All of your comments of adoration for Blue Diamond Almond Breeze are making me grin from ear-to-ear. It’s the little things, no? You have until this Friday, August 10, to enter the giveaway so definitely get on that! Also, if you want to partake in the “Get Your Good Going” challenge, head over to the Almond Breeze Facebook page and spread the “good” to a friend!
Friends & Vegan ‘dillas
Yesterday was a long day. After 10 hours at the clinic, I was so ready for a relaxing evening! Matty and I had plans to go to our friends Annie and Morgan’s house for dinner and we couldn’t wait. It was long overdue! We brought the food and Annie and Morgan supplied the pinot grigio.
Veggies + pinot = balance.
When Matty and I first made Mama Pea’s Summer Succotash Quesadillas with Nacho Mmm Sauce, Matty was absolutely smitten by them. Yes, smitten by quesadillas. We love to cook them for friends because they’re a great “transition” meal, a vegan meal that tastes similar to the dairy-filled version. We used brown rice tortillas and daiya pepperjack. They came out beautiful!
Matty is always the resident ‘dilla-flipper. He’s a champ.
Annie and Morgan loved the meal and both of them commented on how they felt so satisfied but not “weighed down.” Hearing my friends compliment vegan food that I’ve helped make is literally one of the most rewarding feelings. I love helping others see how accessible and delicious vegan food can be!
My plate, with a side of leftover succotash!
We bonded and laughed the night away. It was so perfect and just what we needed after a long day of hard work!
#Jadorelavie
Matty, Annie, and Morgan have been close friends for awhile, and it felt so nice to be welcomed into their little friendship triangle. It’s safe to say that we’re now a happy-go-lucky friendship square. 
Workout
This morning’s workout was completed courtesy of the Tone It Up Beach Babe DVD. I did the Surfer Girl and Bikini Abs routines back-to-back and sweat up a storm in my Reebok gear that I received at #RBKFITBLOG.
I dubbed the lower half of me “Reebok Heather.” Even my socks were Reebok!
My plan was to work on my freelance pieces through the morning but I ended up having to drive my mom to the doctor. She is really sick and too weak to drive so I took her to the office and got some work done there while she went in for her appointment.
Lunch
After a full morning of driving and writing, I was pretty hungry when we arrived home. It was a later-than-usual lunch time for me and my tummy was rumbling like crazy, so I whipped up Old Faithful.
To start, I sliced half a sweet potato and roasted it in the oven at 450 degrees for a little over 15 minutes. Meanwhile, I made a tofu scramble with spinach, broccoli, and red pepper sauteed in 1 tsp. coconut oil. For seasonings, I used 2 Tbsp. nutritional yeast, 1 1/2 tsp. Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb Seasoning, and 1 tsp. mesquite. It was divine!
Study Shows Link Between Vegetarianism & Eating Disorders in Women
A few days ago, a wonderful reader brought this article to my attention. The Huffington Post article reports on a study published in The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics called “The Inter-Relationships between Vegetarianism and Eating Disorders among Females.” Researchers studied 160 women, 93 with an eating disorder (ED) or history of an ED, and 67 without an ED. The study says that 52% of the women surveyed who had an eating disorder claimed they had tried vegetarianism while practicing their ED habits. 12% of the women without an ED said they had experimented with a vegetarian diet.
In the study, the motivation to go vegetarian was quite different between women with eating disorders and women without. None of the women without eating disorders reported becoming vegetarian to lose weight. Nearly half of the women with an eating disorder history said weight was their primary motivator.
68% of the women surveyed said their vegetarianism was related to their eating disorder. A vegetarian diet helped them lose weight, cut calories and feel in control, they reported. 13% of the recovered women were still vegetarian/vegan. All cases of vegetarianism occurred during the womens’ eating disorders.
The Huffington Post interviewd an RD who said that vegetarianism and/or veganism can be a way people try to “cut out a number of food categories.” According to the article, the RD, was not involved in the study, said that the research doesn’t say that vegetarianism causes eating disorders but does imply that it can be a symptom of an ED for some women.
