that:
1. …we, the runners, had received more education about nutrition and fueling and what your body really needs in order to perform best. That wouldn’t have helped the girls who were already deeply ensnared by the illness, but it might have kept some others from sliding into it and at the very least made those of us who are not naturally wispy or 5’2″ get a feel for what we need to perform our best.
2. …someone in charge had looked after those two girls with the obvious eating disorders, offered them emotional support, directed them to counseling and removed them from competition before (or come on guys, at least WHEN) they got to the point where they were obviously severely unhealthy and at the point of a breakdown (the #1 runner suffered a hip injury right after nationals that effectively ended her running career; her parents were so upset about the state of her health that I remember her mother couldn’t even make simple small talk about how her running daughter was doing without starting to cry. Two years later the same mother was absolutely elated by the fact that her daughter was now eating ice cream!) I absolutely support the notion of not letting people compete if they are not healthy. It can be done in a caring way, it doesn’t have to be like “dude, you’re way too skinny, get off my team.” I think that often, people on the outside have the impression that the person suffering from the illness doesn’t WANT help, they seem to go out of their way to repel it – but Runner4JC’s comment shows that it’s so important to reach out, even if you think your offer of help is unwelcome or useless. And I think that a culture of caring and reaching out has got to come from the coaches; that’s who the team are looking to for cues on how to act and how to deal.
Yeah…I’m a little wordy. Those are my thoughts.
Hmmm, ok, I just read Lauren’s comment on the “journal” entry about attitudes toward addictions and yes, it’s totally true: you can’t help, not really, and trying to will just make you crazy. But I can’t help feeling that a kind word or even – as lauren said above – the tip that “my door is always open” might not necessarily help per se, but will in some way be welcome and even treasured, although it’s likely not obvious and maybe even long after the fact. If that makes sense?
Yeah…another thing
my experience with this was (frighteningly) 15 years ago so I am not exactly up-to-date on the daily life of the college runner. I have a strong memory of a sort of culture of shame and whispering around this issue, which may just be related to the particular dynamics of that team. It was a really great group, actually, but on this one issue there was – depending on who was being discussed – either NO discussion, or a lot of gossip and eye-rolling about someone’s eating habits and not much (spoken) empathy for the person or people who were suffering.
Is that generally the case? What have others experienced? Just curious.
I played tennis in college which is much different than running, but if you didn’t eat on our team, people called you out on it. Not that anyone didn’t eat, but lets say you were trying to eat healthier, someone called you out on it (eg “why aren’t you eating that cookie, are you going ‘rexic on us?). We were kind of a headstrong, opinionated group though. Maybe that works for those “shades of grey”, then, telling it to people straight, at the peer level.
Heather,
Nothing has changed really in that regard. From my experience and the current collegiate athletes I’ve talked to, people still roll their eyes and whisper about it to each other, and it usually takes ages before someone actually talks to the person who is struggling. It can become the dominant conversation and gossip topic for an entire season, which totally sucks.
I noticed that as soon as there was team confidence that action was being taken by the coaches (intervention, suspension from racing, professional help) the team vibe improved dramatically and we could deal with it and focus on other things. The biggest stressor is when the people you think of as authority figures and decision makers sit on their hands or turn a blind eye. Destroys the whole team.
Lauren and Everyone,
Well, this topic got a lot of folks attention.
First of all: shades of grey! That is important. Shades of grey allow an athlete to take responsibility and to not feel that every day, every run, every slice of pizza is dire. Some days you eat more, sleep more, train less, have itchy eyes or a cramp in your tum, need more water, have bad hair, etc. If you are operating in shades of grey you can address these needs. Shades of grey also free you up to communicate with your coach and your friends because you have not done anything WRONG. “I didn’t sleep so well last night” or “I ate too much at dinner last night” don’t get you in the dog house. They are just facts.
