Orthorexia Nervosa: the new eating disorder

Wow - an eating disorder where eating healthy food is bad.

Part of the problem is the belief that there is such a thing as a healthy food.

And then people continue this mindset by placing other foods in an "unhealthy" category. As if health is a scalar quantity, and eating one type of food increases this number and eating 'bad' foods decreases it. And then they seek to become 'healthy' by avoiding all of the foods they've categorized as 'unhealthy.' As if these foods actively destroy your body.

No food is healthy in a vacuum.

It's about context.

If you eat nothing but broccoli, you will die of malnutrition. Broccoli is no better than cake. The difference is that very few people actually WANT to eat nothing but broccoli. So it's easy to blame overeating of cake and correlate it with being unhealthy, and mistakenly conclude that cake actively destroys your health.

But someone who includes reasonable amounts of both broccoli and cake in their regular intake will be just as healthy as they would if they had only included one or the other.

Perhaps it depends on their reason for refusing cake. If someone refused cake because they already had enough for lunch, that is not the same as someone refusing cake because they think the added sugars and fats and imaginary toxins are going to shorten their lifespan.

I disagree they have done very successful studies on rabbits, where broccoli was there main food source and they went on to live a normal life span!

Also my point isn't about food, it's about the persons mind set and mental wiring.

Wow - an eating disorder where eating healthy food is bad.

Part of the problem is the belief that there is such a thing as a healthy food.

And then people continue this mindset by placing other foods in an "unhealthy" category. As if health is a scalar quantity, and eating one type of food increases this number and eating 'bad' foods decreases it. And then they seek to become 'healthy' by avoiding all of the foods they've categorized as 'unhealthy.' As if these foods actively destroy your body.

No food is healthy in a vacuum.

It's about context.

If you eat nothing but broccoli, you will die of malnutrition. Broccoli is no better than cake. The difference is that very few people actually WANT to eat nothing but broccoli. So it's easy to blame overeating of cake and correlate it with being unhealthy, and mistakenly conclude that cake actively destroys your health.

But someone who includes reasonable amounts of both broccoli and cake in their regular intake will be just as healthy as they would if they had only included one or the other.

Why would any one be embarrassed to refuse or be around anyone who refused cake? I would be more impressed at their will power. This is why peer pressure gets people to do stupid things. If refusing cake embarrasses someone I hate to see what else they might do just to avoid being embarrassed. LOL

Its stupid and just another money maker for them to say people that are very conscience about what they put in their mouth and body is an eating disorder.

Most Dr's want their patients to be mindful of what goes in their mouth and is digested through their bodies.

My husband and I eat out within the guidelines of our eating plan, we cook most of our meals, buy the highest quality foods that we can afford and search out healthy ways of living.

If that is a disorder, I am happy to have it.

I'm with you on this one! I have the right to refuse birthday cake - and it shouldn't embarrass my kid because we've taught him that forced social eating is not a good habit. If you don't want it, politely say "no thank you" and move along.

Perhaps it depends on their reason for refusing cake. If someone refused cake because they already had enough for lunch, that is not the same as someone refusing cake because they think the added sugars and fats and imaginary toxins are going to shorten their lifespan.

What if I don't want to eat cake because it's garbage and I'd rather not eat it. Cake's not healthy and I'd most often rather eat nothing than eat cake - even if I was hungry. Does this mean I have a disorder?

Just because someone offers me something to eat, it doesn't mean I have the social responsibility to eat it. It's this mindset that drives me nuts. Why is there such a stigma attached to refusing junk food? Why do people get so judgy if I turn down a muffin or take a club soda instead of a beer? Or take a burger with no bun and substitute my fries for a salad at the restaurant? Why do people care what I eat?

I don't have orthorexia. I eat junk food occasionally but I eat it when I want to eat it. It's not worth it to me to eat some crappy chocolate cake my colleague bought at the Loblaws this morning. If my mother-in-law makes her triple chocolate brownies or pumpkin ice cream cake, I'll generally have a piece.

So you are saying that it doesn't apply to you, but you are going to be defensive anyway?

I wanna party with you, cowboy.

I'm saying that people should be allowed to eat how they want without being accused of having a disorder.

Is there such thing as orthorexia? Probably. But to me it would have to be *extreme* and they would have to be physically or mentally damaging themselves to get to that point.

This thread, however, is full of people saying that someone who doesn't take cheat days or occasionally allow themselves a piece of cake or bread are cases of orthorexia.

As an example in the message below:
"These people will opt out of spending time with people they love in favor of maintaining that obsessive control. Some take it down a notch and attend the events, but bring their own food...personally, unless the person suffers from a medical disorder and cannot eat the food I prepared, I would be a bit offended."