My Two Cents
When I first read this article, I wasn’t surprised. It is true that the decision to become vegetarian is fairly common after women develop an ED. Why are women who have an ED more likely to become vegetarian? The ED brain, specifically the anorexic brain, is calorie-restriction driven, so it seems like a natural decision for a woman with an ED to gravitate towards vegetarianism for that reason. They can omit meat (and possibly dairy), thereby using vegetarianism as their reason for not consuming those foods and masking the real reason (their ED) at the same time.
It is important to note that women with eating disorders who adopt a vegetarian diet in connection with their eating disorder use it as an excuse to remove more food from their diet so they don’t have to think about eating it. I would argue that it isn’t really vegetarianism that motivates most women with EDs to adopt that dietary lifestyle. Rather, it is the motivation to remove as much food from their life as possible, or to eat as little food as possible.
I found it very interesting that none of the women who were vegetarian and did not have an eating disorder said they were not vegetarian for weight loss purposes. This sort of echoes my sentiments in the previous paragraph. Motivation to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle for people without an eating disorder involves issues such as animal rights, environmental, and personal health reasons.
Not all women who have EDs are going to restrict their food intake by means of going vegetarian, and this study fails to show that. It is also good to note that the study’s sample size is very small. Only 160 women were surveyed so a true, accurate report cannot really be assessed here and is not representative of all women with and without eating disorders who are and are not vegetarian.
Most importantly, I would like to know about the 13%…the smaller margin of women who remained vegetarian or vegan after their EDs. Are they like me? Are they like the many amazing women from Gena’s Green Recovery Series? What was their motivation for remaining meat and/or dairy-free? I want to know! And we deserve to know – because I’m sure we would find stories not of restriction and disgust but of fulfillment and joy.
What do you guys think?
Stay lovely,
Heather
P.S. – Gena and JL both wrote thought-provoking pieces on this study too. Give ‘em a looksy!
I completely agree with you! I eat more now than I ever did before. I have more balanced and nutritionally dense diet, my body is happy, healthy and functioning much more proficiently then it did prior to me ever having had an eating disorder. My motivation for becoming vegan were environmental, personal health and animal rights driven and more than anything choosing this way of life has helped me appreciate food, respect my body and feel fulfilled once and for all. Great post, thanks for bringing the article to our attention
Everything about your comment made me smile, Michelle. I’m so happy that you’ve found peace with your body.
I agree with you about everything in this article! Personally, I’m no longer a vegetarian – but I used to be. Even though I have a little bit of an ED past, weight loss didn’t really have anything to do with my choice to become vegetarian (I became a vegetarian years after the ED). It was more about the cost of meat and just the fact that I don’t particularly like meat that much.
Also, I don’t even understand why the results of a study would be published in an academic journal with such a small sample size. Their results are basically useless if only 160 women were surveyed.
Thanks for sharing your story, Miranda. You’re a great example of the exception to the rule – how your decision to go veg wasn’t even tied to your ED. Thanks for always commenting! <3 xoxo
I love your two cents and totally agree with you. I would have liked to see this study done with more women too. Also, your lunch looks really delish!
Thanks, Jessica! It was a very delish lunch indeed.
This is very interesting and I really like that you took the effort to give your “2 cents”. I believe you are a strong example of a proper vegan diet.
Thanks so much Lydia! xoxo
What a great post Heather! I totally agree with you on these findings! I find the research to be very misleading and the conclusions rather contradicting! I actually was a vegetarian when I was at my worst with my eating disorder and I can tell you first hand that for me it had absolutely nothing to doing with being “vegetarian” it was simply a reason for me to say I couldn’t eat this, this, or that! I think it is almost impossible to determine the rationale behind the link! I also agree with you that 160 women is an incredibly small study group and it is completely unfair to draw any major conclusions from one study! I also have to say that when I switched back to eating meat, it did not mean I had “recovered” from my disorder! I still struggle sometimes eating meat on a daily basis, yet there are women, such as yourself who live a completely healthy vegetarian lifestyle. I think eating disorders are much to complicated to distinguish any one link that is the same in every case! Some women are very healthy being vegetarian and are vegetarian for many reasons other than wanting to lose weight!!!! Sorry for the ramble, it just really bothers me when unfair research like this is posted when there are so many healthy women out there who are vegetarian!