I am a 53 year old masters wanna be runner who took 30 years off after being a decent runner in the mid-seventies. My coach weighed me every day in college and tisked me if I edged over 123 lbs. I am 5’9″, broad shouldered and carry lots of muscle. Thus, I suffered eating disorders through my running career, as a model and in an difficult 20 year relationship. Gradually, in my late 40′s (!) it calmed down. In the last few years, Monday is no longer a day that THE DIET begins.
This is what I would tell young female athletes: You just plain gotta love your body! It is simply the most amazing machine in the world. You can run, you bear children, you can stay up all night, you can hike in the cold, you can drink beer and be silly, you can make love. There are all these really cool cause and effect things that happen….water helps heal injuries, core work eases knees pain, chocolate milk after a long run helps you recover, warm milk helps you sleep. You can rest up and do intervals one day and the next day a tempo run. These cause and effect things can change with time, with aging, with circumstance.
These girls (16 to 22) are so very young! Take from an old lady who did 400 repeats this morning. They have so much excitement ahead of them with this great physical machine. Most of them will continue to improve, if they want to, into their 30s. It will be fun! It will be an evolving adventure. Or they may become swimmers, triathletes, gym rats, yoga instructors, mothers. Cherish this body! It will bring them great joy.
Love your body and be aware of its needs in the context of your training.
In addition to loving your great body, accept that you are unique. You bring that special “you” to your team. Maybe your aren’t the fastest, but you get hurt less than others. Maybe you dig the cold while other whine. Maybe you are a leader by being optimistic but not by being at the head of the pack. Maybe you are a decent runner now but want to ensure you love it forever so you don’t want to burn out. Some of your teammates are naturally skinny, some have powerful legs and bulging biceps, some are lanky, some are stocky. In my generation there was Joanie and Greta. Very different body types.
Good luck. Huge issue.
carla
Carla, I love what you say here.
One thing that I like to say to young runners along this vein is “never lose sight of the big picture.” If you want a long career of steady improvement and good health, a focus on the big picture will get it for you. The successes of the now will just happen as a natural consequence. This is a great mantra for a wonderful life, but it is ALSO a mantra that accidentally nets you success RIGHT NOW. It takes the pressure off “right now” which allows you to perform and train your best and make smart (rather than impulsive) decisions.
The other thing you so wonderfully describe is the idea that we have these bodies and we need to love them. When women push over that line from watchful eating to obsessive eating, they are putting at risk their relationship with food for what could be 20+ years! If a runner reasonably wants to lose a few pounds, I think it is CRITICAL that they do so with 2 considerations:
I will lose this weight while preserving a healthy relationship for food, because I want a healthy relationship with food for the next 40+ years and I understand that once a person crosses that line mentally, its really really hard to feel normal about it again.
I will love my body. I will remind myself that I am trying to maximize the body I already have and love, and will be true to my genetic nature. I will not make the mistake of trying to make my body into someone else’s body. Doing that is a fast way to injury and misery, and can mess up my happiness in lots of areas of my life.
Lauren, thank you for offering these mantras/affirmations, especially the “I will love my body” one. So many people try to lose weight, etc. by trying to change their natural body shape. It doesn’t work. I know for a fact that no matter how thin I get I will never have visible abs. That’s genetics, and I’m okay with it!
I agree whole-heartedly with those final 2 considerations. I wish I would have been taught that when my eating disorder began. I am happy to see the considerations now though as I work to (sensibly) lose a little of the weight I gained from binging (one reason why restricting may bite you in the butt in the end). Now that I have learned to develop a healthy relationship with food again, I don’t think I could go back to restricting and I will keep these considerations in mind. Thank you!
Your little YouTube space is blocking 2/3 of the little white box space provided for comments, so I will do my best to respond while typing 2/3 blind!
