Beware the glare of the food voyeur

ON the surface, Eliza* is just like every other young woman in the George Street restaurant. Dressed in a uniform of designer pieces effortlessly paired with high street finds, the svelte 29-year-old trainee accountant from Stockbridge is outwardly confident and smart. Eliza, however, holds a secret.

"I could tell you the health benefits, calories and fat content of most of the meals people are eating around us," she admits. "I always notice what people around me are eating. Correction: I always notice what other women around me are eating, and whether I should – or shouldn't – be eating it."

Eliza is far from alone. Diet stalking and food voyeurism is the latest incarnation of our increasingly complicated emotional relationship with food. Now, not only are we obsessing over what we put in our mouths, but we're comparing our eating habits with those of our female peers. It's about who's eating what – and why.

"Women are naturally competitive," explains Scottish psychologist Cynthia McVey. "I hate to say it, but women are still all too often in competition with one another and we measure ourselves against one another. We copy others and do it better."

Now women are doing it with their food intake too, forgoing common sense to ensure they're with the "in-crowd" in terms of being involved in the latest diet fad that everyone else appears to be using.

"There's so much guilt, confusion and anxiety around eating that women don't listen to their appetites," says psychotherapist Susie Orbach, author of Fat Is A Feminist Issue. "There's an incredible amount of policing of women's food, by ourselves and by others."

Cynthia agrees: "Women who are slender will often be aware that others may look at them and assume they have some sort of disorder, and they may not disclose how little they really eat.

"Similarly, those who are heavy may not disclose how much they eat as they assume they'll be judged on their lack of self-control.

"There's significant envy of people who appear to be able to eat lots and lots and maintain a nice, desirable figure. Some of these women may genuinely be thin and there's a real envy of them. There's also a great suspicion of these people, and others assume they're being economical with the truth. Quite often these people will monitor what they eat. And so, more women are policing what they eat themselves, using their peers as a yardstick."

This is something 26-year-old Siobhan Macdonald from Leith can empathise with.

"I work in public relations and it's an industry dominated by females. In my last job there were 11 of us in the office, all of similar ages, and we had similar looks and dress sense. It was a dynamic office but very competitive.

"Colleagues would look at you if you snacked and casually check out your lunch to see what you were eating. It was a food paranoia game, and I became so conscious of what I was eating. Before long I was obsessing over what I ate and felt guilty if I snacked, as I thought I came across as weak."

So where has this food voyeurism stemmed from? "We're so conscious of society's view of beauty being connected with being slim, that women are often in competition with others generally," explains Cynthia.

"If you go back to evolutionary times, women would be in competition for the man with the most power and status, as he was seen as the best provider and protector. So women would be in competition with each other to have that.

"Today, we live in a society of abundance, and we're presented with many choices. I think it's very hard for us not to want them, and we struggle with making the right choices in the face of all the conflicting health information thrown at us. It becomes easier to watch other women, assuming they know better by judging their figures.

"And then there's the media and celebrities. You see these celebrities walking out of shops with burgers, but do they actually eat them? Or, if they do, it may be the only thing they eat for 48 hours. We think they're naturally slim and we have to work harder at it, but the reality is often very different."

She has a point. Nicole Richie was regularly snapped apparently scoffing burgers and chips despite her tiny size-zero frame, claiming her drastic weight loss was due to a change in lifestyle and giving up drugs. Last year, however, it was reported that the star checked into rehab for an eating disorder.



Then there's Britney Spears, who took a hammering for actually eating. Her trips to McDonald's and Starbucks were slammed, headlines called her "fat" and "chubby", and shots of her in less than flattering angles appeared in many women's magazines. In reality, Britney was of a normal, average body shape and weight, coming in at around nine stone. Hardly fat, is it? Yet women up and down the country were told it was.

"Thin is still in," says Cynthia. "But it's in the sense that it's in women's heads. It will take a lot to shift this. There is a change in the fashion industry and certain shows such as How To Look Good Naked are highlighting what is normal. It will take a lot to change women's perceptions of themselves – but changes are happening."

According to personal trainer Will Sturgeon of Willpower within the Balmoral Spa, all this food voyeurism needs to stop and women must start paying attention to their health. "The world seems to be caught up in body image rather than health," says Will. "We will have a health crisis, not a good-looking crisis."

By controlling eating to such an extent, Will stresses that more and more women may look fit and healthy – but end up with a very high body-fat content.

He adds: "If you followed this type of diet long-term you would come across all of the symptoms of an eating disorder. And with every workout you'd be wasting your time. All you would be doing is accelerating the detrimental effects and wearing down the muscle tissue as your body eats away at the muscle.

"You would go down dress sizes, but at a price. By your body eating its own muscle tissue you will lower your metabolism, put on weight quicker and, as you have lost muscle, you will be fatter."

It's also time to realise that the majority of people look the way they do because of a mix of exercise, self-control and good genes – not because they control their diet and analyse every single item.

Food choices should be as individual and idiosyncratic as every woman's wardrobe, make-up bag or partner choice.

And Eliza? "I know it's irrational and almost deranged, which is why I'm trying to stop it. Diet stalking is hardly cool, is it? And, if I'm being honest it's very embarrassing and I wish I had more self-control not to be so concerned with those around me, and more confidence not to care. This isn't how it should be."

*Names have been changed.