Doctors Are Prescribing Eating Disorders

The Fat Doctor Podcast

The Fat Doctor Podcast
Doctors Are Prescribing Eating Disorders
Mar 31, 2026 Season 6 Episode 12
Dr Asher Larmie

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Doctors are prescribing eating disorders to fat patients — not by accident, not in spite of the guidelines, but because of them. In this episode, I bring the clinical evidence to back up what the fat community has known for years: that severe dieting causes eating disorders, that eating disorders look nothing like the stereotype, and that fat people with eating disorders are being failed at every stage — dismissed, gaslit, and denied treatment. If you've been told to lose weight by a healthcare professional, you have the right to ask them why they're willing to put you at risk. This is the data. These are the receipts. 

A selection of studies to start you off:

  1. Peebles, Rebecka et al. “Are diagnostic criteria for eating disorders markers of medical severity?.” Pediatrics vol. 125,5 (2010): e1193-201. doi:10.1542/peds.2008-1777
  2. Sawyer, Susan M et al. “Physical and Psychological Morbidity in Adolescents With Atypical Anorexia Nervosa.” Pediatrics vol. 137,4 (2016): e20154080. doi:10.1542/peds.2015-4080
  3. Moskowitz, L., & Weiselberg, E. (2017). "Anorexia nervosa/atypical anorexia nervosa." Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 47(4), 70-84.

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