First, thanks for never avoiding the tough questions – you’re SO “Lauren”. (-:
I think that it’s important to start out with the focus on living, training, eating like the athlete that you want to become.A coach has to build a trust level in which athletes are willing and able to come forward and discuss anything relevant and also to look out for each other. It’s simply not healthy to have hidden sub-cultures living under the surface of an outwardly healthy looking training group.
I also think that we have to address the essential problem for what it is; it’s a thought disorder first and the eating disorder is how it manifests itself. People and athletes eat FOOD, eating disordered peeople eat “proteins” “starches” etc… Yum!
The thought disorder dictates that the person is not good enough, doesn’t deserve good things to happen to them and lacks control over their lives. The obsession with food is a control issue and this is one area where she feels that she does have control. Ironically, she doesn’t! It becomes an obsession and controls her…
I work closely with a former Olympian who is the Nutritionist at our university’s high performance centre and that has been helpful. Some of the girls have been referred to Counsellors that I know and trust and that has also been helpful. One 90 pound woman who showed up in first year is now at 102 pounds and running faster and better and is menatlly, socially, and academically healthier than ever.
A big challenge in a group setting is where the girls see someone who is starving herself but running faster (at the moment). This is a tough spot because you don’t want to see that single athlete get any of the others to the tipping point where tey then decide that they will also start to eat inadequately. The importance of a strong and healthy dynamic is crucial at this point.
Sometimes – IFF the individual really wants to be an athlete and is not using training as a means of weight control – she may respond to the challenge to “eat/train/live like an athlete”
With my high school athletes (male and female) I regularly spend time on what physical and athletic development can look like. In this way, I think that I have more credibility helping female athlets (in particular) through the frustrating weight gain of puberty and keeping a focus on being healthy. For this I have many previously successful athlets to thank because I can refer to their challenges and how they eventually ran well again without putting their health at risk. Malindi is one key example: running 4:25 at 15 years old, then going all the way to her 3rd year at Stanford before she broke her High School PR’s and then going on to run 4:02.
I could write a book on this – but I won’t! However, I want to use on last comparision related to the concept of cognitive distortions. You and I both know that if we went into a House of Mirrors, that we would see gross distortions of our bodies and faces. We also know that these are distorted reflections and that they do NOT represent reality. An eating-disordered individual sees a distorted image of themselves, but they do not have the ability to separate that image from what they really look like. It’s important for coaches working with athletes like this to get them professional help. A sound mind doesnt only go IN a sound body; it is imperative to the existence OF a sound body.
Mike, I am so grateful for you taking the time to give your perspective on this. You are such an accomplished coach over all ages for girls and boys, from kids up to the Olympic Games. You SHOULD write a book on this. But commenting on this public forum is a great place to start. I hope lots of people will read what you had to say here, and take something from it. Readers: This guy is legit!
Hi Lauren,
I really liked your radio interview about this topic as well. What can you say about male runners with eating disorders?
I don’t run on a college team, but I began having an eating disorder in high school, and it later continued into college. Having finally gotten help for it in college, I attended group therapy as part of treatment. I was the only guy in this session (although my individual counselor told me they’ve had guys in group before), but I did discover that many of the same deep-seated, personal issues I had related to running were not too different from those of the girls in the group (some were athletes and others weren’t). I would greatly encourage people with eating disorders (or anyone in the grey spectrum) to engage in some type of group therapy. It’s one thing to have an adult counselor tell you one thing, but it is much different to talk to people your own age about the issues.
Also, I would greatly recommend anyone who is struggling with eating to read the book “Life Without Ed” by Jenni Schaefer. Even though it is written by a woman, I found it helpful (as a guy), and I know of girls who also found it very helpful to put eating disorders in perspective, to think of them as another person telling you something.
I’ve seen lots of male eating disorders. Lots. Both collegiately and professionally. And I think awareness and openness about them is 20 years behind the women. I’m so glad you posted a comment.
