Guys, stop with the orthorexia already!
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CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »I see a lot of the apple cider vinegar with the cinnamon,lemon and whatever else is in it thing, people on my facebook are doing. then when you tell them that doesnt work because it wont burn fat they tell you,well Im trying it anyway it cant hurt blah blah blah.Then you have people who are like OMG it does work Ive lost like X amount of pounds.I ask them are you eating less and moving more? the answer is yes then I tell them that is why they are losing weight not the ACV
See, I don't even think this is the problem, although it can be annoying. The people who suffer from this thing seem to revolve their lives around their eating habits, and they just can't believe that other people refuse to "see the light" about this, the ONLY correct way to eat.0 -
SnuggleSmacks wrote: »This interesting article discusses the growing epidemic of orthorexia, an obsession with the virtue of your food, rather than how much or little you eat. This can be obsessive thinking about gluten-free, clean, low-fat, local, juice-fasting, cleansing, or any other healthiest-diet-flavor-of-the-month.
It is often characterized by a fixation on foods that are "unhealthy." Like the guy who mentions evil Twinkies in every post.
Do you guys feel that there has been an increase in such things in the forum, beyond the normal New Years flap?
Most of the stuff listed at the end of the first paragraph has nothing to do with the virtue of food, but is a variation of fad dieting.
As a person who attempts to consume more “virtuous” food AND regulates the quantity of calories and proportion of macros I eat, I find it hard to believe there is an epidemic of people gluttonously over-eating expensive health food in an attempt to be healthy. Huh?
If you just totally shutdown the quantity aspect of your diet, there are some weird psychological issues going on, and it is a condition that doesn't apply to the general population of people that strive for higher food quality during the course of eating a reasonable quantity.
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benjaminhkohl wrote: »I am definitely sick of everything getting slapped with "gluten free" labels now. Very few people have a gluten intolerance anyway. But I can't help but laugh when I see a carbonated energy drink labeled "gluten free". It's basically just the "low fat!" / "no carbs!" of this decade.
Many years ago (mid '90's) I had a bit of an argument with a customer who had a 12-pack of "caffeine free" 7-Up. He was upset because he wanted the regular stuff. I tried to get through to him that 7-Up was always caffeine free and they just slapped a label on it because people were getting concerned with caffeine consumption at the time. Not sure i convinced him but he bought it anyway.
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jennifershoo wrote: »Totally agree! I was borderline orthorexic (not sure if it's a word) at one point. I had a meltdown over a non-organic avocado.
It's not a way to live.
I reached a similar point during my weight loss. I broke into tears because the burger joint my family had picked for dinner was out of quinoa burgers. I'd worked so hard to budget dinner with my family into my calories and couldn't deal when I needed to make changes. Not a happy, fun place to be and I hate to see anyone else head down that road.
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neanderthin wrote: »
lol. Well, shut the front door. She admits that she created a monster when she added balsamic vinegar to a recipe and the world has never been the same since.SnuggleSmacks wrote: »This interesting article discusses the growing epidemic of orthorexia, an obsession with the virtue of your food, rather than how much or little you eat. This can be obsessive thinking about gluten-free, clean, low-fat, local, juice-fasting, cleansing, or any other healthiest-diet-flavor-of-the-month.
I blame Alice Waters, and then stupid people running with her stupid ideas and expanding upon the idiocy.
lol, you should read up on what's she's done. If only it were so simple and cute.
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Also, in the UK it has been a legal requirement for some years now for all packaged food to show calorie and nutritional content clearly on the packaging. It has not made any people any thinner. In fact, obesity rates have risen.
It's not the food manufacturers. It's us. There are some other factors, but those are more to do with the outdated and averaged calorie requirements used, poor advice from health agencies, and falling activity levels.
Actually the health agencies responsible for the RDA-style packaging in the UK WANTED to implement a much clearer 'traffic light' system (I know Sainsbury's have taken this up). But the food manufacturers negotiated down to the percentage of RDA thing which really doesn't mean much to many people, including me.
