Orthorexia
Ohmum
Posts: 7 Member
Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
0
Replies
-
a natural tendency to obsessive behaviour0
-
Eh, I was briefly overly obsessed with counting calories and is-a-calorie-really-a-calorie when I first started this. -61 pounds later, the charm has worn off.
So if you're posting this because you feel this way, ask yourself: do you tend to fixate on new hobbies and interests and then move on? Or do you get stuck in obsessive mindsets?0 -
Yep, a predisposition to obsessing over things makes you more susceptible to it.
The media, celebrities, and fashion don't help, but most people can ignore all that and get overweight, so we can't blame those things entirely.0 -
It's all about how you approach eating food. If you externalize everything and look at the food as the cause of things, you will begin to demonize certain foods. If you internalize it, you'll realize that you are in control of what you eat, and how active you are and you can understand that there aren't good foods and bad foods, healthy foods and unhealthy foods, there are just foods with different macro and micro nutrient makeups, and if you combine them correctly, you can always come up with a healthy diet.0
-
It's all about how you approach eating food. If you externalize everything and look at the food as the cause of things, you will begin to demonize certain foods. If you internalize it, you'll realize that you are in control of what you eat, and how active you are and you can understand that there aren't good foods and bad foods, healthy foods and unhealthy foods, there are just foods with different macro and micro nutrient makeups, and if you combine them correctly, you can always come up with a healthy diet.
like this0 -
Predisposition combined with circumstance combined with specific events. It's hard to draw the line, too, with orthorexia specifically since it can be perceived externally as just healthy behavior, and it's not necessarily clear to others or even yourself when it's impacting your life negatively.0
-
Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
I absolutely think so. Some people take it to an unhealthy extreme, where there is anxiety or pushback against anything that isn't a "clean" diet. I've seen some very extreme examples in some raw food/vegan gurus on Youtube who promote different lifestyles that border on the extreme with food. I follow them not because I want to do the lifestyle, but it's very...curious to see their views on food (some of which are misguided and not backed by science).0 -
Yes I think this happens to a lot of people, myself included. In the beginning I became obsessed and demonized entire food groups. But as I learned through trial and error and educated myself the orthorexia stopped. The biggest thing I learned is that it's about my own personal journey and it just doesn't matter what others think, say, eat or feel about what I'm doing. Don't waste time worrying about what others are putting in their bodies. These days I truly enjoy tracking my calories and seeing desired results. It's the coolest thing in the world to use food as fuel in certain combinations and at certain times to achieve specific goals. I also eat 80% raw and 90% clean but I don't eliminate or demonize food groups because... what's the point? I also used to be very "food judgy". It would drive me crazy to be in a grocery store and see the garbage that others were buying. These days it still bugs me every now and then but I've learned to just ignore it for the most part LOL! I do wonder sometimes why people don't just automatically know the difference between good calories and empty calories (Please note, I don't mean good foods and bad foods... food is food). I just mean the calories and nutrients contained in say a piece of lean protein vs. a snickers bar lol! But to each their own. The only time it comes up these days is when someone asks me specifically what I think about certain types of foods, I'll tell them exactly how I feel about it from a self-educated, non-professional opion based upon my own personal experience with this journey. If you think you're heading in that direction you might benefit from talkiing to someone about it or seeking out some education on nutrition. I had many great discussions with the manager of my work fitness center. The biggest thing that changed me was learning that even the healthiest of healthy people, those who I would normally put on a "clean diet" pedastal don't have perfect diets
My personal trainor who used to basically lived on fish, chicken, broccoli and asparagus (during her training years), takes every weekend off... she doesn't count or log her calories and enjoys whatever foods she wants. It doesn't hurt her progress in any way, shape or form.
