Orthorexia nervosa

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qwerty1895
qwerty1895 Posts: 45
in Health and Weight Loss
Orthorexia nervosa (also known as orthorexia) is a proposed eating disorder or mental disorder[1] characterized by an extreme or excessive preoccupation with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthful.

You think it is a legit disorder? I think yes, because I have seen it countless times in the fitness community. It's actually unhealthy.

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  • snazzyjazzy21
    snazzyjazzy21 Posts: 1,298 Member
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    I think so, although people may disagree and say they're just 'health conscious'.
  • Ainar
    Ainar Posts: 858 Member
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    I don't think it's even up for discussion. It's a menta disorder and that's a fact! Look at anorexic boy or girl who looks like skeleton and is dying but still won't ate food cos they think that they are fat while having 1% body fat. Then tell me they are mentally fine...
  • fineshrine
    fineshrine Posts: 9
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    no. it delves a whole lot deeper then just being health concious.
    i have orthorexia and anorexia nervousa binge/purge subtype.
    i am terrified of anything i deem unhealthy/unsafe.
    the factors of what i deem these traits also rapidly changes with any type of article i read, making my behaviors extremely influenced by what i read.
    simply saying that wheat is dangerous can send me into a tailspin researching for hours on every single thing i can find about wheat until i can make a solid conclusion for myself.
    i just read an article on soy products and now i'm freaked out about soy. fun night.

    being health conscious and having an eating disorder, while can go hand in hand, are two completely different things.
    Orthorexia nervosa is characterized as an obsession with healthy eating to the point of malnutrition.
    its kinda like a huge screw up. you are trying so hard to be pure and healthy that you end up eating so little because nothing fits your checklist for healthy and safe that youre effectively killing yourself through starvation.
  • Beezil
    Beezil Posts: 1,677 Member
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    I wouldn't say it's an ED but a mental disorder, probably associated with people who have OCD tendencies. If it really gets to the point of being unhealthy, you're really just looking at another form of anorexia, because how could trying so hard to be healthy make you unhealthy unless you're either a) not eating enough or b) eating too much? :P
  • fineshrine
    fineshrine Posts: 9
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    I wouldn't say it's an ED but a mental disorder, probably associated with people who have OCD tendencies. If it really gets to the point of being unhealthy, you're really just looking at another form of anorexia,

    uhm....any disorder that revolves around eating would be an eating disorder......like EDNOS, and binge eating disorder, etc....
    a common symptom of starvation is mania and OCD as well.... some anorexics or bulimics will develope orthorexia at some point as like in my case. orthorexia is only diagnosed once the person becomes malnourished due to their daily diet so yeah, they would be unhealthy upon diagnosis.
    being an obsessed dieter and having standards for your 'clean eating' isnt going to get you diagnosed as orthorexic unless you wont eat because nothing is 'clean' enough or you eat solely few things for a long period because they are all you can justify.
  • Beezil
    Beezil Posts: 1,677 Member
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    I wouldn't say it's an ED but a mental disorder, probably associated with people who have OCD tendencies. If it really gets to the point of being unhealthy, you're really just looking at another form of anorexia,

    uhm....any disorder that revolves around eating would be any eating disorder......like EDNOS, and binge eating disorder, etc....
    a common symptom of starvation is mania and OCD as well.... some anorexics or bulimics will develope orthorexia at some point as like in my case. orthorexia is only diagnosed once the person becomes malnourished due to their daily diet so they would be unhealthy.
    being an obsessed dieter and having standards for your 'clean eating' isnt going to get you diagnosed as orthorexic unless you wont eat because nothing is 'clean' enough or you eat solely few things for a long period because they are all you can justify.

