Guys, stop with the orthorexia already!

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  • missimplicity
    missimplicity Posts: 31 Member
    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

    Not justifying a fad, but my grandmother has drank ACV, lemon, water, and honey every morning since I can remember (at least 20 years). It's her morning cleanse. Whether or not it works is debatable, but she'll be 85 this year and still tends to a beautiful vegetable garden and chickens.
  • Jolinia
    Jolinia Posts: 846 Member
    edited February 2015
    rjmudlax13 wrote: »
    jenilla1 wrote: »
    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.) :)

    Except that it can become a societal issue. One example is the anti-vaccination movement. In this case it is my business because I am now at risk because a bunch of aholes read something on the internet that says vaccinations cause autism. Also, I encourage bashing these idiots because they spread bs therefore making it difficult to get the right information. In a free society we should be free to bash retarded ideas.

    Avoiding a cookie is not equivalent to avoiding a vaccine. In fact the food industry itself needs to come under heavy scrutiny, not people who are sincerely making efforts to eat as healthfully as possible and to feed their children the healthiest foods possible.

    Factory farming has caused illnesses, too, and may contribute to our inability to find necessary treatment in the future due to misuse of antibiotics. Never mind that someone thought feeding chickens arsenic to make them grow faster was a good idea. Why is the focus here so heavily on people asking questions about organic foods, preservatives, veganism, low carb, and so forth and virtually never on the food industries themselves in various countries?
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited February 2015
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    Guess what. In order to not be overweight or obese and avoid related risks, you have to be a little weird, at least in our society.

    Disagree strongly.

    Also, the idea that someone being "gluten free" in our culture is being countercultural (or even weird) is like the idea that long hair on men in the late 60s or early 70s was bucking the system and being an individual, man. It was just trendy in a different social group. Being into food restrictions is totally trendy in many US (and probably other English-speaking country) subcultures.

    Orthorexia specifically is about clean foods, yes, but we all have to make conscious adaptations to prevent overweight, obesity, regain, etc. Some of these adaptations, like calorie counting, demand what some might call slightly obsessional behaviour. You really don't think, in your heart of hearts, that calorie counting is a little weird? Really? I did it for years and am doing it now, and it's much easier than it was when I first-first started, but I still think it's a little weird.

    (Also, why didn't you include the rest of that paragraph in your quote, where I said basically what I just repeated above?)

    Calorie counting is just as weird as orthorexia, imo.

    First, I went back and checked, and no, what you said is nothing like what I said, and I continue to disagree with it. It is NOT true that one has to be "psychologically abnormal" to avoid being overweight, let alone obese, and I further don't agree that counting calories, doing one of the many other things possible to monitor food amounts, or even being into food-related trends like low carb or paleo or gluten free is, in fact, psychologically abnormal. Some of it is trendy, however. It's sad if it goes over into orthorexia territory, but I suspect that has more to do with preexisting tendencies that are channeled in that particular way rather than dieting being the actual cause.

    And your later post that claims cooking requires some kind of weirdness in our society is just, well, weird. Cooking is pretty normal and standard among people I know, at least those who are married and have children (and a great many or most of the single women as well). It's part of being responsible.

    In any event, the issue with orthorexia is not that it's weird, rather obviously.

    Calorie counting is definitely statistically abnormal, for one thing, plain and simple - most people don't do it. It also appears to require significant learning that involves complex emotional reactions and pragmatic difficulties. The entirety of MFP's forums speaks to the difficulties people have with calorie counting. It's not normal.

    Statistically uncommon does not mean psychologically abnormal, as you claimed.

    Yes, it's uncommon because it's a hassle and until recently was more of one, and because lots of people don't need to do it or wish to.

    I didn't claim it was? I clearly distinguished between the two.

    Yup, it is a hassle. Why is it a hassle? Because the tendency is for people to gain weight in the culture and systems in which we now live. This is a new thing. Historically, it wasn't the case. It is a result of social and economic changes. I really don't know how it's possible to argue otherwise, outside of willful blindness.