When men I know had eating disorders, they got stress fractures or chronic injury as well, but the men just wrote it up to “training too hard” or something like that. Getting injured as a male distance runner is less of a red flag…its more expected that a certain % will burn out or get hurt in such a “competitive” environment. We’d probably be shocked if we knew the % of those men whose injuries were caused by insufficient nutrition.
The guys I know have such a casual attitude about it. I remember some of the men joking during training camp about how they needed to lose weight and they would be open about it and develop totally whacked out eating habits and laugh it off. They would say things like, “Man I’m hungry…I think I’ll take a nap instead.” That was code for I’m starving myself, basically.
Men suffer silently on these issues, and accept their injuries as unrelated. I don’t see this changing any time soon. Do you?
Lauren,
Thanks again for tackling the big issues in such a thoughtful way. I’ve loved following not only your blog but your interviews etc. over the years, and I’ve always looked to you as a model of athletic, healthful and long-term oriented decision making.
I’m currently a doctoral student at Harvard’s School of Public Health and I’m writing my dissertation on the prevention of disordered eating on college cross country teams, with a focus on positive, athletic approaches to eating and on the team context—an interest that has been largely influenced by your continued outspokenness about these issues.
The academic literature about disordered eating currently focuses mostly on risk and pathology. A lot of what you’re discussing, and what I’m trying to study empirically, suggests shifting part of the conversation to include positive and protective factors. The field of positive psychology gained prominence in recent years, but it has yet to be applied to disordered eating. Rather than studying “problem cases”, one of the aims of my research is to understand “non-problem” cases. As you point out in your post, and as I understand from personal experience, people are rarely fully in one camp or another. But my premise is that it is worth understanding what these athletes did right over the years to keep themselves in a lighter shade of grey, allowing their bodies and minds to be strong enough to survive a decade plus of hard training and competition. Having people like you—who have thrived at a high level for many years and have figured out a way to remain a light shade of grey in a pressure-laden sports culture—speak out about what you’re doing “right” is so important for providing athletes with positive role models and concrete positive approaches to navigate the college athletic environment.
I’m excited to use my academic resources to add the perspective that you’ve been promoting for years to the academic literature, and I look forward to your participation in the research process!
Emily
Hi Emily,
I know I’m not Lauren, but I found your dissertation thesis extremely interesting. Exactly how do you define disordered eating?!? In terms of positive and protective factors, what has your research found to be effective? I would guess many of the protective factors lie in the mentality and environment of the group? Or do they have to do more with the individual, family environment, etc? Do you think targeting younger girls to promote healthy body image early is where the “solution,” if there is one lies (similar to how brands hook children when their young like McDonalds, Coke, etc). I know your dissertation focuses on college cross country teams, but do you think an additional solution (again, if there is one) lies in changing how woman as a whole approach their bodies and relationship with food? (eg: the Dove campaign). And, just for my own education, what are the risk factors for disordered eating?
Emily,
I would be the first to sign up to help with your study and encourage any other professional women friends that I know to do the same. Research of that quality, taking a look at it from that perspective is exactly what we need. Then we will have a better idea of what to DO to set girls up for success and health. We will also get a better sense of what is normal behavior for successful pros. Generally that stuff is so hush hush and studies on “elite athletes” include such a broad definition of “elite” that the data doesn’t accurately reflect what the true top 1% are doing. With our community, I am sure we can get the top women to participate in something so important.
Thank you for bringing your personal running experience into research. It will add a lot of validity considering how well you know the sport.
I just wrote about my protective factors in high school if you are interested in checking it out.
http://asklaurenfleshman.com/questions/2011/06/09/how-did-your-hs-coach-create-an-environment-of-so-many-healthy-girls/
If I can be of any help I just started a blog posting my journal entries about dealing with an eating disorder while running collegiately. It’s interesting to see my thought processes in trying a raw food diet, which led me to find out for myself that I was dealing with an eating disorder.
Sounds like a great project, thank you for doing this!
Hi Meggie,
Thanks for your positive feedback!
