Supplements: Fuel For Muscles and Eating Disorders
Eating disorder and body image has always been an issue which has plagued the confidence and self worth of teenagers, young adults, and even fully capable hard working men and women. Up to 30 million people in the United States suffer from an eating disorder whether it is anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. While women are the most common sufferers of this mental illness, men, notably young ones, also go through the unpleasant ordeal of conforming to an ideal body image designated by social media, Hollywood trends, and magazines. Due to the recent surge of what is call the “super hero body”, i.e. the bulky body of a heroic and often unrealistic Superman, young impressionable men have been training hard to get rock hard six pack abs, massive delts, v-shape lats, boulder arms, and bulging pecs all the while trying hard to shred excess fat, making themselves lean and muscular. Most of these men suffer from what is called muscle dysmorphia, in which a person is never satisfied with the way they look, believing their muscles is too small or weak. To fuel their growing need to be bigger and better, body builders are using an excessive and troubling amount of supplements. This has become a worrying trend and a recent report examines the new eating disorder arising among men: excessive supplement usage.
Supplements are not detrimental when used to “supplement” the diet. In fact, it can be essential to those who suffers who nutritional deficiency. It becomes problematic when it is used in a way that upsets the body’s natural disposition to process food. And according to the research, men who train their bodies are becoming reliant on supplement usage, making it a concern:
“A growing reliance on supplements could be considered a new class of eating disorders, according to research presented at the American Psychological Association meeting in Toronto. The result is a complex psychological and nutritional imbalance for men who use such products excessively.
“Body-conscious men who are driven by psychological factors to attain a level of physical or masculine ‘perfection’ are evidenced to use these supplements and drugs in a manner that is excessive and which was demonstrated in this study to be a variant of disordered eating” a team led by Richard Achiro, PhD., of the California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, Los Angeles, wrote in research provided to CBS News.”’
As long as the idolized image of the perfect body is one of Hercules, men will be driven to use whatever means necessary to attain that broad stature. And some of them will go to the extremes. However, what does is construed as excessive? Well, when it starts becoming a health risk to both the doctors and user:
“Twenty-nine percent of the men surveyed said they were concerned about their own use of APEDs. Twenty-two percent said they have used the supplements to replace meals. And more than 40 percent said their use had increased over time.
In the most extreme cases, 8 percent said they’d been told by their doctor to cut back on supplement use and 3 percent had been hospitalized for kidney or liver problems linked to their excessive use of the supplements.”
The survey had “195 men ,between the ages of 18 and 65, who said they had used fitness supplements like whey protein, creatine and L-cartinine — legal products that are included in the class of appearance and performance enhancing drugs, or APEDs — in the past 30 days, and worked out at least twice a week. Often consumed in the form of energy bars or protein shakes, APEDs are becoming increasingly common and popular.
The gym-active men were asked a series of questions about eating habits, current phase of training and views about their bodies. The survey was constructed as part of a unique model researchers are building to identify supplement-related disorders.”
And as stated previously, the researchers say their findings “point to several different psychological factors tied to excessive use of legal supplements, including gender role conflict — meaning the men perceived a certain body image as more “masculine” — and self-esteem that was tied to their level of satisfaction with their bodies. Understanding these underlying motivations are key to recognizing when a problem may be starting. ”
The problem starts with the constant idolization of masculinity and tying that to the shape and size of the muscles.It is the mirror of the body image of which women suffers; that of the thin wafer. However, the difference with men and women is that men are not only less likely to report eating disorders, but they are more likely to over exercise. This leads to a manufactured belief that they need the supplements to fuel their muscle development. But what happens is the likely breakdown of their bodies.
What needs to happen to curb this muscle dysmorphia and eating disorder is education. We need to educate men and women on proper diet and exercise. We need to educate them on what are the components of a realistic and healthy body. We also need to work with professionals in the media, fashion industry, and entertainment world to encourage positive body image. A healthy body is not about bulging muscles or a rail thin waist. Masculinity is not defined by how much a person can lift but the strength found in being a good person. The perfect man or woman is not found by having the body of Superman or Wonder Woman. It is found by being a good mother, father, brother, sister, son, or daughter to each other.
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