    In your first post that I originally quoted you said not psychologically normal. If you are changing your position, good, but be open about it.

    To prove my point, here's the quote: "It is not exactly psychologically normal to count calories for a lifetime, yet that is what many will have to do to keep it off long-term."

    It's a hassle because it requires doing something vs. not doing something. Same with all sorts of things we should do. I addressed why gaining weight is an issue now and wasn't in the past and your need to see that as some victim thing vs. the result of food availability (a good thing) and freedom of choice (fewer social norms re eating) is odd to me.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    ana3067 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    I strongly disagree with your consistent reading of the MFP forums as showing that people have tremendous trouble with calorie counting, in any event. That seems to be what you want to see, but [people who are actually motivated to lose weight and for whom it's a personality fit seem to find it liberating or educational, even if they only choose to do it for a time. Many others don't seem like they are ready under any system. And still others choose one of the many alternatives (as I did once in the past).

    What are all these threads about, then, seriously? What is the support for? 7/10 threads are about some kind of challenge, pragmatic problem or distress.

    Is it educational? Yes. Is it hard? Yes.

    Because these are people who a) have never counted calories before, b) still think of weight loss in gimmick-y terms ("I have to omit x food or I won't lose!" "I need to do a cleanse to kick start my weight loss!" "I need to exercise for 50 hours every week!" etc), c) are over-thinking it, d) they have no understanding of calories.

    +1

    Absolutely. And that's why many of us try to fight those ideas, which are harmful. Understanding is the best remedy.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited February 2015
    Bukeelaka wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    And I still think it's odd, and it does still mean vigilance over and above the intuitive approach to food that's characterized eating since forever.

    I think that the proper term is "scarcity". That's what kept our ancestors thin without having to think about it. Why, even today we can look around the world and find perfect examples.

    This, plus cultural rules about eating. When eating is something done only socially and follows certain culturally determined patterns, people don't overeat really. When eating is something you do on your own, based purely on likes and dislikes, and is as individualistic as everything else in our culture, it's harder. Add to this that normal humans aren't sedentary and lots of people in our culture are, and that's why weight is an issue (and why it is more of an issue or was first in the US vs. Europe).

    This is not "society makes us fat" it's that a bad thing like food scarcity and a more mixed thing like the absence of a more regulated society are no longer keeping us thin. It's now up to personal choice for those who have a greater tendency to get fat, and that's not something we are that experienced with yet. But it's dealing with something more akin to choice in the kind of life we lead, what career we will follow, etc., not "society is ruining things for us!" or that society is disordered. The fact is that when you have freedom and choice some people are always going to choose poorly, that's the trade-off. Some will choose to be inactive if activity is not required for daily life, and if they can eat whenever and wherever they please (something that is a plus for many--I can go to an Ethiopian restaurant or find something to eat if I work 'til 10 pm or buy ocean fish and summer squash in January in the store, can order food to be delivered to my house (healthy or non healthy, my choice) and all all kinds of things I couldn't do food-wise if I lived on a farm with the same access to food as my great grandparents. The need to see all this as a negative change is not something I can agree with. It does mean we have to think about things most people didn't have to in the past, oh, well.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    This guy I went to high school with used to be kinda fat, and unhealthy. So he started eating lots of vegetables and stuff and lost a bunch of weight, which is good for him, but he is always posting stuff on his Facebook preaching about being vegan and eating organic, and how this and that are bad for you and we shouldn't be eating such and such. It's just really annoying. I hate it when people preach about what we should or shouldn't be eating. I am healthy myself and I'll stick with eating how I like to eat. I may just unfriend him so I don't have to look at all his "holier than thou" posts about food.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Hightest percentage of obese people in history
    increasing heart disease
    increasing cancer rates
    lowering life spans
    children with type 2 diabetes
    children with heart plaque

    I'd say we have more urgent issues than "orthorexia". :p
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    tomatoey wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    Guess what. In order to not be overweight or obese and avoid related risks, you have to be a little weird, at least in our society.

