Living in a world of numbers? Our experts explain why we count calories, why it’s detrimental to our mental health and how we can stop it.
Registered social worker, therapist, and Silver Linings founding member, Lakshmi Krishnan, explains the link between calorie counting and anxiety and how to change your narrative with numbers.
Why can’t I stop counting calories?
“When someone is obsessively counting calories in their head, this can be the tip of the iceberg of an eating disorder,” says Krishnan. “And it doesn’t necessarily have to be calories. It could be obsessing over being a certain pant size or a specific weight or maybe I'm weighing myself five times a day or even counting the number of peas on my plate.”
Krishnan, who has specialized in supporting eating disorder recoveries in Calgary for 17 years, believes such behaviours stem from anxiety.
"Anxiety makes us feel like we have lost control, so we seek out ways to exert control in order to feel better,” she explains.
“For example, my relationship is breaking down so I’m going to restrict myself to a certain number of calories today. Or I'm under pressure from my parents so I’m going to run a specific distance. Or I'm stressed at work so I'm going to lose some predetermined number of pounds.
“Losing those pounds, running that distance, restricting to that certain calorie intake makes me feel like I did something with the anxiety that is churning inside me. It makes me feel like I have regained some control.”
Why counting calories is bad for our mental health
Studies show that restricting food intake by tracking calories can increase symptoms of psychological stress. Furthermore, research confirms that using diet and fitness apps to track calories and nutritional information can promote fixation on numbers, rigid diet, obsession and extreme negative emotions.
Krishnan says it can be a vicious cycle.
“When I'm living in a world of numbers my world narrows and my anxiety increases. So, the question we must ask isn’t why am I counting calories – or anything else for that matter – but where is my anxiety coming from? And that’s where a mental health professional can help.”
How we talk about food is important
In the fight against ruminating on calorie content, Krishnan believes reconnecting with the food we eat in a cultural or personal way, rather than a clinical way, can also be transformative.
“A person’s relationship with food is one of the longest and most important relationships they will have in their entire life. But society has really pushed us to disconnect from food in recent years. We say protein, not chicken. We say carbs not bread. We exclude entire food groups in our quest to be “healthy”. All of this only serves to bring anxiety into that relationship. I believe we need to go back to a simpler way of talking about food and listening to our bodies.”
Silver Linings Foundation is Aberta’s eating disorder resource, dedicated to advocacy and recovery. Our team are experts in the field of youth and adult mental health.
We offer online and in-person programs for teenagers and adults. Check out all of our programs here.
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