Back to the OP, the gluten free fad is so annoying! I look up recipes and they're all inexplicably GF... Have an option, maybe, but if you really were intolerant to gluten you'd KNOW all the baking/cooking substitutes. Like I know lots of vegan baking substitutes etc0 -
Well stated!I honestly don't think that the "orthorexia epidemic" is really something we as a society need to devote too much concern and attention to. There are a lot more important things to attend to than worrying about whether people are becoming too focused on a healthy lifestyle.
Any time I perceive someone as being "militant" about their food or fitness routines, I don't automatically assume that it's a problem just because it's not my thing. I don't even worry about it unless it appears to be causing harm. I think the term orthorexia is thrown around way too lightly. Really, unless you are qualified to diagnose eating disorders, you probably shouldn't be making those kinds of judgments.
I'm sure IT IS a problem when an OCD person (orthorexic or not) gets fixated on anything, but I don't think that orthorexia is some huge, sweeping problem. If anything, our widespread lack of health-consciousness is far more problematic.
By the way, I guess I could be labeled orthorexic by some posters here just by virtue of being gluten free. I have to be focused on avoiding gluten in my diet. But rather than being a harmful thing, my healthy food "obsession" keeps my immune system from going nuts and attacking my digestive tract (Celiac).
I suggest not worrying so much about other people's choices. I think it's totally uncool to label people whose choices or ideas you don't agree with as mentally ill (having an eating disorder.)
I find it odd (and kind of sad) that it's more acceptable to tout stuffing your face with junk food as long as it "fits your macros" than it is to try and get people to eat real, whole, unprocessed foods.
you don't understand IIFYM if you think that it is about stuffing your face with junk food..
nice straw man though...
I wish I could just stuff my face with junk food and make my macros. I don't think I'm even gonna have room for a cupcake tonight.
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theoryofempire wrote: »I'm gluten free due to a medical diagnosis (celiac). I actually roll my eyes at the people who rant and rave about gluten free diets. A sugary gluten free cupcake is no healthier than a sugary regular cupcake. And honestly, a lot of the gluten free prepackaged stuff is a shhhhht storm of chemicals.
People who follow fads will always follow them. In a few years, drinking beer instead of water will be better for you, and the mass majority will not question it.
Not my body, not my problem lol
Actually in the past drinking beer was better for you than drinking water because the beer is boiled in the process of manufacture thus killing the bacteria.
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Reminds me of the young Benjamin Franklin in London:At my first admission into this printing-house I took to working at press, imagining I felt a want of the bodily exercise I had been us'd to in America, where presswork is mix'd with composing. I drank only water; the other workmen, near fifty in number, were great guzzlers of beer. On occasion, I carried up and down stairs a large form of types in each hand, when others carried but one in both hands. They wondered to see, from this and several instances, that the Water-American, as they called me, was stronger than themselves, who drank strong beer! We had an alehouse boy who attended always in the house to supply the workmen. My companion at the press drank every day a pint before breakfast, a pint at breakfast with his bread and cheese, a pint between breakfast and dinner, a pint at dinner, a pint in the afternoon about six o'clock, and another when he had done his day's work. I thought it a detestable custom; but it was necessary, he suppos'd, to drink strong beer, that he might be strong to labor. I endeavored to convince him that the bodily strength afforded by beer could only be in proportion to the grain or flour of the barley dissolved in the water of which it was made; that there was more flour in a pennyworth of bread; and therefore, if he would eat that with a pint of water, it would give him more strength than a quart of beer. He drank on, however, and had four or five shillings to pay out of his wages every Saturday night for that muddling liquor; an expense I was free from....
From my example, a great part of them left their muddling breakfast of beer, and bread, and cheese, finding they could with me be suppli'd from a neighboring house with a large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, crumbl'd with bread, and a bit of butter in it, for the price of a pint of beer, viz., three half-pence. This was a more comfortable as well as cheaper breakfast, and kept their heads clearer....0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Reminds me of the young Benjamin Franklin in London:
a large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, crumbl'd with bread, and a bit of butter in it,
eeeewwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!0 -
Back to the OP, the gluten free fad is so annoying! I look up recipes and they're all inexplicably GF... Have an option, maybe, but if you really were intolerant to gluten you'd KNOW all the baking/cooking substitutes. Like I know lots of vegan baking substitutes etc
It's not about knowing the options, because if you have an allergy you generally know what to avoid in terms of recipes and whole raw foods you can buy. It's more about the packaged goods you can buy in stores.
