Orthorexia: An Obsession with Healthy Food
Many people have learned the value of a healthy diet over the past two decades. However, some are crossing the line from good health to obsession when it comes to healthy food.
For these "healthy food addicts," the concern about food purity causes high levels of anxiety and leads them to avoid many foods that are necessary for a well-balanced diet.
Definition of Orthorexia
In 1997, a Colorado doctor named Steven Bratman wrote an article about an exaggerated focus on the consumption of healthy food among proponents of alternative medicine. An obsession with controlling diet was causing some people to avoid so many foods that they were becoming malnourished. He coined the term “orthorexia nervosa” to describe a condition that’s characterized by an unhealthy fixation on eating healthy food.
According to Dr. Bratman, “Orthorexia eventually reaches a point where the sufferer spends most of his time planning, purchasing and eating meals. The orthorexic’s inner life becomes dominated by efforts to resist temptation, self-condemnation for lapses, self-praise for success at complying with the self-chosen regime, and feelings of superiority over others less pure in their dietary habits. It is this transference of all life’s value into the act of eating which makes orthorexia a true disorder.”
Orthorexia begins with a desire to improve one’s health by avoiding foods that can be unhealthy. This may include fried food, red meat, deserts and all types of processed food. Soon a generalized anxiety about food choices may set in. When this anxiety becomes an obsession, the symptoms may be similar to other eating disorders including bulimia and anorexia nervosa. These disorders all center on an excessive attention to food. Each of these disorders can cause patients to restrict eating so much that their bodies suffer the effects of poor nutrition.
These are some of the warning signs of orthorexia:
• Spending more than 3 hours per day thinking about a healthy diet.
• Attaching feelings of self-worth and virtue to a healthy diet.
• Avoiding restaurants and other forms of public eating, including meals with family and friends.
• Experiencing feelings of self-loathing after consuming food that is perceived as unhealthy.
• Excessive weight loss and an emaciated appearance.
It should be noted that many of the foods that are avoided by orthorexics are not harmful when consumed in moderation. It is the perception that certain foods are unhealthy that often leads to a condition of orthorexia.
Full-blown cases of orthorexia benefit from the same type of treatment as other eating disorders. Therapy is usually required to bring patients to the realization that their obsession with food and need for control is unhealthy. With treatment, they will come to realize that a moderate, well-balanced diet is the key to good health and that obsessing about the purity of food detracts from the quality of life.
For information about eating disorder treatment, visit our sister facility's website: The Victorian of Newport Beach.