Defining what precisely is “disordered” eating is tricky, as you point out. Current criteria for clinical eating disorders are listed in DSM-IV (the official diagnostic manual for mental disorders). One problem with using the “official” criteria for diagnosis include the fact that there is often ambiguity (e.g. one element of the diagnosis for Anorexia Nervosa is having a body weight below 85% of “expected” body weight—but what is expected?). Another problem is that diagnosis often involves a clinical interview, something that not everyone has access to—this is particularly a problem in trying to do research with a large number of people. Additionally, studies have shown that “sub-clinical” disordered eating (e.g. not quite meeting the official criteria) can have significant health consequences. For research purposes, there are several frequently used written questionnaires that have high validity and reliability in predicting risk of eating disorders and sub-clinical disordered eating, allowing for more “shades of grey” than the DSM criteria. One of these surveys—the Eating Attitudes Test—is actually available online for public use, and only takes a few minutes to fill out (http://www.eat-26.com/).
In terms of risk and protective factors, you’re definitely right in pointing out that there are many, in multiple areas and at multiple levels. Main risk factors are genetic, psychological (e.g. low self-esteem, perfectionism, neuroticism), and sociocultural (e.g. media, family, peers, coaches, sport-specific pressures). These sociocultural factors could also be protective, if deployed in the right way. For example, as lots of other people commenting on this thread have pointed out, coaches can both contribute to or help prevent disordered eating on their team. Teams can also create their own “healthy” identity, something that my research this past year suggests may reduce risk of disordered eating on their team as compared to other teams.
And finally, you’re once again right that changing our relationships with our bodies and food is something that should start young and consider the whole person. That being said, a lot of eating disorders start during late adolescence, and for cross country running in particular, the college environment is particularly pressure laden and potent. If you are interested in a great evidence-based resource, I recommend the book “Eating Disorders in Sport” by Thompson & Sherman. Hope that helps!
Thanks so much! I’m not sure if this is the correct forum to ask these questions, but I’m curious…What are the medical effects of “sub clinical” eating disorders and do you have an estimate of how prevalent that is in the population?
adamBATTAGLIA Posted on whit, your pictures are uevllinbabee. sure, i\’m really jealous but also REALLY JEALOUS. congrats on what seems to be a successful trip so far. can\’t wait to see the show.
This is a great and important discussion. Thank you for bringing this up.
An aspect that I believe is important to touch on is the underlying causes of disordered eating/body image/self esteem issues that can lead to full-on eating disorders.
Yes, in sports like distance running, gymnastics, dance, etc there is the “smaller = faster” stigma. That starts girls thinking that they are too big and that if they could lose a couple pounds (or more) they’d be faster. It also breeds comparison — “she must be faster than me because she is thinner” — which we know is dangerous. It’s a downward spiral.
But what about another cause: control, or lack thereof. I played DIII volleyball, not necessarily a sport about being thin (on the contrary, a sport in which it’s generally okay to have a muscular lower body). Rather than direct pressure to be thin, there may be other pressures. I was elected captain after my freshman season and faced increasing comments from my coach about how I was the “face” of the team and anything I or the team did reflected poorly back on us (me). As a captain I was also told I needed to change aspects of my personality in order to become a “leader.” Long story short, these pressures I felt — mostly from my coach — led me to (unconsciously, at first) restrict my eating because (in retrospect) it was the only part of my life I had complete control over. After I became thinner and faced comments from family and friends, I finally realized that I had a problem (“disordered eating”) that needed addressing. But what needed addressing more than what I ate was, like others have said, my mindset about how I looked and felt about myself. My self-confidence at the low-point was about 0%. It was a long road to build it back up.
Athletes, collegiate ones in particular, naturally have many balls in the air at a time and are always pressured — by outside or inside forces — to high-perform in every aspect of life. When addressing issues like disordered eating it would be helpful to pinpoint the root cause of the behavior — a coach, perfectionism, control issues, need to get faster, feelings of inadequacy, etc — and begin from there.