I certainly hope the extra gluten-free labeling in stores doesn't go away. As annoying and fad-like as it may seem to you, it's been a blessing being able to actually know that the spice mixes or canned soup I'm buying won't cause my body to shred holes in my intestines...
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lemurcat12 wrote: »Reminds me of the young Benjamin Franklin in London:
a large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, crumbl'd with bread, and a bit of butter in it,
eeeewwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like to think of it as Bulletproof Gruel!0 -
bigblondewolf wrote: »Back to the OP, the gluten free fad is so annoying! I look up recipes and they're all inexplicably GF... Have an option, maybe, but if you really were intolerant to gluten you'd KNOW all the baking/cooking substitutes. Like I know lots of vegan baking substitutes etc
It's not about knowing the options, because if you have an allergy you generally know what to avoid in terms of recipes and whole raw foods you can buy. It's more about the packaged goods you can buy in stores.
I certainly hope the extra gluten-free labeling in stores doesn't go away. As annoying and fad-like as it may seem to you, it's been a blessing being able to actually know that the spice mixes or canned soup I'm buying won't cause my body to shred holes in my intestines...
The gluten free labels don't bother me. I have no problems with gluten but I'm sure it is helpful to those that do.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Reminds me of the young Benjamin Franklin in London:
a large porringer of hot water-gruel, sprinkled with pepper, crumbl'd with bread, and a bit of butter in it,
eeeewwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I like to think of it as Bulletproof Gruel!
haha - thanks for that! definitely a laugh out loud moment!
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I eat ketogenically when I need to because it helps control a neurologic pain disorder I suffer from. When I start getting attacks, I go all protein, pee on sticks and use a reader. My friends think I care about what I eat because of this. Honestly, I'm as happy chewing on a Slim Jim as eating grass-fed, no-hormone beef. As long as the carb count is super low, I am a happy camper.0
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SnuggleSmacks wrote: »This interesting article discusses the growing epidemic of orthorexia, an obsession with the virtue of your food, rather than how much or little you eat. This can be obsessive thinking about gluten-free, clean, low-fat, local, juice-fasting, cleansing, or any other healthiest-diet-flavor-of-the-month.
It is often characterized by a fixation on foods that are "unhealthy." Like the guy who mentions evil Twinkies in every post.
Do you guys feel that there has been an increase in such things in the forum, beyond the normal New Years flap?
Most of the stuff listed at the end of the first paragraph has nothing to do with the virtue of food, but is a variation of fad dieting.
As a person who attempts to consume more “virtuous” food AND regulates the quantity of calories and proportion of macros I eat, I find it hard to believe there is an epidemic of people gluttonously over-eating expensive health food in an attempt to be healthy. Huh?
If you just totally shutdown the quantity aspect of your diet, there are some weird psychological issues going on, and it is a condition that doesn't apply to the general population of people that strive for higher food quality during the course of eating a reasonable quantity.
For a normal person, you're quite correct. But for someone with this illness, some food has some inherent virtue that other food lacks, whether it be a lack of gluten, sugar, chemicals, or whatever. And one feels virtuous by eating those foods, and encouraging others to eat those foods, and one feels virtuous by avoiding other, more evil, less virtuous foods, and condemning others for eating those foods.0 -
bigblondewolf wrote: »Back to the OP, the gluten free fad is so annoying! I look up recipes and they're all inexplicably GF... Have an option, maybe, but if you really were intolerant to gluten you'd KNOW all the baking/cooking substitutes. Like I know lots of vegan baking substitutes etc
It's not about knowing the options, because if you have an allergy you generally know what to avoid in terms of recipes and whole raw foods you can buy. It's more about the packaged goods you can buy in stores.
I certainly hope the extra gluten-free labeling in stores doesn't go away. As annoying and fad-like as it may seem to you, it's been a blessing being able to actually know that the spice mixes or canned soup I'm buying won't cause my body to shred holes in my intestines...
