For Soccer Players Who Struggle with Food and Weight
Youth Soccer News: The latest Sports Nutrition News from Nancy Clark
Too many soccer players (males and females alike) struggle with food and weight. Their common belief is “the lighter I am, the better I’ll perform.” Not true, if the cost of attaining the perfect body is poorly fueled muscles, overuse injuries, and a dysfunctional relationship with food. Soccer players can suffer from Anorexia nervosa which is a serious eating disorder. Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric condition and is part of a group of eating disorders.
If you are a soccer player who struggles with losing those last few pounds, take note. Weight issues may have little to do with body fat and more to do with “I’m not good enough.” Haven’t we all, as athletes, had that thought? And certainly, some soccer players struggle with the “I’m not good enough” belief far more than others. They are the ones who can easily cross the line into having an eating disorder.
What happens to your body with anorexia? When suffering from anorexia, the body does not receive the energy from foods that it needs, so it slows down – then performance on the field also slows down. More specific info from WomensHealth.gov on Nervosa Fact Sheet.
Department of Health and Human Services
An eating disorder distracts the athlete from the feelings that come with being “not good enough.” After all, if you are always thinking about whether or not eat, and how much to exercise, you are not thinking about feeling imperfect or inadequate. Unfortunately, using food to distract from those feelings can end up hurting your performance.
The following information, presented at a conference in Boston organized by the Multiservice Eating Disorders Association (MEDA), offers food for thought for all athletes who struggle with finding the right balance of food, weight, and exercise. For additional information, check out MEDA’s website, www. MEDAinc.org. It’s filled with helpful resources for teammates, friends and family members, as well as for soccer players with anorexia, bulimia, and food obsessions.
Food for thought
Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness. Whether death is from heart arrhythmias or suicide, we need to pay attention when soccer players struggle with food.
- Just as soccer players with anorexia lose arm and leg muscle that helps them be strong athletes, they simultaneously lose heart muscle. The heart gets smaller and cannot respond to stress. The resulting arrhythmias can be a cause of death.
- The purging associated with bulimia takes its toll in terms of not only electrolyte imbalance associated with vomiting, but also gray teeth (due to erosion of tooth enamel on the inside of the mouth), and dental caries. The person may also suffer from acid reflux, difficulty swallowing, and chronic constipation (if purging includes laxative abuse).
- Thankfully, many medical issues are reversible but two “biggies” are not: 1) cognitive dysfunction due to the brain shrinking and 2) bone health. The bones (particularly in the spine, hip, and wrist) lose density. This increases the risk of stress fractures today and osteoporosis in later years.
- A shocking one-fourth of young women (<20 years) who suffer from anorexia have early osteoporosis. Some end up in severe pain for their lifetime, others in wheelchairs. Teens need to be fully aware they are not only losing bone density but also are not gaining it, as should happen during teenage years. Surprisingly, men with anorexia end up with worse osteoporosis than women.
Any female athlete with amenorrhea (loss of her menstrual period for more than 6 months) should get her bone density measured for a baseline. Should she also take a birth control pill to force the return of menses? Current research suggests not. The pill offers a false sense of recovery, plus it does not enhance bone density. The better path is to eat enough food to restore the body to an appropriate weight.
Beware that eating a very high fiber can interfere with calcium absorption. No need for more than 25 to 35 grams of fiber per day!
Soccer players with eating disorders commonly have high cholesterol levels. The solution is not to limit red meat and eggs; rather, the athletes need to normalize their entire diet.
Medical symptoms that raise red flags include: heart rate less than 40 beats per minute, body temperature less than 95°F (35°C), blood pressure less than 70/40, and low blood glucose (<60 mg/dL) between meals. These numbers are sometimes seen in highly trained soccer players; hence to identify those with eating disorders can be tricky. Other red flags include noticeable “fur” on arms and face (lanugo hair, for warmth), brittle fingernails, blue fingertips, itchy dry skin, and a yellow skin tone due to overindulging in carrots and orange vegetables.
Signs to watch for:
- Soccer players with anorexia may complain about “feeling full” despite a small food intake, and food that just “sits in the stomach.” The solution is to force themselves to gradually increase their intake. Even though they may not feel hungry, their body is starving and needs fuel.
Do people recover?
Yes, usually with help from a therapist, registered dietitian (RD), and medical team. Some athletes get tired of the eating disorder and learn to accept their perceived body flaws. Others get scared when they vomit blood. Some find hope in a new personal relationship —Maybe I am good enough to be loved!—or choose to eat better so they can get pregnant.
One pathway for recovery is to see the eating disorder as being just one part of you. It is the part that tries to protect your other parts that don’t like feeling lonely, rejected, or imperfect. For example, perhaps you had traumatic experiences in middle school. Your eating disordered part can distract and numb feelings of pain, shame, and fear. It keeps you feeling more in control of life.
Try talking to your eating disorder and ask, “Please tell me why you are here? What are you trying to do for me?” The ED part might answer “I’m trying to distract you and protect you from painful feelings—you know, the shame you felt as a kid in middle school…” Yet, we all know that starving one’s body does not solve any problems. Hence, a probing question is, “How effective on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being 100% effective) is the eating disorder in making you happy in your core?” Most athletes with eating disorders are miserable.
Using a model of recovery such as Internal Family Systems (www.selfleadership.org), soccer players can discover their core that is centered, competent, secure, self-assured, relaxed, and able to both listen to and respond to feedback. These core values can displace the eating disordered voices and lead to a happier, healthier life and improved performance. Is it time for you to stop struggling and start living and performing better?
SIDEBAR: Nutritional and medical advice changes with new discoveries and interpretations. Always check with your medical provider and/or nutritionalist for what is best for you and your family. And research and read information on nutrition!
Boston-area sports nutritionist Nancy Clark MS RD counsels both casual exercisers and competitive athletes in her private practice in Newton MA (617-795-1875).
She is author of the best-selling Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutirtion Guidebook and co-author with Gloria Averbuch of Food Guide for Soccer: Tips and Recipes from the Pros.
