Is MFP a breeding gound for eating disorders

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  • BonjourChristina
    BonjourChristina Posts: 5 Member
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    MFP encourages calorie counting which can be abused in many, many ways, not just by encouraging eating disorders... I mean it can be dangerous for uninformed people to build their diets around a preset numeric barrier, because you can still meet your energy requirements while eating unhealthy.

    There is a difference between 300 calories of McDonald's fries and 300 calories of let's say.. oatmeal. A difference that some people do not care to know about.
  • George_Baileys_Ghost
    George_Baileys_Ghost Posts: 1,524 Member
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    I mean I guess, in a sense, cars create crashes, but I don't really think that means they're particularly evil or sad in a philosophical sense. Other types of crashes would happen if cars didn't exist. The crash is the tragedy, not the mechanism used to create it.

    Much in the same way, eating disorders would exist regardless of MFP's existence.

    It's a fact that no matter how beneficial an invention might be, mankind will always find a way to use it to hurt themselves or others. My wife used to do registration in an Emergency Room. You'd be amazed at the way some people use curling irons.
  • Cranquistador
    Cranquistador Posts: 39,744 Member
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    NO.
  • fwhittaker
    fwhittaker Posts: 104 Member
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    It helped my recover, so it works both ways.

    Well that's really fabulous then. Enough said :-)
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    What came first the Chicken or the Egg?
  • Timelordlady85
    Timelordlady85 Posts: 797 Member
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    Anything that can be used, can be abused. MFP is no exception.


    +1, seen people do it another site called spark people.com too.
  • OldSportOldsport
    OldSportOldsport Posts: 275 Member
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    I think you're wrong. By your logic measuring tapes shouldn't be sold in shops, celery should be banned and bathroom scales are the devil's invention. All of those things can be misused in relation to eating disorders, but don't blame the method for someone else's disordered thinking. MFP helps a lot of people, the few people who use it for ill shouldn't in some way be the representation.
  • AislingHunter
    AislingHunter Posts: 71 Member
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    Every day there is a least one post from someone who is struggling with their relationship with food.

    I know that mfp 'promotes' healthly eating that posts which promote unhealthy eating are banned but the tools that we all use here food diaries, progress charts, congratulating people on loses etc, could also be used as tools for people with eating disorders and it's really sad.

    Some people do use MFP for that purpose, but if they didn't have MFP they'd just use something else instead. Should tall buildings stop being built because someone might jump off? That person would have killed themselves some other way if the building wasn't there.
  • Railr0aderTony
    Railr0aderTony Posts: 6,804 Member
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    MFP is a tool, what people do with it is up to them.
  • Derp_Diggler
    Derp_Diggler Posts: 1,456 Member
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    Hyperbole much?

    It's not a "breeding ground for eating disorders".


    The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.
  • gypsy_spirit
    gypsy_spirit Posts: 2,107 Member
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    Anything that can be used, can be abused. MFP is no exception.

    This sums it up quite nicely. You can apply this to just about anything in life. Anything.
  • KevHex
    KevHex Posts: 256 Member
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    MFP has enabled me to have a very healthy relationship with food these last few weeks. I think what the site offers is brilliant!
  • LifeWithPie
    LifeWithPie Posts: 552 Member
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    Hyperbole much?

    It's not a "breeding ground for eating disorders".


    The sky is not falling, Chicken Little.

    Agreed!
    What's "sad" OP, is you're depressing and pessimistic outlook on an innocent, helpful internet tool.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    They had the disorder when they joined and they'll have it when they leave.
  • Samstan101
    Samstan101 Posts: 699 Member
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    Every day there is a least one post from someone who is struggling with their relationship with food.

    I know that mfp 'promotes' healthly eating that posts which promote unhealthy eating are banned but the tools that we all use here food diaries, progress charts, congratulating people on loses etc, could also be used as tools for people with eating disorders and it's really sad.

    I did use those tools to overcome over-eating. The tools were essential but you think that's sad. Just as much an eating disorder as under-eating and ultimately leading to shorter life span potentially if not addressed. Ok, so I'm being slightly obtuse but your point is daft and also ill-thought out. Rather like a bad workman blaming his tools.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    Every day there is a least one post from someone who is struggling with their relationship with food.

