TW // eating disorders

If you or someone you know if struggling with an eating disorder, don’t hesitate to reach out the the National Eating Disorder Association Helpline. Resources for countries outside the US are listed at the end of the article.

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Back in January, I hosted the Detox-Free Healthy Tea Challenge on Instagram to offer an alternative to detox teas and cleanses that are promoted so much during the new year. To kick off the challenge, I wrote a blog post about the physical dangers of detox teas. What I skipped over was the mental health effects of seeing these “teas” advertised. This week is National Eating Disorder Awareness Week in the United States, so I think it’s time to talk about it.

About Eating Disorders

The National Eating Disorder Association defines eating disorders as “serious but treatable mental and physical illnesses that can affect people of all genders, ages, races, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, body shapes, and weights.” Their list of eating disorders includes: anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder (BED), orthorexia, Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder (OSFED), Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), pica, rumination disorder, Unspecified feeding or eating disorder (UFED), laxative abuse, and compulsive exercise.

Risk factors include biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. Social factors include weight stigma and appearance ideal internalization, among others (we’ll be coming back specifically to these two later). According to NEDA, the “best-known contributor to the development of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa” is body dissatisfaction/negative body image.

There is so much I could say about eating disorders, but let’s round out this section with some facts, all from the NEDA website:

• It is estimated that 20 million women and 10 million men in America will have an eating disorder at some point in their lives

• People between the ages of 15 and 24 with anorexia nervosa have 10x the risk of dying compared to their same aged peers

• During a 2010 study, 69% of American elementary school girls said that the pictures influence their concept of the ideal body shape and 47% said the pictures made them want to lose weight

• In a study on social media, 95% of girls reported seeing the onslaught of negative beauty critiques on social media posts, comments, etc.—a majority of them at least once a week

How Tea Fits In

I would bet that many of those social media posts featuring negative beauty critiques include celebrities and influencers promoting so-called “Fit Tea.” Even if these people don’t try these extremely dangerous laxatives in a cup, they are still seeing posts that are telling them there is something wrong with their body. Remember those risk factors of weight stigma and appearance ideal internalization? Sounds like a perfect example to me.

In a conversation following her awesome Instagram Reel about detox teas, Trix from @haveteawithme on Instagram said it best, “Everywhere really needs to step up their game on stuff like this. Even it the product itself wasn’t dangerous, the advertising and rhetoric around it is very triggering and unhealthy.” We both agreed that eating disorders need to be taken more seriously, and cracking down on these teas is one way to do that.

But it goes beyond just teas specifically marketed for detox and weight loss . You can’t read an article about the health benefits of tea (linked article is an exception, because I wrote it) without reading about how it may help with weight loss. Even the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics includes a weight loss section in their article, stating:

“Though the jury is still out, some studies suggest that the caffeine and catechins, a type of polyphenol, in tea may help with weight loss. Decaffeinated green teas did not appear to produce the same results. Though the research on caffeinated green tea looks promising, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Plus, the results have been minimal – only one to two pounds of additional weight loss. Also of note, research is lacking to support the wide range of herbal tea products advertised for weight loss and these can be harmful depending on their ingredients.”

Now, I have to give AND some credit for being realistic. Though I wish we could just stop talking about tea for weight loss, there is worse out there. For example, I Googled “weight loss tea” to see what would come up in preparation for this post. One 2015 article (which I am not linking, Google at your own risk) talked about a woman who lost weight by drinking nine cups of green tea a day. Nine cups! Now I know my 1-2 cups of tea a day is low for someone who considers themselves a tea lover, but nine just seems wild to me.

Not just that, but the article says she didn’t even like green tea at first and had to force herself to drink it. Don’t get me wrong, I know green tea can be an acquired taste—but what kind of world do we live in that we force ourselves to do things we don’t like just to lose weight?? It’s like when people (who don’t have drug-resistant epilepsy) ask me if they should try the ketogenic diet. After I explain to them all the health and science reasons why they should NOT, I always end with “Besides, why would you want to cut out carbs anyway? They’re delicious.” I see no reason why we should sacrifice joy (whether that is in the form of taking away something we enjoy or forcing ourselves to eat/drink something we don’t) for no reason other than to fit the unreachable standards society sets for us.

So What’s the Tea?

Obviously, I don’t expect this blog post to change the world. Don’t get me wrong, I would love for tea companies to stop making detox teas, detox tea companies to be banned, and the media to stop talking about weight loss as a health benefit of tea. Heck, I would even love if people stop doing research on the topic. But, realistically, I do hope I made you think about the way we as a society talk about tea and weight loss. And once again, if you or someone you know if struggling or may be struggling with an eating disorder, please reach out to one of the resources listed below.

Eating Disorder Helplines by Country

United States: National Eating Disorder Association Helpline

Canada: National Eating Disorder Information Center Helpline

Australia: The Butterfly Foundation National Helpline

Ireland: Bodywhys The Eating Disorders Association of Ireland Helpline

United Kingdom: Beat Eating Disorders Helpline

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Like this article? Read more like it here:

Reflecting on the Detox-Free Healthy Tea Challenge

NOTES:

I am not yet a Registered Dietitian and am therefore not certified to give nutrition counseling. Please consult your doctor or other healthcare provider before following the advice in this article.