Orthorexia Nervosa: the new eating disorder

I know someone who I believe fits the criteria for orthorexia. Their food choices consisted only of fruits and veggies. No meat, no dairy, no grains - nothing. Just fruits and veggies.

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.

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.

I just wanted to get your opinion on this. Since all this 'fitspo' stuff started on instagram I couldn't help but think it was actually unhealthy. Some of the pictures/comments are promoting eating NOTHING but whole/healthy foods and exercising excessively.
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I was thinking to myself this is an eating disorder... yeah it isn't anorexia or bulimia but it's an obsession that rules peoples lives, i was reading one blog where the writer was SO fitness obsessed she would turn down drinks with her friends/meals, even though she had her 'perfect body'.
....

I completely agree that this is a from of eating disorder....but when it BECOMES your life even after you've reached your goal weight and you can't enjoy the little things in life then what's the point?

Would love to know your opinions

There are so many other things that people can become obsessed and antisocial about that are truly unhealthy for them and those around them.

IMO - I am not bothered by people striving to be fit and healthy for as long as they can be. A healthy and physically capable epidemic is preferable to an obesity one. It could be worse.

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.

It amazes me that this country has collectively gotten so fat, in mind and body, that an "eating disorder" is now thrown on people who refuse to eat chocolate everyday at lunch, go out for alcohol, or not eat take out.

None of the above are necessary for anybody's lives. Billions of people on planet earth don't share the dietary habits that are the norm in the US. Lots of various religious and cultural sets have strict dietary guidelines.

The pressure in the country to eat every single thing available is insane and disgusting.

Ice cream is my favorite food, I can eat it until I burst. But if somebody comes along and tells me they have restricted it out of their diet, I respect that. Ice cream is not an entitlement, a necessity, or a right of passage.

If someone is a vegan, an extremely restrictive lifestyle, that's perfectly OK as long as they are healthy and happy.

If someone chooses to cut any and all desserts out of their life, good for them if they are, again, healthy and happy. Whole societies exist that almost never eat desserts.

Time and again threads like this just remind me that a ton of MFPers, regardless of what shape they're in, are food addicts who can't fathom that other people are willing, and able, to stay away from their goodie trove.

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?

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.