    Disagree strongly.

    Also, the idea that someone being "gluten free" in our culture is being countercultural (or even weird) is like the idea that long hair on men in the late 60s or early 70s was bucking the system and being an individual, man. It was just trendy in a different social group. Being into food restrictions is totally trendy in many US (and probably other English-speaking country) subcultures.

    Orthorexia specifically is about clean foods, yes, but we all have to make conscious adaptations to prevent overweight, obesity, regain, etc. Some of these adaptations, like calorie counting, demand what some might call slightly obsessional behaviour. You really don't think, in your heart of hearts, that calorie counting is a little weird? Really? I did it for years and am doing it now, and it's much easier than it was when I first-first started, but I still think it's a little weird.

    (Also, why didn't you include the rest of that paragraph in your quote, where I said basically what I just repeated above?)

    Calorie counting is just as weird as orthorexia, imo.

    First, I went back and checked, and no, what you said is nothing like what I said, and I continue to disagree with it. It is NOT true that one has to be "psychologically abnormal" to avoid being overweight, let alone obese, and I further don't agree that counting calories, doing one of the many other things possible to monitor food amounts, or even being into food-related trends like low carb or paleo or gluten free is, in fact, psychologically abnormal. Some of it is trendy, however. It's sad if it goes over into orthorexia territory, but I suspect that has more to do with preexisting tendencies that are channeled in that particular way rather than dieting being the actual cause.

    And your later post that claims cooking requires some kind of weirdness in our society is just, well, weird. Cooking is pretty normal and standard among people I know, at least those who are married and have children (and a great many or most of the single women as well). It's part of being responsible.

    In any event, the issue with orthorexia is not that it's weird, rather obviously.

    Calorie counting is definitely statistically abnormal, for one thing, plain and simple - most people don't do it. It also appears to require significant learning that involves complex emotional reactions and pragmatic difficulties. The entirety of MFP's forums speaks to the difficulties people have with calorie counting. It's not normal.

    Statistically uncommon does not mean psychologically abnormal, as you claimed.

    Yes, it's uncommon because it's a hassle and until recently was more of one, and because lots of people don't need to do it or wish to.

    I didn't claim it was? I clearly distinguished between the two.

    Yup, it is a hassle. Why is it a hassle? Because the tendency is for people to gain weight in the culture and systems in which we now live. This is a new thing. Historically, it wasn't the case. It is a result of social and economic changes. I really don't know how it's possible to argue otherwise, outside of willful blindness.

    Yes, you did, here:
    Calorie counting is definitely statistically abnormal, for one thing, plain and simple - most people don't do it. It also ]appears to require significant learning that involves complex emotional reactions and pragmatic difficulties. The entirety of MFP's forums speaks to the difficulties people have with calorie counting. It's not normal.

    Bolded (1) is one statement addressing statistical abnormality.

    Bolded + italics (2) addresses functional/qualitative abnormality. That clause is preceded by "also", which marks a change from the previous sentence.

    ok here:

    (1) Calorie counting is definitely statistically abnormal, for one thing, plain and simple - most people don't do it. (2) It also ]appears to require significant learning that involves complex emotional reactions and pragmatic difficulties. The entirety of MFP's forums speaks to the difficulties people have with calorie counting. It's not normal.

    I look at calorie counting as a tool which enables me to be successful in achieving an overall goal - a healthy weight. This is really no different than any other learned behavior or work assignment or new passion that a person undertakes. When someone first sets out to master one of these things, they likely have limited experience and skills. At first learning these techniques will be challenging. They may need to do research, ask for help, try and fail a few times. This is no different than being asked to master a new Microsoft Office tool at work, learning to ride a bike, building a woodworking project, cooking a multi course meal, etc. Any of these new endeavors will pose challenges for the first time, or first few times one attempts them. As one becomes more comfortable with the skills, the anxiety about them goes down and the quality of the end product goes up.

