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Insight
We tend to think that athletes are in total control of their
professional lives. Aided by cutting edge sports science and
a bevy of coaches and nutritionists, they know exactly what
to put into their body to make it purr like a machine.
Startlingly, studies show that female athletes are at greater
risk of incurring a form of eating disorder than the rest of
the general population. A report from 2008 estimated that
35% of female athletes were at risk for anorexia nervosa
and 38% were at risk for bulimia nervosa.
This raises question: how are female athletes not taking
on board the messages about correct eating patterns?
Information on this subject is widely available and athletes
themselves should be heavily invested in knowing the risks
inherent in disordered eating.
Jenny Moshak, assistant athletics director for sports
medicine at the University of Tennessee, said, “Athletes are
driven personalities, completely focused as people pleasers,
almost obsessive-compulsive. People who have addictive
tendencies gravitate toward athletics.”
Indeed, one theory about disordered eating is that it is not
caused by commitment to sports, but the commitment to
sport can mask an obsessive need to stay slim. The athlete
uses the sport as an excuse to be highly critical of themselves
and aware of their weight and size.
DISORDERED EATING
I
N FEMALE ATHLETES
By Timothy Mottram