As Easter approaches, many of us will be looking forward to chocolate eggs and a big feast on Easter Sunday. But for those of us with a more complicated relationship with food, this can be a source of trepidation.

Around 1.8% of the UK population have an eating disorder.

In sport, the numbers are higher. Though precision is extremely difficult, a study of elite athletes found a prevalence of 13.5%. Other stats have shown that “over one-third of female athletes reported attitudes and symptoms placing them at risk for anorexia nervosa.”

It is not only those who meet the diagnostic criteria for clinically diagnosable eating disorders who struggle with food. Many more have disordered eating, referring to an unhealthy relationship with food which covers many behaviours such as restricting food intake and excessive exercising.

Again, for various reasons there are limited statistics on the prevalence of this, but in 2024 “more than ⅓ of 143 respondents to a BBC questionnaire sent to elite British sportswomen said they have experienced disordered eating,” and according to a study led by players’ union FifPro, “disordered eating remained prevalent within 15-20% of female footballers.”

Why higher in sport?

There are many factors which can lead to the development of an eating disorder, or disordered eating. A major issue is the Western cultural ideal of what the body should look like, which influences many of us and becomes an ideal we strive to achieve.

But there are factors in sport which make this worse. As one elite athlete put it, ‘sport puts you in a greenhouse.’ It gives an extra rationale, as it is believed in many sports that a certain body type will lead to better performance.

Risk sports

Three categories of sport carry higher risks for the development of disordered eating.

First, sports that are judged on aesthetics, such as gymnastics, diving, figure skating and dance.

Second, sports where low body weight is thought to aid speed and efficiency of movement including distance running, cross-country skiing, swimming and rowing.

Third, sports that require you to ‘make weight’, including wrestling, powerlifting, rowing and horse racing.

Naturally, eating disorders are more prevalent in these risk sports. However, they can occur in any sport.

Pressure from coaches

Pressure from coaches in this area (in any sport) can be unhelpful and damaging. Some athletes have spoken out about their experience of ‘fat shaming’ through regular weighing in front of the whole club, with weight being blamed for poor performance. Here's just a few examples:
Fara Williams, Claire Rafferty, Phoebe Lenderyou

Unfortunately it has become the norm for coaches to believe that if a female athlete’s periods have stopped, then it is a good sign that they are training hard, when in fact it is a red flag highlighting that she is under-fuelled and / or over-training.

It can be much harder to recognise disordered eating in sport, as the behaviours can be seen as ‘normal’ for an athlete.

Media attention

For more high profile athletes, attention from the media can be damaging. In his 2020 documentary, “Living with Bulimia”, Freddie Flintoff said he had suffered from the eating disorder since being shamed for his appearance by the press in Britain at the start of his international career.

This is a big problem in the world of sport, but thankfully, help is increasingly available.

But what does Good Friday have to do with this?

How can the Gospel help?

Struggling with eating disorders or disordered eating can feel like enslavement to unreasonable rules which are impossible to keep. And when you break one, it’s as if you’ve sinned. And when you sin, your master is not kind. You need to atone for it. You feel you need to run more, restrict more. You need to purge your body of this evil you have allowed to enter it. Just as if I never ate it. Just as if I never sinned.

But then you just get back on the treadmill, and it never stops. You can’t give in, or you fail again. Your master promises so much. Enhanced performance, the best body, satisfaction. And then you realise it was all a lie. Performance dips because your body wasn’t built to do this. Risks to your health, to your wellbeing.

I know. I’ve been there. I’ve experienced the brokenness, the shame, the enslavement.

But Good Friday brings us Good News.

Yes, we sin. But not by breaking rules about food and exercise. We sin by turning away from the Creator who made everything good - including food and exercise - and we give our lives to created things rather than the Creator. We worship the things He gives us, rather than worshipping Him. And living for anything other than God will eat us alive.

When performance and body image are your masters you have to justify yourself. Get yourself a clean slate. Yet you find that the purging and the rules never quite purge you of the shame you carry. And then when you sin again, you have to do it all over again.

But with Jesus it’s different. Though we fail, He comes to us not with a pointed finger, but with open arms.
He says, I know your frame. I know you are dust. I know you can’t do this all on your own. Let me do it for you.

I will take the punishment for sin instead.
I will die for the ways you have looked to other things for your worth and satisfaction than me.
I will die for the ways you have worshipped created things rather than the Creator.
I will purge you of all your wrongdoing so you can be truly justified.
I will give you a clean slate.

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow”

Isaiah 1:18

And this is once for all.

Next time you fail, the cross still counts.

You are free from your sins past, present, and future.

Come to Him. Jesus is a kindly master!

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 10:28-30

We have only just stratched the surface here on an incredibly big, important topic. There is much, much more to be said.

If you are struggling with any of these issues, please speak to someone about it, and consider seeking medical help.

Here are some other resources to point you to:

For a fuller discussion of eating disorders in sport and to hear some of my story, read My eating disorder: Faith, sport and disordered eating or listen to: Rosie Woodbridge, eating disorders and high performance sport

For really helpful information on what good nutrition looks like for a sportsperson (and a whole host of incredible chapters!), read The Female Body Bible, by Dr Emma Ross, Baz Moffatt and Dr Bella Smith.

To hear from elite sportspeople their experience with body image, and struggles with eating, listen to the Women in Sport podcast by the Telegraph, episodes on Body Image and Periods.

For more information on Eating Disorders, head to beateatingdisorders.org.uk

For really helpful Christian books on Eating Disorders, read A New Name or A New Day, Both by Emma Scrivener.

Rosie Woodbridge

Rosie is a Mum of two, she goes to St Mary's Church Basingstoke and writes occasionally for Christians in sport.