    The people you are seeing posting in the forums with all the stress and anxiety are likely new to the MFP tool (maybe not new to dieting) and as they become more comfortable you usually see less questions, a more relaxed approach, and often times a desire to return to the forums to help other newbies.

    I believe we have lost some valuable information about the MFP community with the forum "upgrade" when time as a member and tickers are no longer displayed. People do not know how long someone has been here and how successful a user has been (in terms of strict weight loss, there are other measures obviously).

    Tomatoey you seem to be focusing in on the anxious users rather than those who are comfortable with the process.
  • ibamosaserreinas
    ibamosaserreinas Posts: 294 Member
    edited February 2015
    As someone who's whole family has celiac disease I have no problem with this gluten free fad. It makes products I need cheaper and more widely available.
  • jazzyjez
    jazzyjez Posts: 36 Member
    mfp2014mfp wrote: »
    Honestly I see more people bashing 'orthorexia' than people with that particular issue. The former is becoming more annoying than the latter.

    +1
  • Elsie_Brownraisin
    Elsie_Brownraisin Posts: 786 Member
    edited February 2015
    dbmata wrote: »
    Let people do what they want? You can't make a person choose logic over ignorance.

    Wanna bet?

    By year's end we'll have more than a few states removing "philosophical and religious" vaccine exemptions.

    'Vaccinate your kids'

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YCGMqp6kBE

    Bloody idiots.

    Off topic. ETA - I didn't realise it'd come up as a big video. Even more off topic. I don't have anything useful to add to this conversation.

  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    edited February 2015
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    Guess what. In order to not be overweight or obese and avoid related risks, you have to be a little weird, at least in our society.

    Disagree strongly.

    Also, the idea that someone being "gluten free" in our culture is being countercultural (or even weird) is like the idea that long hair on men in the late 60s or early 70s was bucking the system and being an individual, man. It was just trendy in a different social group. Being into food restrictions is totally trendy in many US (and probably other English-speaking country) subcultures.

    Orthorexia specifically is about clean foods, yes, but we all have to make conscious adaptations to prevent overweight, obesity, regain, etc. Some of these adaptations, like calorie counting, demand what some might call slightly obsessional behaviour. You really don't think, in your heart of hearts, that calorie counting is a little weird? Really? I did it for years and am doing it now, and it's much easier than it was when I first-first started, but I still think it's a little weird.

    (Also, why didn't you include the rest of that paragraph in your quote, where I said basically what I just repeated above?)

    Calorie counting is just as weird as orthorexia, imo.

    First, I went back and checked, and no, what you said is nothing like what I said, and I continue to disagree with it. It is NOT true that one has to be "psychologically abnormal" to avoid being overweight, let alone obese, and I further don't agree that counting calories, doing one of the many other things possible to monitor food amounts, or even being into food-related trends like low carb or paleo or gluten free is, in fact, psychologically abnormal. Some of it is trendy, however. It's sad if it goes over into orthorexia territory, but I suspect that has more to do with preexisting tendencies that are channeled in that particular way rather than dieting being the actual cause.

    And your later post that claims cooking requires some kind of weirdness in our society is just, well, weird. Cooking is pretty normal and standard among people I know, at least those who are married and have children (and a great many or most of the single women as well). It's part of being responsible.

    In any event, the issue with orthorexia is not that it's weird, rather obviously.

    Calorie counting is definitely statistically abnormal, for one thing, plain and simple - most people don't do it. It also appears to require significant learning that involves complex emotional reactions and pragmatic difficulties. The entirety of MFP's forums speaks to the difficulties people have with calorie counting. It's not normal.