Wow – thanks for your thoughts, Danielle! I think we share the same frustrations. It’s really hard to stay calm and rationale when others are being so hostile and irrational but it’s the only way to educate others and show the other side is not “weird” or “corrupt.” You know? Thanks for making me think and smile, as always.
Danielle I like how you state that just because you started eating meat again didn’t mean you’d recover. A great point! I used to limit my meat intake when I was at my worst in my ED. Now I eat meat almost each day but I still consider myself very active in the process of recovery and not yet recovered. So clearly going off an almost completely vegetarian diet didn’t “heal” me.
You are such an amazing writer Heather! That article was very interesting and I loved hearing your opinion! Thanks for sharing
xo
Catherine! Thank you so much! I’m so glad that you enjoyed reading it.
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I looove your two cents about this issue. I couldn’t agree more. I read this article a few days ago and was actually shocked that they released it after having such a small case study. I don’t think 160 women is enough to base such a strong statement on.
It looks like you, Matty, and your friends had an amazing night! I always love cooking vegan food for my non-vegan friends. I get so excited when they like it and begin to realize just how delicious a plant-based diet can be. (:
Totally agree, Emily. The sample size is FAR to small. Yay for cooking for non-vegan friends!
I definitely agree with you about the article. I have a friend who has recently battled with anorexia (she’s doing so much better now though!) and she always had some crazy diet she was following as an excuse not to eat. For a period she became a vegetarian, being a vegetarian myself for ethical reasons, I could tell she wasn’t altogether sincere in her motivation for becoming a vegetarian. She later told me she became a vegetarian because she worked in a deli and it was an excuse for her not to eat while she was working.
While my friend fell into the ED/vegetarian category vegetarianism is not the only restrictive diet she took on to disguise her ED. She also adopted a super clean diet and only ate all natural food for a period too. I think that the article misses that point. Vegetarian diets are not the only diets people adopt to disguise an eating disorder. Gluten-free, raw, all natural, etc. are all diets that could be covering up a similar problem, it’s not fair to pin point vegetarianism like that, especially in such a small study.
I’m so glad to hear that your friend is doing better, Lea.
Your comment is my favorite because you addressed something I didn’t – that vegetarianism isn’t the ONLY diet that people will use to disguise their ED. Beautifully said!
Agreed with Heather, Lea. It bothers me that this article honed in on vegetarian/vegan diets as related to EDs. There are plenty of other diets – I know I was (and am sometimes still guilty of) following a low-carb or no-carb diet when I was at my worst in my ED.
I definitely agree on your thoughts. Basically at my worst in my ED, I would say I had an intolerance or was gluten free, sugar free, vegan, vegetarian. Frankly, I’d use any excuse to not eat. I agree that eating vegan or vegetarian in no way promotes someone to develop on eating disorder. Developing one has nothing to do with what we are eating, but why it has developed in the first place. Most likely from a traumatic event, or is triggered by something happening in our lives. So, its kind of silly to say a certain diet is more likely to cause it.
What a great post!
And that quesadilla looks absolutely amazing! Yummm.
SO well said, Lisa. Way to own, analyze, and understand your reasonings. And yeah that ‘dilla rocked.
Agreed with Heather, Lisa. EXTREMELY well said. Correlation is NOT causation.
This is definitely an intriguing diet! While I don’t think that every woman with an eating disorder goes vegetarian, I think a lot of them would because it acts as an entire food group you don’t have to eat, no questions asked. You can’t eat that burger or chicken breast – you’re vegetarian. So you just eat the sides and therefore, reduce the calories.
