Eating Disorders After Kimkins

Does Kimkins cause an eating disorder?

Ask anyone one of those people who actually followed Kimkins, you get a resounding YES!! On the many LC message boards I frequent, you hear the same complaint. I’m afraid to add more food, I don’t want to gain.

Take it from someone who knows first and about eating disorders. I have suffered with one for over 30 years. Once that way of thinking enters your psyche, there is no turning back. Your relationship with food is forever changed.

When people think of an eating disorder, the mind goes to emaciated, skeleton looking women. Or you think of someone who spends their time in the bathroom. Making themselves puke. After consuming anything that won’t eat them first.

There are many types of eating disorders. Most aren’t classified in the DSM yet. Look for them to be added in the new DSM that will be coming out soon.

What really causes an eating disorder? Many factors come into play, Gender, Age, Family Dynamics, Behavioral Issues, Dieting, Abuse and Trauma, Triggers, Genetics, and Negative (Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia) Web Sites.

I could write a book on each of these. But we are talking about Kimkins. So I’ll focus on Diet.

How we Learn to Fight the Wrong Enemy

Among risk factors for eating disorder development, dieting may be the most insidious. Dieting creates many dynamics that encourage eating disorders, just as sexual abuse or teasing from friends do. The difference is that dieting is considered “normal” and is encouraged in western culture. In fact, when someone attempts to lose weight through dieting and does not, she often considers herself a failure.

This is noted all the time from former and current Kimkins followers.

Beyond Weight Gain to Disordered Eating

ANAD (2007) reports that those who diet moderately are five times more likely to develop eating disorders than those who don’t diet. For those who diet “severely,” the chances of an eating disorder are eighteen times greater.

Kimkins is severe. So following that nutritionally bankrupt diet increases your chance of an eating disorder even more.

Dieting Can Promote Eating Disorders in Loved Ones

Further, dieting sets an example that can lead to eating disorders in others. A mother’s dieting creates a greater chance of an eating disorder in her daughter. The same occurs when a sister diets, or when someone has a group of friends who diet.

This is a big point I want to make. You are being watched by your children. Will the fact that you are obsessing over minute amounts of food have a lasting effect on your kids? I mean sons as well as daughters. Eating disorders are on the rise in males. Do you want to take that chance? Your constant obsession with body size,food, etc.WILL impact your kids. Believe it.

How Are Dieting and Eating Disorders Linked?

When a diet starts, food becomes the enemy. If you see a food you like, you’re annoyed because it’s probably forbidden. If you encounter a food that is “okay” according to the diet, you’re often just as annoyed because it’s a food you don’t like. Every encounter with food creates tension.

The greater the threat, the more desperate we become in response to an enemy. When desperation against food (“that evil stuff that seems to make my body look bad”) gets high enough, eating disorders look more attractive.

Worse, dieting decreases the body’s rate of metabolism, because the body believes that it needs to conserve energy for survival.

We have all been there. You see it in everyday lives. I find myself wanting to go off on a rant here with this one, so I’ll move on.

Social and Psychological Problems of Dieting

Dieting also makes social interaction harder, because it often means refusing invitations to parties and dinners. This contributes to a sense of isolation, which is a prominent factor in eating disorders. Other problems include:

* Greater preoccupation with food
* Increased sense of deprivation
* Lowered sense of willpower
* Increased binge eating

While on Kimkins, what family function can you go to and not feel out of place. Wondering if someone is watching you eat. Self conscious all the time. Then you run to your computer talk with the people that understand what you are going through. You are encouraged by your fellow dieters to just keep going lower. We understand you. I equate Kimkins with any of the Negative (Pro-Ana and Pro-Mia) Web Sites

What’s the Attraction?

Beginning a diet can be a very exciting time. Thoughts of regaining a sense of life and self-respect are powerful incentives, and watching weight begin to drop is intoxicating. We have the sense that we can have what we want–the things that other people (the healthy, slim ones) have.

Unfortunately, when the weight returns, the sense of self-respect goes away. But the brief taste of something that seemed wonderful is enough to fuel the choice to diet again.

I feel another rant coming on……not…..gonna….give…..in…..Arghhhhhhh…….

I fell better now. So where were we? Oh yeah, Kimkins.

So I’ll let you be the judge. So can Kimkins cause an eating disorder? Do your research. Look at all the facts. Then get back to me. From my first hand knowledge, my personal opinion would have to be:

KIMKINS CAUSES EATING DISORDERS

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