Orthorexia?
PapaChanoli
Posts: 178 Member
Replies
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It probably exists. It's probably really rare. It's (inaccurately) tossed around as a label on here ridiculously often.
ETA: Some schmo even called me orthorexic on here once. :laugh: :laugh:0 -
I first came across this term at a WPA conference in the spring of 2009. It made sense then and it makes sense now. I think it's unfortunate that the term gets thrown around and interpreted more as an insult than anything else at this point in time. As the article pointed out, eating disorders tend to be comorbid with anxiety and OCD as well as tend to have an underlying need to have control. I'll be definitely interested to see if it makes it into the DSM in the next few years.
I think it's important to note that just as everyone who calorie restricts isn't anorexic, not everyone who decides to pursue a healthier diet, however that is defined by the person, is orthorexic.0 -
Good input so far. Thanks.0
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How do you get it.....cuz I need it....like now
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How do you get it.....cuz I need it....like now
The quick way would be to decide that organic celery or ice cream are the only safe, healthy foods on earth and eat'em exclusively for the long term.
I'm willing to bet the celery diet would suck quicker than the ice cream diet. Both would suck pretty quickly.0 -
Yes, good article, and very eye opening. I see a lot of postings here where people obsess severe food type restriction and cutting out certain types of food to lose weight. Many people wonder why they don't lose weight with food type restriction too.
Weight loss is about eating the foods you always eat, just eating less.0 -
Not funny.How do you get it.....cuz I need it....like now0 -
How do you get it.....cuz I need it....like now
Sad to joke about actual disorders...0 -
How do you get it.....cuz I need it....like now
Sad to joke about actual disorders...
This.
I get that you were trying to be funny - but its like saying I wish I had OCD, my house needs a good clean.
Not funny and insulting to people who have the actual disorder.
OP, yes, I can understand orthorexia as a mental disorder - sort of OCD and ED combination.
Like many other new terms, it does get thrown around indiscriminately so people need to be careful about doing that.0 -
For my part, I definitely see some legitimacy in this being a disorder, and a very difficult one. I also see potential for the term to be abused on sites like this one.
Sadly, I may know at least one person who fits almost all of these criteria. I can't imagine how difficult the topic would be to bring up, let alone discuss. It forces you to attack their perceived value of how they take care of themselves.
It's still interesting and helpful (for the discriminating mind) to bounce the topic around on sites like this. Who knows, there may even be a quiet observer who will see it as a reflection of their own troubles and seek help.0 -
Weight loss is about doing what works for YOU to create a calorie deficit. Are you suggesting all those folks HAVE orthorexia? Sorry, but that's how this posts reads. It also reads: there's ONE way to lose weight and be healthy. Which there isn't, of course.
Yes, good article, and very eye opening. I see a lot of postings here where people obsess severe food type restriction and cutting out certain types of food to lose weight. Many people wonder why they don't lose weight with food type restriction too.
Weight loss is about eating the foods you always eat, just eating less.0 -
Um....no, that's not how my post reads, but that's certainly your spin on it.
Weight loss is about doing what works for YOU to create a calorie deficit. Are you suggesting all those folks HAVE orthorexia? Sorry, but that's how this posts reads. It also reads: there's ONE way to lose weight and be healthy. Which there isn't, of course.
Yes, good article, and very eye opening. I see a lot of postings here where people obsess severe food type restriction and cutting out certain types of food to lose weight. Many people wonder why they don't lose weight with food type restriction too.
Weight loss is about eating the foods you always eat, just eating less.
However, the article indicates that severe food restriction can lead to orthorexia. I make no judgment on whether anyone here has it or not.
Believe me, I've done the severe food restriction before, and I'm certainly glad I don't do it any more. It's taken a long while for me to get out of this mindset. Now I believe in moderation in everything. But, again, that's just me and has nothing to do with you or anyone else.0 -
This article about a vegan blogger suffering and trying to recover from orthorexia was (for me) a good way to understand what orthorexia really is. Not just setting a lot of limits (food wise), but suffering from those limits and not knowing what to do to feel normal about food.
http://www.theblondevegan.com/2014/06/23/why-im-transitioning-away-from-veganism/
Here's a quote from it:
"I started living in a bubble of restriction. Entirely vegan, entirely plant-based, entirely gluten-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, flour-free, dressing/sauce-free, etc. and lived my life based off of when I could and could not eat and what I could and could not combine. There is nothing wrong with any of those things (many of them are great, actually!!) but my body didn’t feel GOOD & I wasn’t listening to it.
Does that sound crazy to you?
Yeah, it sounds crazy to me too. My wake up call came when one of my best friends was in town and we went to get smoothies at Juice Press before spending the day in Central Park. We went to Juice Press because I was the difficult one– I was very limited when it came to breakfast foods, and my friends suggested Juice Press knowing it would make things easier on everyone.
I knew which juice I wanted long before we headed over… A green juice with a tiny bit of apple but not their green juice with more apple juice because that one was too sugary. (If you’re familiar with JP, I wanted ‘Series B’.) We got there, and they didn’t have it. I stared at the juices and smoothies and raw food for a good 15 minutes, panicking, because I had no idea how I was going to navigate this setback. By this time my two friends already had their smoothies and were nearly done with them. Since they’ve known me forever and they know my issues with decision making… They were patient.
