On Dieting
In a classic study done
at the University of Minnesota, thirty-six volunteers were placed on an extended low-calorie diet and "the psychological,
behavioral and physical effects were carefully documented." The subjects were young and healthy, showing "high
levels of ego strength, emotional stability, and good intellectual ability." They "began a six-month period .
. . in which their food intake was reduces by half - a typical weight reduction technique for women.
"After losing
approximately 25% of their original body weight, pervasive effects of semistarvation were seen." The subjects "became
increasingly preoccupied with food and eating, to the extent that they ruminated obsessively about meals and food, collected
recipes and cookbooks, and showed abnormal food rituals, such as excessively slow eating and hoarding of food related objects."
Then, the majority "suffered some form of emotional disturbance as a result of semistarvation, including depression,
hypochondriasis, hysteria, angry outbursts, and, in some cases, psychotic levels of disorganization." Then, they "lost
their ability to function in work and social contexts, due to apathy, reduced energy and alertness, social isolation, and
decreased sexual interest." Finally, "within weeks of reducing their food intake," they "reported relentless
hunger, as well as powerful urges to break dietary rules. Some succombed to eating binges, followed by vomiting and feelings
of self-reproach. Ravenous hunger persisted, even following large meals during refeeding." Some of the subjects "found
themselves eating continuously, while others engaged in uncontrollable cycles of gorging and vomiting." The volunteers
"became terrified of going outside the experiment environment where they would be tempted by the foods they had agreed
not to eat . . . when they did succomb, they made hysterical, half-crazed confessions." They became irritable, tense,
fatigued, and full of vague complaints." "Like fugitives, [they] could not shed the feeling they were being shadowed
by a sinister force." For some, doctors eventually had to prescribe tranquilizers.
The subjects were a group of
completely normal healthy college men.
Naomi Wolf
The Beauty Myth, 1991
