Is veganism an eating disorder?

I wanted to know why a mom whose entire family was vegan for two years, started eating animal protein at every meal. She said the main reason was that she worried that being vegan might cause her children to develop an eating disorder.

I told her that when I lifted weights at World Gym in Pacific Beach, where most of the members were eating a low-carb, high protein diet, they were obsessed with diet and having very low bodyfat. Almost all the trainers were also fitness competitors and coaches.

These fitness competitors ate lots of animal protein, took a ton of supplements, and had severe eating disorders, body dysmorphia, binged and frequently starved themselves. Their diets often caused constipation, high cholesterol, lowered metabolism, and depression. None of them were vegan, but that didn’t convince her. Apparently, other people believe that a vegan diet can lead to disordered eating and detrimental eating habits too.

This may be because vegans are usually very thin, don’t have much visible muscle mass because they don’t lift heavy weights or eat enough calories. Some vegans do severely restrict calories, avoid healthy fats or gluten, limit fruit, refuse to eat grains or won’t even taste cooked foods. Some vegans won’t even go out to eat at vegan restaurants because they refuse to consume any amount of sugar, oil and salt. Some vegans do have eating disorders.

Vegans placed in a treatment center for disordered eating are typically prohibited from eating a vegan diet. To people who eat meat, poultry, fish and eggs, that may not seem like a big deal to you, but to a vegan, it’s huge. To put it in perspective, it’s like being forced to eat dogs and cats at every meal, animals you love and care about.

The reasons treatment centers give for banning vegans or forcing vegan patients to eat dead animals is that they believe a vegan diet is restrictive and the patients will have nutritional deficiencies. Any diet can be restrictive if only a few foods are eaten, but there are numerous choices to eat on a vegan diet, some high and some low in calories.

What these treatment centers are forgetting is that most people eat animal meat and drink animal milk and are nutritionally deficient. As long as a person who eats a vegan diet eats enough calories, takes B12, iodine and Vitamin D, which should be the same supplement recommendations for everyone, not just those avoiding animal products, it’s unlikely they will have nutritional deficiencies.

These programs focus on gaining weight, which don’t typically help because they foster resentment. Imagine being forced to eat foods you don’t like, which make you feel ill, cause you pain, and trigger rashes and eczema.

Eating disorders are not about food. It’s a disorder of the mind. Clinicians should focus more about why the person isn’t eating enough calories, understanding their fears, and using methods that work such as therapy, yoga and journaling (p 38).

People can gain weight or lose weight on any diet; it’s just easier to lose weight on a vegan diet because a vegan diet is usually lower in fat and lower in calories.

In a 111 PDF dissertation research paper determining if veganism is an eating disorder, “Two participants brought up the correlation between eating disorders and sexual assault, equating eating meat to a re-traumatization of the abuse as it feels like forcing something inside of your body without your consent” (p 59). In those two cases, eating meat causes more stress and more trauma.

Most of the literature on eating disorders were based on vegetarians, those that consume dairy and sometimes eggs…”it was vegans who had the healthiest attitude toward food” (p 3).

There is no data that proves that a vegan diet causes eating disorders. In this particular study, “There was not a single case in which someone said that their choice to be vegan was solely motivated by the desire to control their body” (p 52).

“Multiple people also made the point that they planned to be vegan after they leave treatment, so eating animal products during treatment held them back from becoming prepared to make healthy choices and navigate recovery as a vegan long term” (p 63).

“Multiple participants for whom weight restoration was important shared that being able to remain vegan helped them to eat the large quantities of food necessary for weight gain” (p 64).

One patient in a treatment facility said that they would put extra butter and cheese into the meals, and make milkshakes with extra ice cream. She said, by eating these high fat foods…”…I was just not feeling great” (p 64).

One 24 year old female said that “…eating vegan while in recovery helped her to develop a positive relationship with food–and that if she had not been vegan….it would have had a negative influence on her relationship with food “ (p 65).

“The participants in the study expressed many ways in which veganism felt supportive to their recovery, not just in the initial process but for the sustainability of a healthy relationship with food” (p 66).

Before I was vegan, which was back in 2020, I associated a vegan diet with weight loss and restriction, but when I transitioned to a plant-based vegan diet, and swapped out the animal flesh with a lot more potatoes, corn, beans, quinoa, oatmeal, fruit and rice, I didn’t lose any weight, maybe because I ate huge bowls of soup and stews, massive plates of food, and large smoothies. I found it freeing that I no longer had to control my portions to tiny sizes. I no longer worried that my meals were going to make me fat. I no longer felt hungry or deprived. If I’m hungry now, I eat and no longer limit carbohydrates.

Eating disorders are not caused by eating certain foods or eliminating specific foods. People can develop fear of food and food restriction due to allergies and health issues, but eating disorders typically have a mental health component. Instead of forcing people to eat more and gain weight, programs like COPP have shown that reducing stress, improving self-esteem, being politically involved, not following norms, expressing oneself, thinking for themselves, making their own decisions, and how to have control when others try to control you, is more effective (pgs 8-10).

New research by Tara Kemp, Ph.D, debunks the myth that a vegan diet causes eating disorders.

The findings proved that veganism is not tied to disordered eating, nor does it promote disordered eating (p 2). “…most studies show that vegan diets have a neutral or positive effect on one’s relationship with food (p 1).

1. Source: https://switch4good.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/HOW-VEGANISM-INFLUENCES-RELATIONSHIP-WITH-FOOD-IN-THE-CONTEXT-OF-EATING-DISORDER-RECOVERY.pdf?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=93dfcd4f-555c-42e5-a252-1c108b018815