    Statistically uncommon does not mean psychologically abnormal, as you claimed.

    Yes, it's uncommon because it's a hassle and until recently was more of one, and because lots of people don't need to do it or wish to.

    I didn't claim it was? I clearly distinguished between the two.

    Yup, it is a hassle. Why is it a hassle? Because the tendency is for people to gain weight in the culture and systems in which we now live. This is a new thing. Historically, it wasn't the case. It is a result of social and economic changes. I really don't know how it's possible to argue otherwise, outside of willful blindness.

    In your first post that I originally quoted you said not psychologically normal. If you are changing your position, good, but be open about it.

    To prove my point, here's the quote: "It is not exactly psychologically normal to count calories for a lifetime, yet that is what many will have to do to keep it off long-term."

    It's a hassle because it requires doing something vs. not doing something. Same with all sorts of things we should do. I addressed why gaining weight is an issue now and wasn't in the past and your need to see that as some victim thing vs. the result of food availability (a good thing) and freedom of choice (fewer social norms re eating) is odd to me.

    "victim thing"? If you reject statistics, sociology, economics, biology, and just anything beyond the "power of the individual", I'm not sure there's more to say to you.

    I haven't changed my position at all, read the posts again if you like.

    I've said all I really want to bother with at this point.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    tomatoey wrote: »
    If you reject statistics, sociology, economics, biology, and just anything beyond the "power of the individual", I'm not sure there's more to say to you.

    No one rejected any of these things, and your quote can't be found anywhere in my posts. You claimed psychological abnormality and then decided to claim that you only meant "unusual in terms of numbers."
  • snikkins
    snikkins Posts: 1,282 Member
    The more I think about it, the more I realize why I find the idea of orthorexia interesting: it comes with its own defense mechanism, for both the self and people around. "I'm just choosing to eat healthy." (Before anyone gets upset, I'm not suggesting that anyone here has orthorexia.) In college, I knew a girl who hid her anorexia through claiming to be allergic to corn. Automatically, no one could question why she wasn't eating whatever meal with the rest of us because corn is so prevalent in many things. The point being, she had to come up with a way to stop the uncomfortable questions, whereas with orthorexia, it's already there.

    As for discussions of this occurring in dieting forums, for many, eating disordered thinking starts from a feeling of lack of control, which I think many new dieters have (feelings of being out of control), and I think this is why it is important to not write it off as "less important" than some other problems. Of course, not everyone is going to develop orthorexia from whatever restrictive diet he/she chooses, but not everyone will develop anorexia from calorie counting, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about it.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited February 2015
    Kruggeri wrote: »
    The people you are seeing posting in the forums with all the stress and anxiety are likely new to the MFP tool (maybe not new to dieting) and as they become more comfortable you usually see less questions, a more relaxed approach, and often times a desire to return to the forums to help other newbies.

    That happens for some. Far more simply quit and disappear.

    The previous poster is correct - long-term calorie counting is neither "normal" nor "easy". For the vast majority of people it is, in reality, unsustainable.
  • jazzyjez
    jazzyjez Posts: 36 Member
    There's a lot of great discussion on this board, but as soon as you start bashing people with generalities you become what you are complaining about.

    So true, how life has changed so much in the last century, and our thinking about how we sustain ourselves through nutrition has been changed by so many factors, while our needs have also been changing.

    Science getting it right and wrong: formula is better than breast milk? Eggs are bad for you? (I'm not bashing science! Just sometimes people get on the wrong (gluten-free) band wagon.)
    Means: when you're poor, food is good if you have a large quantity of it. When you're wealthy, food is good when it looks beautiful on the plate. I still have my grandmothers' depression mode thoughts about food (finish what's on your plate!) deep inside my brain, when our family is not lacking in the means to provide food!
    Availability: Food is at every function. My kids get offered candy and low-nutrition snacks every time I turn around. This is building a BELIEF in them that they need to eat sugar on the hour!
    Caloric Need: Portions have gone up everywhere (value! for the consumer), while our caloric needs have decreased based on lifestyle changes
    Beliefs: The hardest thing to change - you don't even know you have them - they are so deep-rooted. I BELIEVED that I needed to serve a generous grain of some kind with every meal. That's how my mom cooked, and she made great meals and I was in great shape growing up.

