Bodybuilding Diet: Disordered Eating?

[Mark]

I had an interesting lecture today on disordered eating patterns...

The question I want to ask is: Do you believe that eating unusually large amounts of food for the purposes of bodybuilding could be considered as a disordered eating pattern?

Discuss... :017:

[BengDogg]

Yesa and no, It is compuslsive yes but the purpose is productive.

[GoldenArrow]

Is it still compulsive if you have to force yourself to do it?

[BengDogg]

eating is my hobby so im exempt :)

[blacklab]

I don't think so. There is a very concrete need to eat that much because of the trauma the body is being subjected to. It's not a compulsion and it's not cerebral - you just have to do it.

[Boxer]

The way bodybuilders eat would be considered an eating disorder. I say the people who eat nothing but junk food have got the disorder.

[Stubob]

What is meant by "disordered".. As in an eating disorder or no structure to your diet..

Either way it's a means to an end so as others said I think it's productive..

No more different to a model eating minimal calories to keep her figure, although to achieve that various eating disorders manifest themselves due to constant pressure to be a certain size..

[the block]

by disorder i see it to mean 'not normal' which in that case would be correct of bodybuilders when compared to the general public. but then people will say 'whats normal for one is not normal for another' so it goes on and on.

i think its an acceptable 'disorder' due to the visible outcomes. if it was a less active person who ate that amount and got fat then society would view that person differently although the action is the same - but not the outcome as mentioned by others.

[DMPM]

I TOTALLY disagree. In fact, a "normal" diet is disorded in IMO when compared to how our bodies are designed to function. We're essentially grazing animals. This "3 square meals a day bollocks" is just something conjured up in the modern era.

[the block]

fair enough mate - but you have changed the context in which this is placed and a norm is contextual. the norm today is 3 meals whether functional or not. its not normal in many third world countries to have 3 squares a day. i agree about the modern 3 meal plug.

i have no idea about how people used to eat back in the day, say a thousand years ago but IMO (baseless as it is) i doubt that they were a) grazing and b) getting 3 squares a day (all dependant on income etc)

the end result of this is that there is nothing normal and what is normal for one is not for another which is anarchy :022:

[DMPM]

i have no idea about how people used to eat back in the day, say a thousand years ago but IMO (baseless as it is) i doubt that they were a) grazing and b) getting 3 squares a day (all dependant on income etc)
Well you're only limiting your thoughts to Western society. 1000 years ago, a large portion of the world were still hunter-gatherers. Australian aboriginals, native Americans etc.

It's well documented that these people were very healthy and suffered none of the diseases that ravaged Westerners like smallpox etc.