Eventually my roomie Katie suggested we walk to a different Juice Press location, a mile out of our way, to get the juice I wanted. I was so relieved… Or so I convinced myself. My stomach was in knots because I had hardly eaten for days, and my body wasn’t sure it could even walk a mile without any sustenance. And we were at a raw food juice bar! A place where everything on the menu was vegan! I should NOT have been feeling so limited and so helpless."0 -
I was actually wondering that about my sister. We went on vacation together, and she told me that now she is not only vegetarian and avoiding sugar, but gluten free. She claims giving up all these foods improve her mood and energy, but she is also quite thin, and one wonders -- well, what can you actually eat? How many calories can you get just eating fruits and vegetables? She did splurge on ice cream a few times, which is a good sign.0
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Daiva,This article about a vegan blogger suffering and trying to recover from orthorexia was (for me) a good way to understand what orthorexia really is. Not just setting a lot of limits (food wise), but suffering from those limits and not knowing what to do to feel normal about food.
http://www.theblondevegan.com/2014/06/23/why-im-transitioning-away-from-veganism/
Here's a quote from it:
"I started living in a bubble of restriction. Entirely vegan, entirely plant-based, entirely gluten-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, flour-free, dressing/sauce-free, etc. and lived my life based off of when I could and could not eat and what I could and could not combine. There is nothing wrong with any of those things (many of them are great, actually!!) but my body didn’t feel GOOD & I wasn’t listening to it.
Does that sound crazy to you?
Yeah, it sounds crazy to me too. My wake up call came when one of my best friends was in town and we went to get smoothies at Juice Press before spending the day in Central Park. We went to Juice Press because I was the difficult one– I was very limited when it came to breakfast foods, and my friends suggested Juice Press knowing it would make things easier on everyone.
I knew which juice I wanted long before we headed over… A green juice with a tiny bit of apple but not their green juice with more apple juice because that one was too sugary. (If you’re familiar with JP, I wanted ‘Series B’.) We got there, and they didn’t have it. I stared at the juices and smoothies and raw food for a good 15 minutes, panicking, because I had no idea how I was going to navigate this setback. By this time my two friends already had their smoothies and were nearly done with them. Since they’ve known me forever and they know my issues with decision making… They were patient.
Eventually my roomie Katie suggested we walk to a different Juice Press location, a mile out of our way, to get the juice I wanted. I was so relieved… Or so I convinced myself. My stomach was in knots because I had hardly eaten for days, and my body wasn’t sure it could even walk a mile without any sustenance. And we were at a raw food juice bar! A place where everything on the menu was vegan! I should NOT have been feeling so limited and so helpless."
Thank so much for sharing that.
My severe food restrictions were around foods that were on my "fattening" list: cakes, cookies, candies, ice cream/frozen dairy deserts, anything processed with sugar), red meat, pork, breads, eggs, oils, anything that had more than 10% fat in it. Therefore, what I allowed myself was fruit, vegetables, salads (luckily I don't like dressing at all), I also had convinced myself I was allergic to granulated sugar. If I ate outside of these foods I felt like I was "cheating" on my "diet" and would then go all out and binge.
I don't know what I describe is even related to orthorexia, but for me it was heading down a dangerous road because (1) I could not do proper portion control because I missed the foods I loved, therefore I binged, and (2) I didn't have a whole lot of energy to move as much as I felt I needed to.
It took me years to work on this mindset and to realize that no food in and of itself is good or bad. Food is just food. It's going to take me the same amount of calories to lose, gain, or maintain, no matter what eat. Once I realized this, and I began to understand that I can eat foods I love in moderation, a whole new world opened up to me.
An example is today. My man made some of the most wonderful zucchini bread from scratch. He had all the nutrition information and everything. When I was doing food restriction, I would have steered clear of it because it was fattening and I was not allowed fattening food. Today, I weighed a piece out, logged it, put a measured portion of butter on it, and I enjoyed every single bite.
When he asked me if I wanted to take some with me I said no thank you. His comment was, "well, it's pretty healthy." I said, "I don't doubt that, but I don't want to spend all my calories on any one thing." Also, that wonderful piece I had was enough for me, where it the past it would not have been.
To add to what I said above, there is nothing wrong with restricting trigger foods that you feel you are not ready to have in your diet.0 -
exists, i suffer with this really
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Ulwaz, could you expand a bit on how this affects you - as with posters above, it is really informative to hear from someone with this problem?0
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I've never heard of this before but hugs to anyone who suffers from it. I cannot imagine what it must be like though I can relate to being a prisoner of your own thoughts and rituals.0
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That's a really good way to put it. For any type of disordered relationship with food.I've never heard of this before but hugs to anyone who suffers from it. I cannot imagine what it must be like though I can relate to being a prisoner of your own thoughts and rituals.0 -
Disordered eating can range from the unhealthy to seemingly healthy. An interesting thing I read about orthorexia is that it affects the middle/upper class who are educated and have access to lots of information regarding health. And who have the time/money to invest in overexercising and only eating organic/grainfed/vegan - whatever the trend of choice is.0
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