Food Shaming & Athletes: What’s a Sport Dietitian to Do?
Written by: Nancy Clark, MS RD CSSD
Once upon a time, food used to be one of life’s pleasures and athletes would eat with gusto. Today, food has become a source of anxiety for many athletes:
Will it ruin my health? Make me fat? Hurt my performance?
Food has also become a source of shame:
I shouldn’t have eaten so much. • I eat well during the day but I’m so bad at night. • I’m so mad at myself for sneaking that extra piece of birthday cake…
A Gen-Z survey of people born between 1997 and 2012 (currently ages 11 to 26) indicates 60% feel pressure to eat in a way that shows others they eat “healthy.” Many athletes and fitness exercisers are among those 60%. They feel pressure to choose a perfect diet (i.e., no chips, candy, treats) but then end up binge-eating and sneak-eating “unhealthy” foods. This pattern fosters shame, guilt, and embarrassment.
At the 2023 Food & Nutrition Conference & Exposition (FNCE) of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, food shaming was a hot topic. Food shaming commonly happens among athletes at team meals, if not at home, school, or work. Athletes can feel like they did something wrong because they ate, let’s say, a cookie for dessert (tsk, tsk), while their teammate ate fresh fruit.
Consequences of being food shamed include feeling bad about themselves, a desire to eat alone, and increased self-criticism of perceived body flaws. (“No wonder I’m so fat. I eat too many carbs…). Athletes can easily end up feeling awkward, inadequate, and embarrassed about their food choices. As one high school runner shared, “After visiting xxx college for a weekend, I decided against going there because the women on the track team nibbled on only salad with grilled chicken for lunch and dinner. I felt very awkward as I refueled my tired muscles with a plateful of pasta with meat balls.”
The slippery slope
Unfortunately, for many athletes, food has become a moral issue. Morality can easily spoil one’s peaceful relationship with food. The more shame athletes feel about their food choices, the more likely they are to restrict what they eat, eat alone, deprive themselves of self-proclaimed “unhealthy” foods—and end up (shamefully) binge-eating. This can become a slippery slope into disordered eating, if not an outright eating disorder
While many athletes might wish they could “just eat normally”, they often hold too much shame to seek guidance from the healthcare professional who could significantly help them: a sports dietitian. As one athlete reported, “I would feel too embarrassed to honestly tell a dietitian about what I eat…” She feared being judged.
Solutions
According to FNCE speaker and eating disorder dietitian Tammy Beasley RD, shame thrives in secret, lonely places of over-indulgence. The RD’s job is to transform that shame into self-compassion and self-kindness; to let athletes know they are not alone; they are not the only humans who have devoured a pint of ice cream in one sitting; that getting too hungry easily triggers the majority of food binges.
Our job as dietitians is to teach athletes to eat enough, stop scrutinizing their food intake, and instead focus on fueling for optimal performance. Sport dietitians can help derail the cycle of food shaming by encouraging everyone— from athletes to coaches to family members—to abandon food morality. Food is fuel; it is not good or bad and what an athlete eats does not determine if they are good or bad.
Social media is the number one instigator of food shaming. Hence, a good place to stop food shaming is at the source: encourage athletes to limit the time they spend scrolling through endless triggering posts—and stop following triggering influencers. Given almost all of us use social media, and 57% use it more than 5 hours a week, we can see how food shaming can spiral out of control. Instagram photos with super-healthy foods can easily make anyone feel bad about choosing “imperfect” foods with less nutrient density.
Moving forward
Three tips to help transform “shameful” eating into pleasurable fueling include teaching your athletes:
1) Let go of being a perfectionist and enjoy being human, like the rest of us. Stop trying to eat a “perfect diet.” An excellent diet will do the job.
2) Enjoy a satisfying breakfast and lunch. Teach athletes to listen to hunger and fullness cues, so they stop eating not just when the food is gone, or they think they should, or they feel ashamed because they are eating more than their peers. Adequate daytime meals can curb afternoon and evening (shame-inducing) binges.
3) Stop avoiding all sweets and treats. An excellent sports diet can include some “evil” sugar. Sugar in any form helps (re)fuel muscles during and after a hard workout. The overall goal is 85-90% nutrient-dense calories and 10-15% fun foods. Athletes can shamelessly enjoy both apples and apple pie, as desired, keeping balance and moderation in mind.
Author
Nancy Clark MS RD CSSD counsels both fitness exercisers and competitive athletes in the Boston-area. Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook is a popular resource, as is her online workshop. Visit NancyClarkRD.com for info.