    Life is much simpler when you have a culture around these things - what you eat when and how much of it being predetermined by generations.

    Things change so fast. I'm just trying to keep up. So many of the lessons my parents taught me seem irrelevant to what my kids need today.

    Anyway, this thread has been thought-provoking. I just always think that bashing people for not having self-control or will power is looking shallow instead of deep.

  • amf0324
    amf0324 Posts: 46 Member
    amf0324 wrote: »
    "Gluten free" is only getting out of hand in terms of the number of people who don't have Celiac. For those of us that do... I appreciate getting smacked in the face with all of those GF labels.

    Now if only I could get restaurants to take me seriously instead of laughing me off as just another fad dieter...
    I know it is a problem for people that actually have Celiac, but you have to keep in mind that there is a plethora of people with all sorts of eating restrictions that will pass it off for allergies. New Years Eve I had a table of six where 3 of them said they were very allergic to onions and I told the waiter that unfortunately I couldn't guarantee any cross contamination and suggested just having dessert and even then I mentioned cross contamination....... the waiter came back and said, don't worry as long as they don't see any onions they should be alright. This causes all sorts of problems for people that are actually allergic to one thing or another and I must take all inquiries seriously, so I suspect you are taken seriously except in the kitchen we know through experience that most are nothing more than eating irregularities.

    I know. And I agree. It makes my life harder bc no one takes me seriously. How do you convince someone you actually have an autoimmune disease with these fools walking around?
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
    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

    Not justifying a fad, but my grandmother has drank ACV, lemon, water, and honey every morning since I can remember (at least 20 years). It's her morning cleanse. Whether or not it works is debatable, but she'll be 85 this year and still tends to a beautiful vegetable garden and chickens.

    My grandma is 85. She cooks and clean all day long and her brain is in good shape. She doesn't dring ACV, lemon water nor do cleanses.
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    This thread is as bad as those things you are all bashing. It's the same dang thing - group clamouring about being right and how everyone else is wrong and stupid.
    -
    I just joined and THIS is the first impression I get?

    Why not stop being so insecure? You are bothered by what those "stupid people " say only if it somehow makes you insecure about your own path. Personally, also have medical reasons to need to eat certain foods and not others but I don't care if half of Facebook is claiming that you should stuff a whole pineapple up your butt to be healthy. How does it harm me what othrrs think?

    I follow what is right for me... not this lot or some other group.

    Hey, sorry you made your first stop a random thread from the seventh forum down. I'd thank you for your valuable contribution, but I'm not bothered by the thoughts of others.

    As to the topic at hand, I feel that the worry over whether orthorexia is a disorder is overblown. Everyone worries about food safety to some extent and obsessional diagnoses should cover the ones that are taking it too far, but why does everyone want to wear a diagnosis as a badge of honor these days? And if you really do have an all-consuming and uncontrollable paranoia about what you're eating, would you really welcome a label?

    But everyone who is new to something obsesses over it at first. After months of quick-adding all of my calories, I've started tracking my macros--and I'm obsessed with protein and fiber. I am probably thinking about healthy food for three hours a day, which I believe is a symptom of orthorexia according to an online quiz I took. Everyone should just relax and have a Dorito.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    So I don't know if this is actually something I can blame on orthorexia--probably not, of course--but I did a search on amazon for different sorts of cricket-based products (because of a discussion elsewhere on MFP), and now I'm getting an ad for Larvets here (look it up), and when I went to amazon to look at a book it started pushing the cricket flour. Fabulous!

