Calories on Menus; the harm caused in the name of the “Ob*sity Crisis”
You may have noticed an addition to menus in restaurants and cafes… calorie listings. No doubt some people will just zone these out like any other small print but for many others, this is going to cause considerable harm, which includes people who have (or previously had) an eating disorder. The argument I’ve heard a number of times for ignoring this harm is “only a small percentage of the population has an eating disorder but there’s an ‘ob*sity crisis’ which needs to be tackled.”
Yikes. Let’s break this down in just a moment, but first…
A note on language
You’ll see the asterisk in “ob*sity” — this is because it’s a category from the BMI chart which is very outdated and has been deemed not fit for purpose. The BMI and terms associated with it are harmful and stigmatising so to demonstrate this point, and to act as a reminder, I will continue to use the asterisk. “Fat” is a word that is being reclaimed by body acceptance communities so I will use that here.
“Only a small percentage of the population has an eating disorder”
Eating disorder charities will often quote 1.25 million as the number of people with eating disorders in the UK, however this is based on people who recognise they have an eating disorder and fit the criteria to be diagnosed accordingly, and then are able to participate in research studies.
This leaves out so many people.
There are many barriers people face, not only in accessing help but also in recognising having an eating disorder in the first place. In our society, controlling food intake and striving to be thinner is “normal”, so many people restricting their food intake would not recognise this as disordered eating.
Other barriers include:
· Cultural norms, narratives and stigma e.g. “we don’t speak about mental health”
· Gender, e.g. masculinity barriers around men speaking out about mental health
· Lack of trust in medical professionals, may result in not wanting to visit a GP
· Family pressures/peer pressure, lack of family support
· Long waiting lists (in the NHS)
· Finances (e.g. prohibiting paying for private therapy for instance)
· Weight stigma (explained below)
We need to remember that the stats and research about eating disorders are only based on the small number of people who can get through, or bypass, all of these barriers. There’s also a huge grey area of “disordered eating” and chronic dieters lying outside of the specifics of the diagnosis criteria, meaning that there are likely millions more people struggling with food than we think.
Weight stigma and biases
Something I hear a lot about in my work (and have experienced myself) is weight stigma and bias in healthcare — medical professionals with biases about weight and appearances. I saw a GP once who told me to “cut down on fizzy drinks” without even asking if I drink fizzy drinks (which I don’t very often). This was based on assumption that I’m fat so the problem must be because I eat/drink too much “bad” stuff, when this was nothing to do with the issue at all. I’ve seen other GPs who have been great, but of course the bad experiences are always the ones that stick with us.
Many people are anxious to go to see a doctor for reasons like this, so it’s not just the weight stigma but also the anticipated weight stigma which can act as a barrier, especially for fat people. In my experience, many people who are fat, or even deemed a “normal” weight, are turned away for not being “thin enough” to have an eating disorder, or not “looking” like they do. I’ve heard this so many times and it never ceases to make me simultaneously infuriated and heartbroken. Even worse, I’ve heard many people say they have been sent to weight management services or been recommended diets when they’ve tried to talk to medical professionals about their eating distress, which is only likely to make the problem a whole lot worse.
There are stereotypes and assumptions that people with eating disorders are thin and have restrictive eating disorders. However, Anorexia is the least prevalent eating disorder, and Binge Eating and Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorders (OSFED) — the catch-all category for the many, many people who don’t tick the boxes. It’s important to recognise that someone can be deemed a “normal” weight or be fat and restrict, and that thin people can binge. Disordered eating is about thoughts, emotions and behaviours, not about body size. Yet unfortunately it’s a huge barrier to treatment because of the assumptions made about weight and appearance.
The subtext of “only a small percentage of the population has an eating disorder but there’s an ‘ob*sity crisis’”
I don’t know about you, but this very much reads to me as “it’s worth throwing people with eating disorders under the bus if it means we can make fat people lose weight”. I’ve already argued that 1.25 million is likely a huge underestimation, but even if we went with that figure…
Is it ok to disregard 1.25 million people and actively cause harm by listing calories on menus because of society’s abhorrent views of fat people?
No. This is completely immoral and unethical. It’s a disgrace.