Thanks for offering such a great perspective that hasn’t been touched on enough here. You are absolutely right. The underlying issues and root causes are the right place to start. In a general sense, a coach can have a huge impact on this when he/she creates the “team environment” in the first place. There are so many ways to do that, and so many ways to screw it up. Your story is so powerful because it shows me (among many other things) the mistake of telling an athlete they need to change who they are to be good at something. In my opinion, the best tact is to find what qualities an athlete brings to the table and then focus like crazy on building those strengths and using them to their maximum, thereby minimizing or deemphasizing their weaknesses or liabilities. To ask an athlete to change to fill a role sounds like a problem waiting to happen.
Thanks again for such an insightful reply.
Absolutely, Lauren. Successful leadership is all about maximizing one’s strengths. Team environment is a very powerful thing that can make or break players.
Lauren,
I admire you so much for playing a proactive role with such a taboo subject. I was a multisport, very self confident athlete in HS. When I went to college I started running year round for the first time, naturally slimmed down a little (I was always fairly small/small framed) and got faster. I was health concious but not obsessive and was very healthy and a healthy weight. After college, when I started training for marathons I dropped a few more pounds, felt faster than ever, and spiralled out of control. I was one of the very lucky ones, who had a coach that sat me down and told me he would not coach me until I was healthy. I got help, took some time off training, and came to the conclusion very quickly that I would not not be able to continue down the road I was going. It was hard to do all this while running the best I’d ever run. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for a coach to stop coaching his best runner when still performing well, but I thank my lucky stars for it. I rebounded and came back to run in the olympic trials. Several months after the trials, I was diagnosed with a condition in my hip that could have resulted in a hip replacement. This was not an injury – it was a condition that was genetic or something that I would have gotten if I was lazy. I had high hopes of being able to run a year to a year and a half after surgery but almost 3 years later I’ve still not been able to run. I’ve had periods of not being able to exercise at all and periods where I’ve been able to do a fair amount of alternative exercise. This is very, very difficult having been a high level runner for one, but made more difficult due to my eating issues in the past. I actually struggle more mentally now than when I did when I was bad off physically years ago. It is not that I’m so uncomfortable with my body, but more the fact that I’ve gained over 15 lbs, maybe even more like 20 during this time and people notice. It is hard outgrowing your wardrobe one week at a time, but I can even deal with that and laugh it off to myself – and my mom is awesome to joke to with about it. However, I know that many of the people I was associated with through running are judgemental (unfortunately) and they do put a lot of emphasis on weight and how they look. I’ve heard them talk about other runners who have put on weight (yeah and they also talk about runners that loose to much weight – it is a now win situation). Of course my close friends are understanding, but there is also the larger picture. I understand that anyone who goes from training twice a day to not training at all would put on weight, and you just have to say screw anyone who has a poor opinion of me now. It is just not that easy. I did go back into therapy to help deal with it at one point. It helped but I don’t think therapists understand. Sorry for going on an on, but my point is that the running community seems to have steriotypical prototypes that are hard to overcome and this needs to be addressed not only on college teams but in the community at large. Have you ever see this happen with injured runners where they become overly self concious/obsessive and if so how is the best way to deal with it?
Sorry, I’ve commented a lot on here haha. Just want to give some insight into my situation: my eating disorder actually did not start from running. I had no idea about the correlation of weight and racing until I saw it for myself when I lost 20 pounds from my healthy, 5’9″ frame. I originally lost weight because I just thought I needed to–I thought I was eating too much even as a runner, and I was mostly doing it for looks. I had no idea it would “help” my performances. Unfortunately the success was short-lived, as I constantly dealt with tendon strains in the feet and knee injuries. Now that my weight is back up I am at the highest mileage I’ve ever been with no injuries whatsoever (for half a year now!) and feeling great.