I was never a full vegetarian, but I cut out red meat and pork for years. During my ED recovery, I reintroduced them into my diet, because it was important for me not to have any foods be off-limits.
personally, I don’t think vegetarianism is a bad thing at all – clearly it works fantastically for you! But I could see how it could be harmful in an eating-disordered mindset.
Although like you said, it would be interesting to see the opinions of the women that remained vegetarian. Is it because they feel better because of it, is it because it became a habit, or is it because it’s a way to keep their calorie count from being uncomfortably high? I’d love to hear why.
You raise a great point, Sam. I think it’s great that you listened to your body. While I personally believe veganism is the best way of living and eating, I also believe it isn’t the right way for everyone – and this is one of the reasons why. You have to always stay true to yourself. <3 Thanks for your thoughtful response!
Looks like a great night of food and friends!
Hey thanks for the mention! I really appreciate your perspective on the article. Since reading the article, and the subsequent commentaries from others, I’m understanding just how complex the issue is!
Oh, JL! Your comment brought a smile to my face. I so admire you and your advocacy! You’re so right – it is very complex and indicative of a lot of stereotypes and, IMO, atrocities. We just gotta keep spreading the word and the love! xoxo
Perfect! I just bought brown rice tortillas yesterday and didn’t know exactly what I wanted to use them for. Making that recipe tonight
(I also took the tofu/sweet potato dish to work today) Can’t wait to try it. My co-workers are always interested in my Vegan meals and have even started bringing more salads/veggies because of the inspiration from your recipes!
Ahh! Mary that honestly makes my day.
You’re so amazing and so supportive! Love you, girl. Keep shining and spreading that LOVE!
That article (whole concept) is really interesting!! And I agree that it would be nice/important to know about that other 13%…You made a lot of good points and I love that you looked at each angle. It’s an interesting topic!
**I hope your mom is feeling better!
Thanks, Danica. You’re so sweet. She’s pretty sick – luckily, I’m working from home today so I can help her out.
I love when you do these kinds of posts that discuss important issues in the world of two things you are passionate about – ED and veganism. It makes me so happy to read your words/opinions and I’m also enthralled by them because you write so well and your knowledge and experience in the area really shines through. Wonderful post, BB! I’m so happy to see all the stimulating discussion happening in the comments as well.
can’t wait to wear our cropped lace tops together.
Your evening with friends looks like so much fun. I balance veggies and wine each night, I agree it’s a nice way to experience both sides of the coin
Great post Heather! Thank you for taking the time to reflect on the article and write your “Two Cents”. Unfortunatly, restricting one type of food through vegetarinism or veganism in a way to fuel ED thoughts is a tempting struggle for many, but as the community gains awareness, I pray men and women can make educated and benefitial choices towards their food for more reasons than weight loss. I would love to hear about the other 13% as well, people like you who have recovered, thriving, fueling their bodies, and their minds in healthy and positive ways. Your posts are always such a joy to read! Thank you!
I got this article in my nutrition emails. I was interested in the study because I recently had the realization as to WHY I became a vegetarian when i did. It was my unknown (at the time) anorexia beginning work. This summer I made it my goal to try meat again after 4 years (3 of which were in recovery and at my healthy weight) and I believe I did give up meat only because I wanted to make things easier for myself. It made food choices easier and easier to explain restriction. Now I am going to start research into all of the moral and ethical reasons for a vegetarian diet, but I think for me I need to keep meat in my diet for awhile so I can completely erase the restriction part of my mindset
I’m glad to hear that you did what was best for you, girl. I would never encourage anyone who adopted vegetarianism for ED purposes to go back to that unless their motives were honest and true. Way to listen to your body!
Interesting study. It definitely makes sense. It kind of surprises me that none of the women without an ED had weight loss as a consideration for their decision. Definitely a tiny sample size. Interesting idea for future studies.