Sorry for the long post here... it's funny that it came up. Just yesterday there were foods put on my desk, my desk in the office is like the central hub and anytime there's a department party all of the leftover food is put on my deks for others to enjoy. I was eating my micro-greens and looking at the lemon/poppy cookies and thinking about how awful the cookies looked (fake/plastic) compared to my fresh greens. In the old days I would feel somewhat "smug" at the fact that I was eating beautiful fresh greens that were providing my body with the right nutrients while others were eating processed toxic ingredients. Yesterday I was thrilled to see people enjoying these sweet treats 0 -
I prefer to call it food fetishism. People falsely attribute magical qualities to food based on arbitrary standards to avoid the actual important things.
Most people who fetishize food are overweight. There are some who aren't, but for a lot of people, it's to avoid doing the things that actually work. They pretend their huge plat of food is okay because it's organic. Or there's no gluten. Or whatever.
Others are hypochondriacs who project weird powers onto what they eat as well as onto everything around them.
Still others are just completely neurotic about everything, with extreme obsessive mentalities. They won't give their kids plastic toys or sugar for the same reasons other people wash their hands eight times and flip light switches. Both come up with reasons. They're both CRAZY.
I remember one poor family we invited to our kid's birthday party who weren't allowed to have pizza, cake, or soft drinks. Not even for a day. It doesn't just make me sad to see that--it makes me ANGRY. No, your kids shouldn't be eating that every day. But there's no reason to shun it. NONE. And making your kids neurotic, too, is just a really crummy thing to do.
Cleanse, toxic, artificial, processed, organic, chemical, preservative, dye--when referring to the NUTRITIONAL content of anything, those words are 100% meaningless.0 -
In my own experience-yes. I've posted before about my experience with eating 'clean' and my Paleo experiment so I won't re-hash here. But yeah it was scary how fast I developed a distorted and unhealthy relationship with food, which also started affecting other areas in my life. Thankfully I realized what was happening and I'm now on the other side of it, but I'm very careful to never label any foods 'good' or 'bad' now.
eta: it wasn't an MFP thing though, I don't think I was even a member here at the time. I was on another forum at a paleo/primal website.0 -
Yes.
Also, a pet peeve of mine is the 'finished day and was under...' or stating in bold red letters that you dared go past the calculated number. I think it might actually promote people trying to eat under the caloric goal, that lead to severe undereating. There is a massive culture of punishment in some diet-lifestyle circles, where the horror of allowing oneself to eat a piece of chocolate is such a failure that people start doing jumping jacks in their living room out of sheer shame. Linking this to shame and failure is such a negative thing. You are not less of a person or lack self control if you allowed yourself to have a scoop of ice cream on a warm day.
Also, there is a lot of media promoting, madness about this and that being the devil (i.e. diet colas) and other things making you magically stop wanting brownies and lose weight (like raspberry kero-somethings), and food fetishism and some ill thought out ego-relation to what people eat. All that contributes to the pressure and the connection of self image and the 'rightness' of what you are eating.
I think it's pretty easy to fall into that pit, for some more than others, and we all know there is a lot of seriously dangerous 'diet advice' on the internet.
Honestly, AJ_G said it best.It's all about how you approach eating food. If you externalize everything and look at the food as the cause of things, you will begin to demonize certain foods. If you internalize it, you'll realize that you are in control of what you eat, and how active you are and you can understand that there aren't good foods and bad foods, healthy foods and unhealthy foods, there are just foods with different macro and micro nutrient makeups, and if you combine them correctly, you can always come up with a healthy diet.
0 -
Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/0 -
It's all about how you approach eating food. If you externalize everything and look at the food as the cause of things, you will begin to demonize certain foods. If you internalize it, you'll realize that you are in control of what you eat, and how active you are and you can understand that there aren't good foods and bad foods, healthy foods and unhealthy foods, there are just foods with different macro and micro nutrient makeups, and if you combine them correctly, you can always come up with a healthy diet.
This. :drinker:0 -
MamaBirdBoss wrote: »I prefer to call it food fetishism. People falsely attribute magical qualities to food based on arbitrary standards to avoid the actual important things.