Seriously. I have a friend who recently "discovered" she is "gluten sensitive" and she's posted about nothing else for weeks on Facebook. One of the most frequent subjects is gluten-free pastas and breads and how hard they are to find, how expensive they are, and how bad they taste.
You know what's gluten free, and a lot less expensive? Meat and veggies. Why not just eat meat and veggies? When I went low-carb for a while, I didn't go out and buy low-carb bread. I just stopped eating bread. How hard is it, really?
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To the posters re: it's absurd to be concerned about people who are just "trying to eat healthy:"
As I mentioned in the last orthorexia thread, people who are out to eat "better" as defined by them are not what orthorexia is. It isn't the people who bring the bowl of fruit or tray of veggies to a party. It is the people who become paralyzed with fear at the thought of an uncontrollable food setting. It is the people who cut themselves off from their normal social lives because the concern of the "cleanliness" of food has taken over many of their thoughts. And yes, it is very much less about the food than psychology behind it, but this is how it manifests.
Trying to eat "healthier" is no more orthorexia than a random day of sadness is clinical depression and I think this often gets lost in translation.0 -
You nailed it.To the posters re: it's absurd to be concerned about people who are just "trying to eat healthy:"
As I mentioned in the last orthorexia thread, people who are out to eat "better" as defined by them are not what orthorexia is. It isn't the people who bring the bowl of fruit or tray of veggies to a party. It is the people who become paralyzed with fear at the thought of an uncontrollable food setting. It is the people who cut themselves off from their normal social lives because the concern of the "cleanliness" of food has taken over many of their thoughts. And yes, it is very much less about the food than psychology behind it, but this is how it manifests.
Trying to eat "healthier" is no more orthorexia than a random day of sadness is clinical depression and I think this often gets lost in translation.0 -
Ok, I see, it's a "real" *kitten* show.neanderthin wrote: »
lol. Well, shut the front door. She admits that she created a monster when she added balsamic vinegar to a recipe and the world has never been the same since.SnuggleSmacks wrote: »This interesting article discusses the growing epidemic of orthorexia, an obsession with the virtue of your food, rather than how much or little you eat. This can be obsessive thinking about gluten-free, clean, low-fat, local, juice-fasting, cleansing, or any other healthiest-diet-flavor-of-the-month.
I blame Alice Waters, and then stupid people running with her stupid ideas and expanding upon the idiocy.
lol, you should read up on what's she's done. If only it were so simple and cute.
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My understanding of orthorexia (based on what I read - correct me if I'm off my rocker) is when a person has become terrified of eating certain foods due to the fear based propaganda they have subjected themselves to and the more research they do, the more foods they eliminate until their diet is so restricted that they miss out on key nutrients & it becomes harmful to their health. Kind of a sad irony - in the search of the healthiest way of eating/living, they end up making themselves crazy and sick.0
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yeah, pretty much.My understanding of orthorexia (based on what I read - correct me if I'm off my rocker) is when a person has become terrified of eating certain foods due to the fear based propaganda they have subjected themselves to and the more research they do, the more foods they eliminate until their diet is so restricted that they miss out on key nutrients & it becomes harmful to their health. Kind of a sad irony - in the search of the healthiest way of eating/living, they end up making themselves crazy and sick.
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going vegan/vegetarian/paleo/clean does not guarantee weight loss[/quote]
Kirstie Alley (not the most credible source I know, but bear with me) came out on a talk show when she dropped a bunch of weight the first time and they asked about her eating. One of the hosts said she was vegetarian and Kirstie replied,"I was vegetarian for 4 months and gained 12 pounds." Apparently she was eating pastas with veggies thinking she was following a vegetarian plan. Well, she was, but pasta is loaded with carbs that turn to pure sugar and then get stored as fat if you don't use them. Oops. See how easy it is to be misled by the latest trend?
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This, so much this.ndj1979 wrote:when someone says they eat 500 calories over maintenance and lose weight, they are going to get pegged with the special snowflake label ...
OR
claim that CICO does not work for them ... or some other absurd claim...
