The Psychology of Eating: From Healthy to Disordered Behavior

Dieting 127

these beliefs (i.e., the daughter) has control over her destiny (see figure 7.2).
It is assumed that she can achieve, she can compete, and she can fulfill the
desires of others if only she tries; anything can be achieved if the effort is
right. This is a lot of pressure to place on a woman who may well feel that
the world is still designed for men. It is even more pressure to place upon
a young woman who may feel that the world is designed for adults. Such
expectations may result in feelings of being out of control: “How can I achieve
all these things?” “What do I have to do?” “I can never fulfill everyone’s
demands,” “My world is simply not that open to change,” and “Things are
not that controllable.” The one factor, however, that women believe can be
changed is their bodies. And this belief is exacerbated by the dieting
industry, which presents body shape as a changeable object and offers
dieting as the means through which such change can be brought about.
Feelings of being out of control may be expressed in the development of
body dissatisfaction, which is then translated into dieting behavior as a means
to regain some control (Orbach, 1978; Brownell, 1991; Ogden, 1992).

What Is Dieting?

Dieting is the main consequence of body dissatisfaction. Most dieters are
women and research suggests that a large majority of the female population

competitiveness

independence

intimacy

autonomy

parental

expectations

achievement

materialism

Control /no control

Figure 7.2 The central role for control.