The “ob*sity crisis” is a fear and shame-driven model based on over-inflating the idea that fat is the very worst thing you can be and that thin is healthy. There are all sorts of dynamics at play here including class and race (which would require a much longer post), and I have no doubt that this is not really about people’s health at all. Research has shown that people are only slightly fatter and life expectancy is higher, so the idea that ob*sity is killing us all has been quite over-exaggerated and inflated, likely due to fear. Our society is so terrified of fatness that we are willing to throw any group of people under the bus, or do anything to our own bodies, if it means being thin. This is not about health, this is about fear and shame.
The “ob*sity strategies” introduced by our government are clearly not working (in their sense of “working” meaning people getting thinner) and it’s certainly not making anyone healthier or happier. Listing calories on menus throws literally everyone under the bus, harming millions of people, encouraging disordered eating and weight stigma — effectively helping absolutely nobody.
There is plenty of research to show the detrimental effects of weight stigma and its negative health outcomes. Weight stigma can drive weight gain as people are more likely to engage in dieting and disordered eating. Attempts to intentionally lose weight often don’t work, and dieting often results in…yep weight gain. It’s all basically a big scam — we’re sold the thin idea, we go on diets, they fail, we blame ourselves for it, and we continue — creating profit for lots of people whilst we continue to hate our bodies.
Listing calories on menus is therefore potentially doing the very opposite of what the government is aiming for — it might make people even fatter. Our government is creating its own “ob*sity crisis” by fuelling it with its own initiatives. I’d laugh at the irony of this if it was so sad and infuriating, the number of people being harmed by this. They are driving their own “problem” and ignoring the real issues; lack of funding, understanding and training around eating disorders, any kind of eating distress and weight stigma.
Is this by mistake or is this a way to project blame onto fat people for “being a burden on the NHS”? Is it in fact a way to sell obesity pharmaceuticals and Slimming World memberships, keeping our economy nicely ticking over based on shaming our bodies? A capitalist society would never survive in a world where we don’t hate our bodies.
So what can we do?
· Recognise that putting calories on menus will not help anyone lose weight or be healthier, but instead will drive disordered eating.
· Research has shown that people with anorexia and bulimia are more likely to lower their calorie intake when faced with calories on menus, and people who struggle with binge eating may do the opposite.
· Diets do not lead to lasting weight loss or health improvements.
· Be aware that people with diagnosed eating disorders are just the tip of the iceberg, there are so many people below that are struggling with food and have been turned away by medical professionals, shamed for their weight, or face other barriers to services. Many people with disordered eating habits may not even see it like that because it is so normalised in our society.
· We need to confront our own assumptions, stereotypes and biases. The majority of people with eating disorders (80–85%) are not underweight.
· Recognise that shame-inducing fear tactics do not help people become healthier or happier.
· Disordered eating can be a coping mechanism for which people may benefit from therapeutic help to look at underlying issues. This needs to come from someone who is properly trained as a therapist with specialist knowledge in eating disorders AND very importantly, weight stigma too.
· Nobody owes anyone “health” — for some people this just isn’t possible and to imply that it’s morally superior to be healthy is a disrespectful, judgmental, ableist view.
· For anyone wanting to feel healthier, you might like to think about your relationship with food, your feelings around it, and how you feel about your body. Body image concerns can drive disordered eating and over-exercising, but they don’t have to — there is help out there such as this body image resource. Reach out to one of the charities listed below if you feel you need support. You don’t have to have a diagnosis of an eating disorder to be struggling with food.
· Consider the words we use around fatness and how violent and harmful they are, e.g. the “war on ob*sity”, and the real intentions behind it. Look at the bigger picture. The issues are tied to poverty, mental health, inequalities, and way more factors. It’s very complex. Lots of people struggle with food for many reasons and want to access non-judgemental help, but layers of biases, stigma and inequalities make this very difficult. Focussing on “tackling ob*sity” is just a distraction and a blame game.
· Be mindful of who you’re eating out with and if they might find calories on menus triggering — you can ask for a menu without calories listed. If you feeling particularly fired up (like I might) then rip up the calorie-adorned menu, set fire to it and then stamp on it repeatedly whilst screaming at the top of your lungs.
· Probably don’t do that last one.
For support head to:
There’s a brilliant deep dive into calories and menu labelling in two episodes of the Maintenance Phase podcast, check them out!
