Eating disordersscrapped Plan for calories on menus ‘damaging’
ABRISTOL eating disorder campaigner is calling on the government to scrap its “destructive” plan for calorie labelling on food menus.
Mental health advocate Hope Virgo says the new regulations are “triggering” and potentially damaging for people’s future relationships with food.
“We are normalising eating disorders and disordered eating behaviours and this is not okay,” she said.
“This is not just about eating disorders, this goes wider across society and what is proposed as a ‘commonsense approach’ – focusing on calorie counting – is incredibly destructive.”
The announcement, which came on May 11 as part of the Queen’s Speech to tackle obesity, said: “The Government will introduce secondary legislation to require large out-ofhome sector businesses with 250 or more employees to calorie label the food they sell.”
Sixteen-year-old George Townsend from Kingswood, who has struggled with his mental health since age 11, said being reminded of the nutritional value of food could trigger a relapse.
“I’ve worked so hard to prevent this over the last few years and if this piece of legislation is passed, it would make it so that I could never eat out again.”
Vicki, 28, from Bristol, has been battling with anorexia for a decade. She said menus with calories would be terrifying.
“I do everything in my power to remain in recovery and have worked hard to build a healthy relationship with food, taking away the stigma from the foods I fear. This will be in jeopardy with these plans,” she said.
“Quite simply, I won’t be able to go out to eat without needing to be treated like a child and having my husband choose my meal for me.”
She says a nationwide education around healthy food and nutrition would render the need for calories on menus irrelevant.
“As a nation we are so clueless about nutrition. Labelling with calories doesn’t educate, it stigmatises and demonises food,” she said.
Iona Hartshorn, 31, who lives in Redland, said socialising in public would become an “anxiety inducing event” if menus printed content calorie information.
She developed an unhealthy relationship with food in her teens which gradually developed into anorexia.
“As a young adult this turned into cycles of binge eating and then compulsive exercising and food restriction – the impact on my life was devastating,” she said.
She says she prefers to be “overwhelmed” with excitement over what to choose on a menu and not have “feelings of guilt and anxiety” because of calorie counting.
Renee Mcgregor, a leading sports dietitian specialising in eating disorders, said: “As a steering group, while we have huge concerns about the impact on those with eating disorders, we are equally worried about the impact this legislation will have on all individuals and their relationships with food.
“In today’s society we seem to have lost the importance of enjoyment of food and the fact that it is a key feature in helping us connect and build relationships.
“Additionally, the science is clear, the messaging around ‘moving more and eating less’ does not work. In fact, it has the opposite effect in causing the body to go into compensatory behaviours – this is why to date, no obesity interventions using restrictive dietary methods have worked. “