Most people who fetishize food are overweight. There are some who aren't, but for a lot of people, it's to avoid doing the things that actually work. They pretend their huge plat of food is okay because it's organic. Or there's no gluten. Or whatever.
Others are hypochondriacs who project weird powers onto what they eat as well as onto everything around them.
Still others are just completely neurotic about everything, with extreme obsessive mentalities. They won't give their kids plastic toys or sugar for the same reasons other people wash their hands eight times and flip light switches. Both come up with reasons. They're both CRAZY.
I remember one poor family we invited to our kid's birthday party who weren't allowed to have pizza, cake, or soft drinks. Not even for a day. It doesn't just make me sad to see that--it makes me ANGRY. No, your kids shouldn't be eating that every day. But there's no reason to shun it. NONE. And making your kids neurotic, too, is just a really crummy thing to do.
Cleanse, toxic, artificial, processed, organic, chemical, preservative, dye--when referring to the NUTRITIONAL content of anything, those words are 100% meaningless.
0 -
Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.0 -
The challenge with anyone who has had an unhealthy relationship with food that lead to obesity is that the fix can often be swapping one unhealthy behavior for another.
If I were prone to impulse overeating due to some underlying compulsive tendency, swapping that for a food exclusion diet can be simply transferring one compulsion for another. Calorie counting could be another compulsion, if that number becomes something that affects daily life.
Balance can be learned, but it does take effort and some self-awareness about how you approach it.0 -
... I'm OCD about locking/unlocking doors, and washing my hands. I wouldn't say I'm CRAZY, it's just something I've always done. As far as relying too much on MFP, and it leading to other unhealthy things... EH? For those who do it, whatever makes you happy is cool. For those who don't, then keep on doing whatever you want to do, too. Balance will come with experience, and nobody just gets healthy overnight simply by switching their foods. It IS a start, though.0
-
The challenge with anyone who has had an unhealthy relationship with food that lead to obesity is that the fix can often be swapping one unhealthy behavior for another.
If I were prone to impulse overeating due to some underlying compulsive tendency, swapping that for a food exclusion diet can be simply transferring one compulsion for another. Calorie counting could be another compulsion, if that number becomes something that affects daily life.
Balance can be learned, but it does take effort and some self-awareness about how you approach it.
It's not always an unhealthy relationship with food that leads to obesity. It's often down to a poor fit between our evolutionary heritage and an obesogenic environment. Spontaneous, unrestricted eating of the food that's most accessible to most working people in the quantities typically served is often what does it. And that kind of eating is the social norm. Both counting calories or food quality are countercultural, abnormal in that sense.
Re a disruptive preoccupation with either food quantity (cal counting) or quality (observation of nutritional guidelines), I think that's common to many people when they start, because of the learning curve involved. It sticks with some people who may have pre-existing vulnerabilities. But also I think it can exacerbate previously untroubling or mild predilections.
Here's why: Counting / food evaluation isn't an emotionally neutral activity. It's loaded with expectations about what one's future body might look like, and maybe fear of the past body.
There are some physical changes that can occur with weight loss that are sometimes accompanied by transient body dysmorphia. That can be as mundane (but disconcerting) as just having a lag in one's mental body map. Or it can be something more loaded. People expect to see a thin/fit body during and at the end of their weight loss, whatever that body is to them, it's something probably idealized, anyway. That ideal may be dissonant with changes they see in their own bodies - scars, stretch marks, loose skin, troubling (because new) changes in fat distribution - that last one can lead to an obsession with body parts that wasn't there before.
When people are overweight or obese, they often take their bodies for granted. When they're making an effort to lose, and things don't turn out as expected, that can be confusing or disappointing; that confusion/disappointment might well fuel intensified efforts to control what's happening, in the form of preoccupation with calorie amount (or kind).0 -
Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.