What about vegetarians? Are vegetarians orthorexic because they refuse to eat meat? Would you get offended if a vegetarian brought a veggie burger to the barbecue? Why is it so different if someone doesn't want to eat cake or pasta salad?

You'd see a lot less of people avoiding social eating situations if others weren't so judgy about how you ate. I personally eat Paleo (not strict, but all the power to those who do) and have had to bring my own snacks at times.
If people were supportive and instead of "Oh you're on a diet? You don't need to lose weightI Have this cake that I made or else I'll be offended" people were like "Ah that's really cool. I did notice you looked healthier. If I'd had known I'd have put out some veggies", you'd see a lot less of this 'orthorexic' behaviour.
.

Wow - an eating disorder where eating healthy food is bad.

Part of the problem is the belief that there is such a thing as a healthy food.

And then people continue this mindset by placing other foods in an "unhealthy" category. As if health is a scalar quantity, and eating one type of food increases this number and eating 'bad' foods decreases it. And then they seek to become 'healthy' by avoiding all of the foods they've categorized as 'unhealthy.' As if these foods actively destroy your body.

No food is healthy in a vacuum.

It's about context.

If you eat nothing but broccoli, you will die of malnutrition. Broccoli is no better than cake. The difference is that very few people actually WANT to eat nothing but broccoli. So it's easy to blame overeating of cake and correlate it with being unhealthy, and mistakenly conclude that cake actively destroys your health.

But someone who includes reasonable amounts of both broccoli and cake in their regular intake will be just as healthy as they would if they had only included one or the other.

I never understood this mindset - there is nothing healthy about cake. Why are people against labeling foods as unhealthy?

Someone who eats a whole-foods based diet with no cake will be healthier than someone who eats a whole-foods based diet and regularly has cake as well.

It's not a knock on someone who eats cake. For many people the satisfaction they get out of eating cake is worth the little bit of unhealthiness involved. For others, it's not.

For me, l don't try to fool myself into thinking it's healthy because it's just a little bit. (I'll still eat some anyways but I make sure it's good cake or an important occasion so that it's worth it to me)

Why would any one be embarrassed to refuse or be around anyone who refused cake? I would be more impressed at their will power. This is why peer pressure gets people to do stupid things. If refusing cake embarrasses someone I hate to see what else they might do just to avoid being embarrassed. LOL

Its stupid and just another money maker for them to say people that are very conscience about what they put in their mouth and body is an eating disorder.

Most Dr's want their patients to be mindful of what goes in their mouth and is digested through their bodies.

My husband and I eat out within the guidelines of our eating plan, we cook most of our meals, buy the highest quality foods that we can afford and search out healthy ways of living.

If that is a disorder, I am happy to have it.

I'm with you on this one! I have the right to refuse birthday cake - and it shouldn't embarrass my kid because we've taught him that forced social eating is not a good habit. If you don't want it, politely say "no thank you" and move along.

Perhaps it depends on their reason for refusing cake. If someone refused cake because they already had enough for lunch, that is not the same as someone refusing cake because they think the added sugars and fats and imaginary toxins are going to shorten their lifespan.

What if I don't want to eat cake because it's garbage and I'd rather not eat it. Cake's not healthy and I'd most often rather eat nothing than eat cake - even if I was hungry. Does this mean I have a disorder?

Just because someone offers me something to eat, it doesn't mean I have the social responsibility to eat it. It's this mindset that drives me nuts. Why is there such a stigma attached to refusing junk food? Why do people get so judgy if I turn down a muffin or take a club soda instead of a beer? Or take a burger with no bun and substitute my fries for a salad at the restaurant? Why do people care what I eat?

I don't have orthorexia. I eat junk food occasionally but I eat it when I want to eat it. It's not worth it to me to eat some crappy chocolate cake my colleague bought at the Loblaws this morning. If my mother-in-law makes her triple chocolate brownies or pumpkin ice cream cake, I'll generally have a piece.

So you are saying that it doesn't apply to you, but you are going to be defensive anyway?

I wanna party with you, cowboy.

I'm saying that people should be allowed to eat how they want without being accused of having a disorder.

Is there such thing as orthorexia? Probably. But to me it would have to be *extreme* and they would have to be physically or mentally damaging themselves to get to that point.

This thread, however, is full of people saying that someone who doesn't take cheat days or occasionally allow themselves a piece of cake or bread are cases of orthorexia.

As an example in the message below:
"These people will opt out of spending time with people they love in favor of maintaining that obsessive control. Some take it down a notch and attend the events, but bring their own food...personally, unless the person suffers from a medical disorder and cannot eat the food I prepared, I would be a bit offended."

What about vegetarians? Are vegetarians orthorexic because they refuse to eat meat? Would you get offended if a vegetarian brought a veggie burger to the barbecue? Why is it so different if someone doesn't want to eat cake or pasta salad?