    For the record, neither of my grandmothers lived particularly long lives (although both spend a good bit of their lives on farms), and I am 100% sure neither would have eaten Larvets.
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    I would say that this forum is characterized by the diametric opposite of orthorexia.
  • exlibrissilvio
    exlibrissilvio Posts: 69 Member
    edited February 2015
    This thread is BS. The majority of you are all a part of this oversensitive-politically correct-
    "I'm offended by everything" generation. You wanna talk about hive mentality? How about this thread and all you who think you know what you're talking about.

    "OMG I READ SOMETHING ON BUZZFEED ABOUT THIS--I'M AN EXPERT!"

    What other people do is none of your business. If someone wants to be picky about their food, let them be. If they try to tell you that you're wrong, they're zealous. But still, none of your business. You get so hyped up and PERSONALLY OFFENDED by other people's lives that you have started a SHAMING THREAD about it? Get over yourselves. I will be as picky as I damned well please, and I doubt most of you are qualified to be medically or psychologically labeling anyone ANYTHING.

    *drops the mic*
  • This thread is BS. The majority of you are all a part of this oversensitive-politically correct-
    "I'm offended by everything" generation. You wanna talk about hive mentality? How about this? What other people do is none of your business. If someone wants to be picky about their food, let them be. If they try to tell you that you're wrong, they're zealous. But still, none of your business. You get so hyped up and PERSONALLY OFFENDED by other people's lives that you have started a SHAMING THREAD about it? Get over yourselves. I will be as picky as I damned well please, and I doubt most of you are qualified to be medically or psychologically labeling anyone ANYTHING.

    *drops the mic*

    I take offence to this!
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    tomatoey wrote: »
    If you reject statistics, sociology, economics, biology, and just anything beyond the "power of the individual", I'm not sure there's more to say to you.

    No one rejected any of these things, and your quote can't be found anywhere in my posts. You claimed psychological abnormality and then decided to claim that you only meant "unusual in terms of numbers."

    I talked about both statistical ("for one thing") and psychological/functional abnormality, and I distinguished between the two. At no time did I contradict myself.
  • OGJake12
    OGJake12 Posts: 186 Member
    edited February 2015
    mfp2014mfp wrote: »
    Honestly I see more people bashing 'orthorexia' than people with that particular issue. The former is becoming more annoying than the latter.

    Quote of the day. People have their own ways that work for them, better than those who aren't doing anything. How is it any of our f***** business how someone decides to eat?
  • sam_the_girl
    sam_the_girl Posts: 53 Member
    My mom and dad are gluten free, I have decided to go vegan, my husband hunts things and we all get along. I feel like people should just eat what they want if that's their person choice. I don't preach to people about my choice to be vegan yet believe me, people have plenty to say about MY CHOICE. I can see it getting annoying when people get preachy about their diet but on the reverse side, please keep your opinions to yourself when you find out someone is on a special diet. You don't know their reasons for it and discussing it is as annoying to me as debating politics, you're not going to sway the other side so what's the point but pissing someone off?
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    You get so hyped up and PERSONALLY OFFENDED by other people's lives that you have started a SHAMING THREAD about it? Get over yourselves.

    You're my new hero.

    :drinker:


  • OGJake12
    OGJake12 Posts: 186 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »
    You get so hyped up and PERSONALLY OFFENDED by other people's lives that you have started a SHAMING THREAD about it? Get over yourselves.

    You're my new hero.

    :drinker:


    I second that.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    edited February 2015
    This thread has gone way off topic. Orthorexia is not about preaching your personal diet to other people, or being annoying. It's about having a gripping, life-altering fear of stepping outside of the dietary bounds you've set for yourself. Incidence of orthorexia seems to be on the rise, according to the original article and others like it, and my question was whether the current culture of making oneself a special snowflake by touting food "sensitivities" is a contributing factor, and whether that seems to be on the rise in the forum.
This discussion has been closed.