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The Chair of a charity supporting islanders with eating disorders is urging against Jersey following UK plans to force restaurants to put calories on menus.
Part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s obesity strategy, restaurants, pubs and cafes with more than 250 employees will have to put the number of calories on their menus from April 2022.
Discussing the effect that this kind of strategy could have on those with an eating disorder, Chair of Jersey Eating Disorders Support (JEDS) Karen Dingle explained that having numbers on a menu risks putting off those with an eating disorder from eating food.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea because people with an eating disorder will focus on the numbers that come up, and it will put them off ordering something on a menu if the numbers are staring at them,” she said.
“They’ve got enough to deal with when they’re trying to eat without having… in their faces, exactly what they’re eating.”
Pictured: Run by mother and daughter Karen and Amy Dingle, JEDS offers support ranging from counselling to group sessions and peer support for those suffering with an eating disorder, as well as carers, friends and family.
She added that to encourage healthy diets instead, regular eating habits with a proper schedule should be encouraged, saying “rather than forcing people to look at calories, it’s healthier to just try and have people have regular meals and maybe regular exercise.”
Her comments came as part of a conversation on the latest Bailiwick Podcast discussing eating disorders, and their increasing prevalence in Jersey.
A recent Government report has stated that eating disorders among young people on the island have more than tripled in the last four years, with 44 cases recorded as of April 2021, with no service completely dedicated to the condition available to young people for treatment.
Amy Dingle, Karen’s daughter and a JEDS peer-worker, who is using her own experience with an eating disorder to help others, noted that JEDS had seen “a huge increase in members recently”, both in terms of sufferers and carers looking for support.
On the reasons for this increase, Karen pointed to the condition’s relationship with feelings of control, and the loss of control that the pandemic had brought to people’s lives.
Pictured: Karen highlighted that intervening at an early stage rather than waiting and seeing what happens is deeply important in tackling an eating disorder.
“During the pandemic, we’ve all felt a little bit out of control, and with someone with an eating disorder, what happens is if they feel out of control, they put all their control into what they eat, because that’s something they can control," she explained.
“So I think that’s what’s made the problem so much worse… that everyone’s feeling a little bit out of from what’s going on – some people overeat, and some people under-eat, but it amounts to the same thing about not being able to cope with the situation that they may be living in.”
Talking about what could be done, Amy supported bringing in more help the island, saying she thinks the current mental health team “do the best they can”, but that a bigger team or specialist service on-island would help combat the increasing caseload.
Similarly on, preventative measures to help those with eating disorders, Karen explained that early diagnosis and treatment before disordered behaviour escalates was key to making sure the disorder does not spiral.
“I think it’s really important that someone is diagnosed early, so it’s not just left to see what happens, that somebody goes to get the help that they need as soon as possible.
“Because what happens is the disordered behaviour becomes a habit, and then once it happens, it’s very difficult to break.”
CLICK HERE to find out more about the support offered by JEDS.
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