    but then you're being diagnosed based on not eating anything, which would be starving yourself (general you, not specific) so I just see it as an anorexia diagnosis. That's just me... but there are a million different names for different mental disorders nowadays, oppositional defiant disorder is one of my favorites. Schizophrenia used to just be schizophrenia, then they decided it was a collection of different disorders in most of the people who were diagnosed - so it's more rare now for people to have true schizophrenia, which I think is definitely a good sign of progress. It's much easier to treat bipolar and / or manic depression than it is to treat schizophrenia. So if doctors having the diagnosis of orthorexia in their libraries helps someone get better, all the more power to them.
  • kenzie3275
    kenzie3275 Posts: 2
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    I believe orthorexia is an eating disorder if the person is having anxiety about food being unhealthy CONSTANTLY. Or the majority of the time. It is a fear of eating things perceived as unhealthy. I believe it is the anxiety surrounding food that makes this an eating disorder. Of course healthy eating is a necessary thing to do.
  • Iknowsaur
    Iknowsaur Posts: 777 Member
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    I wouldn't say it's an ED but a mental disorder, probably associated with people who have OCD tendencies. If it really gets to the point of being unhealthy, you're really just looking at another form of anorexia, because how could trying so hard to be healthy make you unhealthy unless you're either a) not eating enough or b) eating too much? :P

    I absolutely agree with this. I wouldn't necessarily give it it's OWN category, but it definitely falling under the OCD spectrum. I'm not sure it would really be an eating disorder, because depending on the number/type of foods in question, it may not actually be harmful. I mean if someone is scared to death of eating ice cream, that isn't really a BAD thing, just an odd thing. On the other hand, if they're afraid of eating anything with any fat in it, that could be a more serious problem.
  • HealthyMakeover
    HealthyMakeover Posts: 142 Member
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    It is an eating disorder.
    I've known girls during my recovery that would rather starve than eat something that wasn't a whole or pure food.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    It's a pattern of disordered eating that can potentially be very dangerous and psychologically damaging. Medically speaking, eating disorders have some very specific diagnostic criteria and are pretty narrowly defined, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual only lists anorexia and bulimia as separate and formal eating disorders. (For example, bulimia technically has to have both binge and purge aspects -- if the person is just purging and not bingeing beforehand, it's not properly called bulimia.)

    The only other category listed in the DSM is "Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS)," which is where disordered eating patterns that don't fit 100% into anorexia or bulimia belong. If you have all the other symptoms of anorexia but are within a healthy weight range, you'd be diagnosed with EDNOS. Orthorexia is typically considered to fall within the EDNOS category.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    I'm not sure why this is a question...it's definitely part of the EDNOS category. However, it's not something a non-professional should diagnose. There is a difference between someone who avoids dairy, gluten, meat, etc and still lives a very healthy life with adequate nutrition and someone who has an UNHEALTHY compulson or obsessive outlook on the purity of their food.
  • mscrystallee
    mscrystallee Posts: 62 Member
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    Orthorexia is NOT a diagnosis, not even in consideration at this point. This I believe would fall under more of an OCD/Anxiety Disorder

    In the new DSM-5 there exist Binge Eating Disorder also, the only "official or suggested (meaning requiring further investigation) are under Feeding & Eating Disorders
    *Anorexia Nervosa
    *Avoidance/Restrictive eating disorder
    *Binge-Eating (new in the DSM-5)
    *Bulimia Nervosa
    *Pica
    *Rumination Disorder
    Other Specified Disorders: Atypical Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa of limited duration, Purging Disorder, Night Eating Disorder
    Unspecified Eating Disorders

    ~Behavioral Health HIM Manager/Coder in facility that specializes in Eating Disorders
  • bumblebreezy91
    bumblebreezy91 Posts: 520 Member
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    It isn't officially recognized as an eating disorder, but that doesn't mean it isn't potentially harmful and that doesn't mean it isn't an eating disorder. It just hasn't been classified as one yet. It all depends on how orthorexia would present in someone and it's up to their doctor to assign an accurate diagnosis (someone who purges "unclean" foods may actually be bulimic, someone who would rather starve than eat "unclean" foods may have anorexia, it may be more rooted as an anxiety disorder, it may be another classification of EDNOS, etc) and develop a treatment plan.

    http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/orthorexia-nervosa

    http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/eating.aspx

    http://www.apa.org/topics/eating/index.aspx

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