The rise of male TCA

Toni Mejías, singer of the Los Chikos del Corn group, climbed the stage every night carrying a bigger problem than any tour: counting calories, dodging meals, obsessing his reflection. While the public chanted his lyrics, he freed an internal battle that nobody saw. For a long time, not even he knew how to name him. Until he did and then wrote Hungera book in which He recounts his experience with an eating disorder that seemed not to fit with his identity: man, rapper, strong. But it was. Because nobody is safe.

Its history is no exception, but the symptom of a much more widespread and opaque problem. More and more men fall into food dynamics marked by control, guilt or rigidity. They do it in silence, because male hunger is almost never recognized. And much less is named.

For decades, eating disorders seemed to be an exclusive phenomenon of female gender. At the end of the 90s, studies barely registered between 5% and 10% of male cases in specialized clinics. However, more recent research They have begun to question that figure: By applying diagnostic criteria sensitive to the most common concerns in men – as obsession with muscles or physical performance – it has been observed that real prevalence could reach 7% and equate to that of women. Everything indicates that the number of cases has been underestimated for years by stigma, lack of consciousness and traditional clinical bias.

Also, like Explain to this medium The nutritionist specialized in TCA, Nuria Esteve: “Many times the symptoms in them are presented differently, they are more invisible, and there is also much more stigma. They do not tell it, they do not identify it as a problem, or they are late for consultation.” Particularly, in their consultation, many men do not say “I have anxiety to eat” or “I cannot stop thinking about my body”, but come for other reasons: heavy digestions, lack of energy, bodily recomposition. What is under it takes to leave.

To this is added the male silence. “Men have a hard time asking for help because they feel that makes them weak. If they have no references to talk about this, if they do not see that others have passed it, it is much more difficult to recognize what happens to them,” points for this medium The psychologist specialized in TCA, Sara Bolo.

For decades, clinical and social discourse on eating disorders has been focused on young, thin and white women. The masculine was out of the map. “Culture has told us that emotional suffering is feminine. That men should not have complexes or cry. If they control their body, their diet, their routine, they are being disciplined. They are not sick,” adds Bolo.

The perfect storm is formed

With the rise of social networks, a new cult of the male body has been consolidated, driven by Fitness influencers and a multimillionaire industry of supplements. The gym has become not only a training space, but an identity scenario where to demonstrate control, effort and masculinity. Products like the Powder proteinthe presses or Creatine —What popularity has grown exponentially – they are presented as essential tools to achieve an idealized physicist, often unattainable.

This phenomenon known as Chic protein Convert the muscle In a successful and self -esteem brand, pushing many young men to adopt strict, obsessive and medicalized routines without professional supervision. “Many come to consultation with hyperproteic diets, very low in carbohydrates, or using supplements without supervision. They want to gain muscle mass or lose fat quickly, but they end up falling into the caloric restriction, the oversight or constant guilt,” Esteve details.

This would not be a problem if a line was not crossed: “that of the negative impact on mental health, in the relationship with food, in social life,” the nutritionist clarifies. When food becomes a calculation, a punishment, an obstacle to sharing with others, we are no longer talking about self -care, but of dysfunction.

In the midst of all this, other ways of being a man emerge. Icons like Pedro Pascal They have been indicated as examples of a more affective, vulnerable, real masculinity. And yet, it still costs to break the mandate of the strong, autonomous man, who does not need help.

“There are boys who tell you that they can only eat if they are going to train later. Or they feel guilty if one day the gym skip. That is not seen as a symptom, but as willpower,” explains Bolo. “But they are actually trapped in a rigid system that prevents them from living with freedom.”

The impossibility of naming emotions, saying “This hurts”, “This scares me”, “This surpasses me”, is one of the reasons why the TCA advances silently among many men. The food becomes the only territory where some control is felt.

In men, TCAs usually occur differently: more focused on the increase in muscle mass, fat reduction or physical performance improvement. “There is a lot warns Esteve.

Phrases like “I have to eat more protein to not lose muscle” or “I feel guilty because I ate that and I didn’t train” they are key clues. So is social isolation: reject plans, avoid group meals, or hide the discomfort. “Many times the TCA is disguised as discipline, and that makes it more difficult to detect. Behind there are usually repressed emotions: sadness, guilt, fear of failure, insecurity, low self -esteem. The body becomes a battlefield,” Bolo details.

And on top of that there are more complex realities that are barely mentioned and that strongly crosses this problem: that of trans men. “Many socialized as women, and their body was interpreted from the outside as something that did not belong to them,” says the psychologist. The development of female secondary sexual characters, such as breasts or hips, can generate rejection and lead to extreme restriction as a form of control. “In these cases, gender dysmorphia is intertwined with the TCA, and it is essential to address it with an intersectional look, without simplifying everything in ‘problems with food’.”

Rebuild from within

The approach of the TCA in men requires more than food guidelines. You need a look that integrates nutrition, mental health and emotional context. “You have to rebuild the relationship with food from flexibility, individualization and emotion,” says Esteve.

Bolo works from contextual therapies such as acceptance and commitment (ACT), combining progressive exposure to feared food, work with values and emotional regulation. “The objective is not only that they eat more, but that they learn to recognize what they feel, to be with the discomfort and stop avoiding.”

But the real change begins before the consultation. “We need a nutritional education that does not idealize impossible bodies or foster rigid norms, and that promotes integral health, not only aesthetics,” Esteve proposes. For its part, Bolo also insists on the need to train health professionals in detecting symptoms in men, promoting campaigns with male referents and creating spaces where men can speak without judgment: “We cannot continue to educate children to repress their emotions. Then, when the symptoms arrive, they do not know how to name them.”

“Realizing that something is not going well is already an act of courage,” recalls Bolo. “Obsession with the body, food or training can be covering something deeper. Ask for help does not make you weak, it makes you responsible with yourself.”

Because yes, men also stop eating. Or they eat too much. Or they live pending what enters their body as if its value depends on it. And although they suffer in silence, they are not alone. It’s time to say it. And above all, it’s time to listen to them.

Image | Unspash and Unspash

Xataka | You will love the muscle above all things: how protein fever has resulted in a “perfect” body cult