On ‘Emotional Eating’ – The New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Go Ahead. Eat Your Holiday Feelings,” by Christy Harrison (Sunday Review, Nov. 24):

“Emotional eating” is when you are hungry from the heart, not the stomach. There is a large spectrum of problematic eating behavior: overeating, compulsive overeating, binge eating, bulimia, self-starvation, laxative abuse, orthorexia (an obsession with eating foods that one believes are healthy), compulsive exercise and chronic dieting.

No matter where people fall on the spectrum — from an 80-pound anorexic to a 450-pound binge-eater — their relationship with food and their bodies is fueled and driven by emotions too hard to digest: depression, anxiety, frozen grief, trauma, anger, sexual abuse, feelings of abandonment and rejection.

Ms. Harrison tries to normalize the humanity of overeating: We all do it, and it is often fueled by restrictive dieting and undereating. But she does not go far enough. She minimizes the truth that many people suffer from eating disorders that are psychiatric disorders and require a full scope of treatment interventions, including nutrition support, psychotherapy and sometimes medication for depression and anxiety.

And let’s remember: Everyone’s eating problem is as unique as a fingerprint. One size does not fit all.

Mary Anne Cohen
Brooklyn
The writer is director of the New York Center for Eating Disorders.

To the Editor:

Re “Banished for 5 Years, Youth Football Roars Back in a Texas Town” (front page, Nov. 17):

The human capacity for self-delusion is profound and resilient. But especially when it concerns the health of children, we must be relentless in pursuit and acceptance of the truth.

There is a growing body of evidence that American football is highly toxic for the brain, especially the preadolescent brain. Recent studies have indicated that boys who begin playing tackle football when very young are at much higher risk of developing brain-wasting chronic traumatic encephalopathy in later life.

No appeal to cultural norms or character formation can justify such a risk. Adults who encourage young boys to play a sport that is so insidiously damaging are engaging in child abuse.

David Hayden
Wilton, Conn.

To the Editor:

Re “What if You Always Had Friday Off? Why Don’t You?” (Business Day, Nov. 11):

I used to work as a computer animator. I noticed that animators are far more productive when working in union shops. In businesses with 10-to-12-hour days, less was accomplished.

The pace was slower because people weren’t fresh, and they naturally slow down to survive the longer hours. In the eight-hour shops, we came in fresh, eager to work and easily worked harder to accomplish goals in shorter hours.

J. Hauptman
New York