    I know that mfp 'promotes' healthly eating that posts which promote unhealthy eating are banned but the tools that we all use here food diaries, progress charts, congratulating people on loses etc, could also be used as tools for people with eating disorders and it's really sad.

    I'm not sure MFP promotes healthy eating! It does promote weight loss and eating the correct macro's for fitness, but that doesn't necessarily add up to health.

    Calorie deficit = Weight loss
    Macro selection = Fitness and body composition
    Food choice = Health

    In regards to a breeding ground for eating disorders - I think yes, but only in people that are prone to that type of thing.

    If someone has an obsessive personality, then they will obsess over counting calories, just as much as they would following a diet which restricts food groups as opposed to restricting calories.

    I do not think MFP is to blame for this!
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Every day there is a least one post from someone who is struggling with their relationship with food.

    I know that mfp 'promotes' healthly eating that posts which promote unhealthy eating are banned but the tools that we all use here food diaries, progress charts, congratulating people on loses etc, could also be used as tools for people with eating disorders and it's really sad.
    I think it may attract people who have eating disorders, as any weight-loss tool will. I don't think it creates them.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    Eating disorders are sad, I agree. When I started on this site I didn't pick up on anything that seemed to "promote" me to eat anything less than the what I entered a my daily calorie allowance.

    Agreed, someone could use the site for that, but I don't see how this is "promoted".

    I didn't say that eating disorders are promoted I said that the tools used to lose weight could be used wrongly by people with eating disorders. I actually said that MFP promotes heathly eating, please re-read my post. FYI the only edit was to change an 'a' to an 'are'.

    You do realize eating disorders were around before MFP and they found ways to do the exact same thing pre MFP right?

    There are lots of places on the internet now where the tools are used to help those who are in the throws of an ED continue down their path...instagram, pintrest, FB (groups) any weight loss site

    pre internet they were more alone perhaps but they still did what they did....
    Just think about all the Lifetime movies from the early '90s about girls with eating disorders! Geesh!

    And Tracy Gold!
  • GeekdGirl
    GeekdGirl Posts: 218 Member
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    I don't believe that MFP creates eating disorders. If someone already has one, it might trigger or enable it, but that's not MFP's fault. The features of MFP are helpful to me. Other people's issues are their own. I empathize, but I'm not willing to toss aside all the good that comes from this program just because some people bring their baggage to it.

    ^^ Yeppers

    There's more than anorexia and bulimia eating disorders. What about those who have binge eating disorder (I posted DSM criteria below)? This site has helped a lot of people make it through. I certainly have a healthier relationship with food since looking at food as energy instead of a crutch.

    MFP is kinda like a food support group. Everyone here needs/wants some kind of help and we're all in it together. There will be those who really try and motivate others, just like there's going to be the people bashing the process (not talking about anyone in particular). Like everything in life, it's going to be what you, yourself, make of it.

    DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria:
    ** Recurrent episodes of binge eating. An episode of binge eating is characterized by both of the following:
    >eating, in a discrete period of time (for example, within any 2-hour period), an amount of food that is definitely larger than most people would eat in a similar period of time under similar circumstances
    >a sense of lack of control over eating during the episode (for example, a feeling that one cannot stop eating or control what or how much one is eating)
    **The binge-eating episodes are associated with three (or more) of the following:
    >eating much more rapidly than normal
    >eating until feeling uncomfortably full
    >eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
    >eating alone because of feeling embarrassed by how much one is eating
    >feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty afterwards
    **Marked distress regarding binge eating is present.
    **The binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for three months.
    **The binge eating is not associated with the recurrent use of inappropriate compensatory behavior (for example, purging) and does not occur exclusively during the course Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, or Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    MFP encourages calorie counting which can be abused in many, many ways, not just by encouraging eating disorders... I mean it can be dangerous for uninformed people to build their diets around a preset numeric barrier, because you can still meet your energy requirements while eating unhealthy.

    There is a difference between 300 calories of McDonald's fries and 300 calories of let's say.. oatmeal. A difference that some people do not care to know about.
    What if you get oatmeal from McDonald's?

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