What? Is this real?

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Cbandelier
Cbandelier Posts: 217 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Choosing healthy foods is now a mental illness. I understand that people could become fixated/obsessed to an unhealthy extent (as with anything) but...really? Check this out!



http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

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  • Megooo19
    Megooo19 Posts: 199
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    In abnormal psych my teacher mentioned it. She said it isn't that they are eating healthy and that's bad but they become so fixated on eating healthy they essentially become anorexic. Like no food is healthy enough and you begin to live off nothing but lettuce... In order to be a problem it must cause you discomfort and cause problems in your normal functioning.
  • NikkiJ17
    NikkiJ17 Posts: 295
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    Wouldn't this really just be like OCD or some other kind of extreme obsession with something? Why do we have to give it a new name?
  • velix
    velix Posts: 437 Member
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    In abnormal psych my teacher mentioned it. She said it isn't that they are eating healthy and that's bad but they become so fixated on eating healthy they essentially become anorexic. Like no food is healthy enough and you begin to live off nothing but lettuce... In order to be a problem it must cause you discomfort and cause problems in your normal functioning.

    I hate to admit it, but this rationale makes sense - I mean, there's eating healthy, and there's OCD elements that can factor in that makes it an unhealthy activity - anything in excess is not 'healthy' even if it's 'healthy living'..... (if that makes sense ....)
  • McKayMachina
    McKayMachina Posts: 2,670 Member
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    So, basically, having any kind of preference about anything is bad news. Call Pfizer! I need a drug for that!
  • Megooo19
    Megooo19 Posts: 199
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    OCD is different because it's an obsession and a compulsion. These people may be obsessed with healthy living but they dont suffer from compulsions. Plus new disorders in the DSM help with understanding how to better treat disorders. They wouldn't make it it's own disorder unless they felt is stood on its own with characteristics that were unique.
  • rherrin5
    rherrin5 Posts: 136 Member
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    hahaah when I thought nothing else could make me laugh today, I read this WOW!!! LOL!!!!

    Then I guess I will openly admitt I have a mental disorder. Anyone know of any support groups for people like me? hahaah my goodness iv heard it all!
  • dr1981
    dr1981 Posts: 76 Member
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    Choosing healthy foods is now a mental illness. I understand that people could become fixated/obsessed to an unhealthy extent (as with anything) but...really? Check this out!



    http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

    I think the author of the article in the link you provided may have missed the gist of it all.
  • BryanAir
    BryanAir Posts: 434
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    Choosing healthy foods is now a mental illness. I understand that people could become fixated/obsessed to an unhealthy extent (as with anything) but...really? Check this out!



    http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

    I think the author of the article in the link you provided may have missed the gist of it all.

    Look at his other articles for a glimpse at his conspiracy theory and anti-science viewpoint and it makes more sense. He just doesn't understand and doesn't want to understand science.
  • Cbandelier
    Cbandelier Posts: 217 Member
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    Choosing healthy foods is now a mental illness. I understand that people could become fixated/obsessed to an unhealthy extent (as with anything) but...really? Check this out!



    http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

    I think the author of the article in the link you provided may have missed the gist of it all.

    The article he sourced was pretty bad, too.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    I love chocolate and pizza and soda. Whew! Finally a new disorder that isn't me!!! :laugh:
  • rherrin5
    rherrin5 Posts: 136 Member
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    I love chocolate and pizza and soda. Whew! Finally a new disorder that isn't me!!! :laugh:

    LOL OMG LOL
  • dr1981
    dr1981 Posts: 76 Member
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    Choosing healthy foods is now a mental illness. I understand that people could become fixated/obsessed to an unhealthy extent (as with anything) but...really? Check this out!



    http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

    I think the author of the article in the link you provided may have missed the gist of it all.

    Look at his other articles for a glimpse at his conspiracy theory and anti-science viewpoint and it makes more sense. He just doesn't understand and doesn't want to understand science.

    I was getting that same vibe, amigo.
  • Megooo19
    Megooo19 Posts: 199
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    I hadn't actually read the article. This guy obviously has a problem with the field of psychology. Sorry but we don't just "fabricate" disorders. There is NOTHING wrong with eating healthy and being concerned with your health and doing your best to eat healthy is NOT what orthorexia is.
  • craft338
    craft338 Posts: 870 Member
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    just like OCD or having a phobia, it's when it starts to interfere with your daily life that it's a disease or dissorder. they're not talking about people like us who keep track and look up calories who are on diets, they're talking about people that quit their jobs because they need to stay home to prepare and calculate their own meals. they're talking about phobias of eating out because people are too scared to eat something they don't know the exact nutritional info for, or the people who count every single grain of rice because they need to know exactly how many calories they're eating.

    i didn't read the whole article because it was obviously bias and making fun, but yeah, i believe there is such a thing, just like other eating disorders. there are really serious disorders out there that might seem silly to you, but they are very real and can be very harmful, and a lot of really sick people don't seek help because they're afraid of being judged by people who write articles like that.
  • ladyhawk00
    ladyhawk00 Posts: 2,457 Member
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    I gotta say, that's a pretty ignorant and smartass article (which is almost never the best way to get across a point.) If the author bothered to find out anything about the actual issue, or had any communicative ability, he'd at least approach it in a different way.

    Orthorexia has nothing to do with "eating healthy" and everything to do with an obsessive, harmful mindset (and yes, it would be considered in the same family as OCD.) Orthorexics would basically rather starve to DEATH, rather than eat at McD's. Literally. Now, eating at McD's is not healthy - but neither is starving to death, right? It is not that they "avoid" unhealthy foods or processed foods, or pesticides, or whatever else is considered unhealthy to the person - it is that they will obsess over that to the extent that they cannot function. The very thought of eating something processed brings on panic attacks, etc. It involves an unhealthy mental state, rather than what the person is actually consuming. Psychiatrists and the APA are not "attacking broccoli" - they are acknowledging that some people (a very small number, at this point, in the case of orthorexia) develop eating habits and mental states that are harmful and destructive, rather than healthy. Being obsessive/compulsive with ANYthing is not healthy, no matter what it is.

    His attitude, and that article, are just as offensive as if he scoffed at the notion of anorexia or compulsive eaters.

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