Last night on facebook I saw an article posted by NPR about a new pill which is being developed which tricks the intestine / body into thinking it's having food, when all it's having is a pill. Somehow it activates the release of bile & burning of fat & turning white fat into brown fat.
One of the gals commenting claimed that she exercises almost every day & eats a special diet, but because of how her body digests food she's still overweight.
:facepalm:
:disagree: 
Yes, I took the time to explain that she's not a special snowflake & the reason she's overweight is because she's eating more than her body needs, whether that's because she likes to eat lots of high-calorie foods, or her thyroid is wonky, or she cannot physically exercise.
Haven't been back to see if she blew a gasket.0 -
brenlikethat wrote: »going vegan/vegetarian/paleo/clean does not guarantee weight loss
Well, she overate carbs that put her in a surplus and therefore put weight on...... funny how that works.
Kirstie Alley (not the most credible source I know, but bear with me) came out on a talk show when she dropped a bunch of weight the first time and they asked about her eating. One of the hosts said she was vegetarian and Kirstie replied,"I was vegetarian for 4 months and gained 12 pounds." Apparently she was eating pastas with veggies thinking she was following a vegetarian plan. Well, she was, but pasta is loaded with carbs that turn to pure sugar and then get stored as fat if you don't use them. Oops. See how easy it is to be misled by the latest trend?
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YES! And it's becoming mainstream. People on my FB page keep lecturing about the "right" way to eat. Ugh.
Isn't that the truth? I keep getting beaten up by vegans when I post recipes which contain meat, so that I can refer to them later. WTF? Are you my food police? Unfriend me or hide my posts from yourself. smh...0 -
Ironically, a post about orthorexia is actually being orthorexic itself.0
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I honestly don't think that the "orthorexia epidemic" is really something we as a society need to devote too much concern and attention to. There are a lot more important things to attend to than worrying about whether people are becoming too focused on a healthy lifestyle.
Any time I perceive someone as being "militant" about their food or fitness routines, I don't automatically assume that it's a problem just because it's not my thing. I don't even worry about it unless it appears to be causing harm. I think the term orthorexia is thrown around way too lightly. Really, unless you are qualified to diagnose eating disorders, you probably shouldn't be making those kinds of judgments.
I'm sure IT IS a problem when an OCD person (orthorexic or not) gets fixated on anything, but I don't think that orthorexia is some huge, sweeping problem. If anything, our widespread lack of health-consciousness is far more problematic.
By the way, I guess I could be labeled orthorexic by some posters here just by virtue of being gluten free. I have to be focused on avoiding gluten in my diet. But rather than being a harmful thing, my healthy food "obsession" keeps my immune system from going nuts and attacking my digestive tract (Celiac).
I suggest not worrying so much about other people's choices. I think it's totally uncool to label people whose choices or ideas you don't agree with as mentally ill (having an eating disorder.)
I totally agree ^^^ I am in the same boat (GF because I HAVE TO BE for actual medical reasons
). The more people obsess about going GF even if they don't have to, the better the choices for us who do have to, lol.
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YES! And it's becoming mainstream. People on my FB page keep lecturing about the "right" way to eat. Ugh.
Isn't that the truth? I keep getting beaten up by vegans when I post recipes which contain meat, so that I can refer to them later. WTF? Are you my food police? Unfriend me or hide my posts from yourself. smh...
Yeah, I really do have a lot of respect for people who are able to go vegan - but forcing everyone to listen to their rants can be really off-putting. I only have one vegan friend and thankfully she does not invade other people's lives with her ideals. She does post a lot of anti-cruelty articles and if you ask her about it she will talk your ear off, but she isn't obnoxious or accusatory.0 -
I lost 40 pounds once where every single night I ate either McDonalds, Wendy's, Chipotle, or Taco Bell for one meal, and then the other meal (I only eat two meals - always have, probably always will) was processed high sodium TV dinners.
The first thing that happened when I joined MFP was someone looked over my food diary after maybe one week and sent me a huge essay on how the foods I was eating were terrible high sodium, high processed garbage. I believe her exact words were "cut the crap"0
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