Why Older Women Are Quietly Struggling with Eating Disorders

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Eating disorders impact roughly 9% (30 million) of Americans in their lifetime. Sadly, Global eating disorder statistics report that the prevalence of eating disorders has increased from 3.4% to 7.8% between 2000 and 2018. Everyone’s relationship with food is different, but roughly 70 million people live with these debilitating diseases.

So, what is an eating disorder? Contrary to popular belief, eating disorders aren’t all about food. They are often about control and ways to cope with life’s circumstances. Psychiatry.org defines an eating disorder as “behavioral conditions characterized by severe and persistent disturbance in eating behaviors and associated distressing thoughts and emotions. They can be very serious conditions affecting physical, psychological, and social function. Types of eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant restrictive food intake disorder, other specified feeding and eating disorder, pica, and rumination disorder.”

Almost half of all Americans know someone with an eating disorder, but an estimated 50-70% go undiagnosed due to subclinical symptoms, stigma, shame, and unrecognized behaviors. Sadly, older women, ages 40-70, are often at the top of this list. 

In a recent study conducted by National Geographic, a growing number of women ages 40 to 70 are seeking treatment for eating disorders triggered by menopause, life transitions, and cultural pressure to stay thin—yet many go undiagnosed or untreated. This brings up a pivotal, but often overlooked question: How can Christian women find peace, purpose, and identity in Christ when their bodies—and roles—are changing?

While eating disorders don’t discriminate by age, race, gender, or socioeconomic status, they do make it difficult for us to see ourselves the way God created us. One of the most challenging verses found in Scripture isn’t that we’re called to love our neighbors, but that we’re called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Why? Because it can be hard to know how to love ourselves well (Mark 12:30-31, NIV). 

If we want to honor and love God and others wholeheartedly, this requires us to find peace, purpose, and identity in Christ, no matter what our bodies look like or the roles we’re called to uphold. How do we do this? We look within, learn to silence shame with God’s truth, and lean on professional support when needed.