Orthorexia nervosa

I did a research paper on this last semester. People who suffer have extremely limited diets, and can compensate poor food options by over-exercising or refusing to eat. They believe that one particular food group or food is "the only way", and will cut out whole other parts of food groups, regardless of what it offers.

A lot of people on MFP are candidates for Orthorexia diagnosis. No judgment on anyone--I'm one of them, too. The difference, though, is when it starts to seriously affect your health...as in, you won't eat anything at all because you don't deem anything "acceptable". It's as serious as any eating disorder.

As long as my obsession centers around finding food combinations that will fuel a more intense and regular workout routine, cut down on my health problems like seasonal allergies, and kill my cravings for junkfood, I am happily obsessed. Before when I lost weight all I cared about was the number on the scale. It's sometimes still hard not to go back to that mode, but trying to find a sustainable way of eating for life really helps.

My boss has this. It is actually very disturbing in real life. She literally ate GINGER as her lunch the other day. Ah.

I just make it a point so mess up just a little each and every day, then I don't have a need for a full on cheat day...

It's not as easy as saying "it's about getting healthy and losing weight, not losing your mind".
I've suffered from mental illness for a long time depression, anxiety and eating disorders. Orthorexia is an eating disorder and comes easily to people already susceptible to mental illness, like any eating disorder does.

I think a small percentage of people on here do suffer with orthorexia but I don't think likening people who want to change their lifestyle to people who suffer with eating disorders is very encouraging. There is a huge difference in the mentality of both.

Like I said, it will be a tiny percentage of people who will suffer from this.

I didn't interpret what he said as likening all people who want to be healthier to people who suffer from this eating disorder. I understood it be a "warning" of sorts. I had not heard of this disorder before, so I think it's very realistic to believe that some people who beging turing toward healthier choices could become so obsessed with it as to have this disorder, but if people don't know it exists, they would never know they or someone they know might suffer from it and have taken their new healthier habits to an unhealthy level.

I think he's just saying (well, he did say) it's ok to slip up, it's ok to not be perfect, and it's ok to let it roll off your back and move on if you indulge once in a while.

I totally agree...this site has made me a little obsessive about what I eat and I've been doing this for years. I have a couple of cheat meals per week, guilt free, although my body hates me afterwards lol. People take it too far and we are always bombarded by images and media on this study and that study...I'm surprised ppl aren't even more obsessed than they already are!

http://www.beyondveg.com/ is a website I found a month ago that addresses this type of thing. I'm not saying it's gosple butit helped me keep prespective.

My hubby and grandson have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). I could see someone with this disorder also having Orthonexia Nervosa. It's an error in the way their minds process things. For these individuals, they do need to be very careful that when striving to become healthy, that they aren't transferring their obsessions from somewhere else in their lives.

Having said that, I do believe that there are many mentally stable people who do over react when it comes to their food. They hear so much sensationalism, that they go into a frantic and begin believe only the bad stuff without really taking the time to research both sides of the issue.

Case in point is Aspartame. So many people hear that it converts to formaldahyde in your body that they freak out. However, they don't take the time to find out that this also happens when eating any natural food that contains high levels of methanol, like tomatoes. They also don't take the time to find out that the person who started all the sensationalism is not a medical doctor, but a woman who has an Honorary Doctorate's Degree in Humanities. They only hear the title of Doctor and assume she knows what she is talking about.

I'm also not a big fan of Dr. Oz's show. While he is a medial doctor and is very careful about trying to convey that what he broadcasts is only part of the story, his fans hang on every word said in the show and over react. I appreciate what his is trying to do by helping people get healthy by staying informed, but soemtimes it's too much.

it isn't a diagnosis in the DSM (what psychologists use to diagnose), but that does not matter because it is a real diagnosable concern, as it would fall under the broader Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), as it would meet criteria for both obsessions and compulsions. It is less important what those specific obsessions or compulsions are as long as they serve the purpose of reducing anxiety. I am a licensed clinical psychologists. It is less important to debate whether it is diagnosable, and the bigger message that anything to an extreme, even if it starts as an attempt to be healthy, is problematic.

Disordered eating patterns come in all shapes and sizes.

Back in 2002/03 I lost about 60 lbs using weight watchers. I met others who were doing the same thing. Some of us were successful... I got to my goal weight along with another gal who eventually went into fitness modelling. She also became severely bulimic. I became obsessed with over-exercising and would think to myself, "Okay so I just ate a muffin and a latte, that's about 600 calories, as long as I burn an extra 600 calories today, that didn't count."

I eventually had to stop tracking to lose the obsession of the numbers.

I'm trying very hard not to fall into that again.

So it's not just anorexia and bulimia... there are so many weird food/exercise compulsions. And many of us on here are probably prone due to the nature of the site. We're drawn to tracking everything and being diligent with diet and exercise... it is a slippery slope in my opinion.