Focusing on nutrition is not delusional...0 -
The challenge with anyone who has had an unhealthy relationship with food that lead to obesity is that the fix can often be swapping one unhealthy behavior for another.
Ah, I see you're saying the issue is with those previously obese people who did have an unhealthy relationship with food, not with all previously obese people.
Still, I think it's possible for orthorexic behaviours to creep in, for the reasons I mentioned.0 -
If you believe avoiding preservatives and GMOs, or that eating organic has nutritional value, you are delusional.Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.
Focusing on nutrition is not delusional...0 -
MamaBirdBoss wrote: »I prefer to call it food fetishism. People falsely attribute magical qualities to food based on arbitrary standards to avoid the actual important things.
Most people who fetishize food are overweight. There are some who aren't, but for a lot of people, it's to avoid doing the things that actually work. They pretend their huge plat of food is okay because it's organic. Or there's no gluten. Or whatever.
Others are hypochondriacs who project weird powers onto what they eat as well as onto everything around them.
Still others are just completely neurotic about everything, with extreme obsessive mentalities. They won't give their kids plastic toys or sugar for the same reasons other people wash their hands eight times and flip light switches. Both come up with reasons. They're both CRAZY.
I remember one poor family we invited to our kid's birthday party who weren't allowed to have pizza, cake, or soft drinks. Not even for a day. It doesn't just make me sad to see that--it makes me ANGRY. No, your kids shouldn't be eating that every day. But there's no reason to shun it. NONE. And making your kids neurotic, too, is just a really crummy thing to do.
Cleanse, toxic, artificial, processed, organic, chemical, preservative, dye--when referring to the NUTRITIONAL content of anything, those words are 100% meaningless.
This is my Star of the Day quote. Summarised perfectly!
0 -
Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
Thanks for that link. My mother has focused on "organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs*" for decades without any of this (also from your link):
"Orthorexia is an emotionally disturbed, self-punishing relationship with food that involves a progressively shrinking universe of foods deemed acceptable. A gradual constriction of many other dimensions of life occurs so that thinking about healthy food can becomes the central theme of almost every moment of the day, the sword and shield against every kind of anxiety, and the primary source of self-esteem, value and meaning. This may result in social isolation, psychological disturbance and even, possibly, physical harm."
*not sure exactly when GMOs became a concern, but she's certainly been interested in healthy food since she became a mother. If only I had never strayed from the example she set...
0 -
The challenge with anyone who has had an unhealthy relationship with food that lead to obesity is that the fix can often be swapping one unhealthy behavior for another.
Ah, I see you're saying the issue is with those previously obese people who did have an unhealthy relationship with food, not with all previously obese people.
Still, I think it's possible for orthorexic behaviours to creep in, for the reasons I mentioned.
Yep, you got it. 0 -
Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
Bad relationships often have baggage.
People relationships or even food relationships
I like healthy food choices and organic and antibiotic free. Clean eating works pretty easy.
Cleanses scare me with so many warnings against them. I have not read all the articles but feel good passing...
There is a causality to most things. And no doubt to me about cause and effect relationships in food, drugs, pesticides and health.
Too much is too much.
0 -
Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.
Focusing on nutrition is not delusional...
Focusing on nutrition and "clean eating" are not at all the same thing.
Often the essence of "clean eating" is that there are foods that are pure and foods that are impure and which will make you sick or fat even in small amounts, that they are disgusting and make those who eat them disgusting.0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.
Focusing on nutrition is not delusional...
Focusing on nutrition and "clean eating" are not at all the same thing.
Often the essence of "clean eating" is that there are foods that are pure and foods that are impure and which will make you sick or fat even in small amounts, that they are disgusting and make those who eat them disgusting.
To add on to this, we're not talking about focusing on nutrition and choosing to bring a bowl of fruit to a Super Bowl party. We're talking about obsessing over the perceived nutritional value of the foods that may or may not be at said party and becoming paralyzed with fear over their uncleanness, resulting in shunning the social activity.