You'd see a lot less of people avoiding social eating situations if others weren't so judgy about how you ate. I personally eat Paleo (not strict, but all the power to those who do) and have had to bring my own snacks at times.
If people were supportive and instead of "Oh you're on a diet? You don't need to lose weightI Have this cake that I made or else I'll be offended" people were like "Ah that's really cool. I did notice you looked healthier. If I'd had known I'd have put out some veggies", you'd see a lot less of this 'orthorexic' behaviour.
.

Wow - an eating disorder where eating healthy food is bad.

Part of the problem is the belief that there is such a thing as a healthy food.

And then people continue this mindset by placing other foods in an "unhealthy" category. As if health is a scalar quantity, and eating one type of food increases this number and eating 'bad' foods decreases it. And then they seek to become 'healthy' by avoiding all of the foods they've categorized as 'unhealthy.' As if these foods actively destroy your body.

No food is healthy in a vacuum.

It's about context.

If you eat nothing but broccoli, you will die of malnutrition. Broccoli is no better than cake. The difference is that very few people actually WANT to eat nothing but broccoli. So it's easy to blame overeating of cake and correlate it with being unhealthy, and mistakenly conclude that cake actively destroys your health.

But someone who includes reasonable amounts of both broccoli and cake in their regular intake will be just as healthy as they would if they had only included one or the other.

re-reading this and your who point is out of context.

The diets spoken about in the article all have a balance of macro nutrients. Not sure where you have suddenly come up with this concept of only eating broccoli? Is that the only food you consider 'healthy'.

To be fair I think if you only ate cake (carrot cake in this example - keeping it healthy) and broccoli you would probably die sooner than eating a balanced diet.

Surely the issue here isn't what people eat, but their cognitive disposition. Some people are just a bit obsessive about everything they do.

To be honest the food thing is just a vehicle for their obsession.

Surely the issue here isn't what people eat, but their cognitive disposition.

I would guess that -- in a vacuum: a carrot- which is food is probably healthier than a twinkie - which is food.

Wow - an eating disorder where eating healthy food is bad.

Part of the problem is the belief that there is such a thing as a healthy food.

And then people continue this mindset by placing other foods in an "unhealthy" category. As if health is a scalar quantity, and eating one type of food increases this number and eating 'bad' foods decreases it. And then they seek to become 'healthy' by avoiding all of the foods they've categorized as 'unhealthy.' As if these foods actively destroy your body.

No food is healthy in a vacuum.

It's about context.

If you eat nothing but broccoli, you will die of malnutrition. Broccoli is no better than cake. The difference is that very few people actually WANT to eat nothing but broccoli. So it's easy to blame overeating of cake and correlate it with being unhealthy, and mistakenly conclude that cake actively destroys your health.

But someone who includes reasonable amounts of both broccoli and cake in their regular intake will be just as healthy as they would if they had only included one or the other.

I never understood this mindset - there is nothing healthy about cake. Why are people against labeling foods as unhealthy?

Someone who eats a whole-foods based diet with no cake will be healthier than someone who eats a whole-foods based diet and regularly has cake as well.

Nope. There's zero evidence to support this.

It's not a knock on someone who eats cake. For many people the satisfaction they get out of eating cake is worth the little bit of unhealthiness involved. For others, it's not.

Except that you just said that people who eat cake are not as healthy as people who don't. That IS a knock. "I'm healthier than you are because I don't eat cake and you do"... yep. Knock knock... who's there? YOU.

For me, l don't try to fool myself into thinking it's healthy because it's just a little bit. (I'll still eat some anyways but I make sure it's good cake or an important occasion so that it's worth it to me)

Except that for people who do "IIFYM", cake can easily fill a macro void that they should fill.

Just stop with all YOUR judging.

I'm not judging - people can eat whatever they want. If you want to have a piece of cake and it fits into your lifestyle - that's 100% cool with me. I sometimes enjoy having a piece of cake.

I feel that this is the problem. People assume that because I'm not having cake because I prefer not to it for my health, I'm automatically judging them for eating it and saying they're unhealthy.

I'm not saying that people who eat cake are healthier than people who don't or that you can't be healthy and eat cake.
Just like you can be rich and spend a few hundred dollars on a purse (you'd be richer with a less expensive purse but if it's worth it to you, buy it).

I'm just saying it's a personal choice and people shouldn't be made to feel bad for refusing to eat certain things for their health.

I would say anytime you have to embarass your kid to refuse a piece of birthday cake that you are medicaly cleared to consume or have a food scale with you at a restaurant...you might have orthorexia nervosa.

If you've ever trimmed the fat on a boneless chicken breast...you might have orthorexia nervosa.

If you'll eat a cake from whole foods but won't eat a salad at mcdonalds...you might have orthorexia nervosa.