Eating Disorders in Vegetarians & Non-Vegetarians
Vision Magazine
by Aleks Strande, N.D., Ph.D.

Eating disorders come in five basic forms: obesity, binge eating, guilty eaters, anorexia nervosa (self-starvation), and bulimia (overeating and then making yourself sick). Four of these behaviors are generally as common in the vegetarian population as in those who eat meat products. Obesity is less likely to occur in vegetarians because the body is not having to try to metabolize all those saturated fats that are consumed by non-vegetarians. However there are overweight vegetarians who eat lots of breads, sugars, cakes, pastas, and processed foods, with many vegetarians also eating animal-based dairy products such as milk and cheese.

A study done at Leicester University in the UK watched the behavior of obese people under laboratory conditions, and considered their perceptions of the amounts of food they were eating. What was learned was that the overweight people are not generally aware of what they are eating, the frequency with which they eat, or the amounts they are putting in their mouths out of their conscious awareness.

Binge eaters are very erratic in their eating habits. They will eat very little and then binge on all the very things that they perceive are fattening or bad for them to gain some kind of consolation and comfort of the time they had stopped themselves from eating.

Alex Strande, N.D., Ph.D., is a naturopath and a microbiologist. His office is in Irvine, California. He can be contacted for questions and appointments at 949-553-1882.