When "clean eating" begins to become the focus so much that you stop engaging in normal, social behaviors, it is time to step away and/or get some help.
0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.
Focusing on nutrition is not delusional...
Focusing on nutrition and "clean eating" are not at all the same thing.
Often the essence of "clean eating" is that there are foods that are pure and foods that are impure and which will make you sick or fat even in small amounts, that they are disgusting and make those who eat them disgusting.
To add on to this, we're not talking about focusing on nutrition and choosing to bring a bowl of fruit to a Super Bowl party. We're talking about obsessing over the perceived nutritional value of the foods that may or may not be at said party and becoming paralyzed with fear over their uncleanness, resulting in shunning the social activity.
When "clean eating" begins to become the focus so much that you stop engaging in normal, social behaviors, it is time to step away and/or get some help.
Which is seldom the case, as stated above and on the link:
The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia.
0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.
Focusing on nutrition is not delusional...
Focusing on nutrition and "clean eating" are not at all the same thing.
Often the essence of "clean eating" is that there are foods that are pure and foods that are impure and which will make you sick or fat even in small amounts, that they are disgusting and make those who eat them disgusting.
Ya? Not for me. I'm with the "discoverer" of orthorexia:
"...If you prefer to eat mostly organic, preservative- chemical- and antiobiotic-free foods (as I do!) and think that many overly processed foods are not foods at all (as I do!) it still doesn’t mean you have to follow those principles 100% of the time."
0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »Gianfranco_R wrote: »Do you think the likes of clean eating regimes and mfp can lead to an excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy, and/or an obsession with logging every calorie?
I have only recently come across the term 'orthorexia' and wonder what leads this fixation.
According to Steven Bratman, who is the one who "discovered" the orthorexia: The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia. More risk accrues as increasingly practices related to the history of clean eating theories are added, such as detoxes, juice fasts and other “cleanses.”
In general:
Adopting a theory of healthy eating is NOT orthorexia
http://www.orthorexia.com/healthy-eating-vs-orthorexia/
The cleaning eating ideas he listed might not seem very restrictive, but they have the issue of being not grounded in reality, which I would say is just as big an issue. Anorexia has the diganostic restriction that it only applies to people underweight (eating too few calories while overweight is just unspecified eating disorder), in part because the anorexic holds delusional beliefs.
Focusing on nutrition is not delusional...
Focusing on nutrition and "clean eating" are not at all the same thing.
Often the essence of "clean eating" is that there are foods that are pure and foods that are impure and which will make you sick or fat even in small amounts, that they are disgusting and make those who eat them disgusting.
To add on to this, we're not talking about focusing on nutrition and choosing to bring a bowl of fruit to a Super Bowl party. We're talking about obsessing over the perceived nutritional value of the foods that may or may not be at said party and becoming paralyzed with fear over their uncleanness, resulting in shunning the social activity.
When "clean eating" begins to become the focus so much that you stop engaging in normal, social behaviors, it is time to step away and/or get some help.
Which is seldom the case, as stated above and on the link:
The basic “clean eating” diet, which focuses on organic whole foods, free of preservatives, antibiotics and GMOs, barely qualifies as a restrictive theory of healthy eating and only occasionally leads to orthorexia.
I'm unsure why you're trying to make this an argument? You're making it sound like we're in disagreement. I never said that if you were going to eat clean, you're an orthorexic or even at risk of it, which seems to be what you're trying to imply I said with your quote from the article and bolding of the part you've deemed most relevant.
Often in these threads, it gets muddled that clean eating = orthorexia (see the "Focusing on nutrition is not delusional" comment and the previous comments that drove it). I'm pointing out that that's not what is meant by the possibility of this eating disorder existing. Just as everyone who calorie restricts isn't anorexic, not everyone who "eats clean" is orthorexic. It is the anxiety and fear of the "unclean" foods that separates a potential orthorexic from someone focusing on nutrition.
0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 430 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions