Why do 'hot girls have stomach issues'? Diet culture, experts say

Posted on:
Key Points

People use the phrase "hot girls have stomach issues" to joke about their gastrointestinal problems.But there's a reason why it's "hot girls" who are making these jokes.Experts says following diet culture could make women more prone to stomach issues...

Kyle Staller, a gastroenterologist and director of the Gastrointestinal Motility Laboratory at Massachusetts General Hospital, who researches the interactions between eating disorders and the gastrointestinal system, told Insider that the most common stomach issues that eating disorder patients experience are dyspepsia (which is discomfort after eating in the form of pain or an abnormal sense of fullness), bloating and distension, lower abdominal pain, IBS, and constipation...

Obviously, not all women with stomach issues have eating disorders, but there's a spectrum of "disordered eating" that can affect gastrointestinal health, too, Erin Birely, a licensed clinical professional counselor at the US-based eating disorder treatment provider the Renfrew Center, told Insider...

Lax gave the example of fad diets such as "clean eating," which can lead a person to unnecessarily remove an entire food group in the name of "health.". So hot girls might have stomach issues because their bodies are biologically more susceptible to gastrointestinal issues, but also because they are more likely to have restricted their diet in order to be what society deems "hot."..

However, if your stomach issues are impacting your quality of life, such as stopping you from going out to eat with your friends, or your diet starts to have medical consequences, you should see a medical professional, he said.. Birely has a hopeful message for hot girls with stomach issues experiencing disordered eating: "There is a very large amount of hope that things can resolve with consistent nourishment and nutrition, especially the gastrointestinal discomfort."..