Anyone who has tried and failed to do something about their weight problem will know that it leaves you feeling more firmly trapped than you did before. You’ve seen films where prisoners are thrown into a cell and the door locked behind them. The first thing they do is run to the door and tug at the handle. This confirms their predicament: they rea

They yearn for the “security” of the prison. Life on the outside is alien and frightening for them: it doesn’t run to the same routine or the same guidelines; it’s not what they know and they don’t feel equipped to handle it.

Fear is a very powerful motivator, but when it pulls you in conflicting directions, the result is confusion and the inability to act.

The fact that the most intelligent species on the planet happens to be the only one to suffer eating problems can only be explained by the fact that our intelligence has led

to avoid this misery is not to try to escape in the first place. As long as they never try that prison door handle, they’ll always preserve the belief that it might just open when they want it to.

The upshot is that we become inert, stuck between conflicting fears.

astray. There are plenty of examples of human intelligence leading to self-destruction: the way we eat is just one more.

afraid to go on eating as they do and afraid to quit.

Eating disorders aren’t just about food. Food is used to feel in control of other feelings that may seem overwhelming.