Dig This.

Submitted by Dana on Wed, 2010-06-30 09:32

Oh, fercryinoutloud. Look what showed up in one of threads I've been following on Facebook: Refusing to eat junk is now being defined as a mental illness. The article cites The Guardian, which is a British paper, so maybe this garbage hasn't made it across The Pond yet. But I'm betting our medical establishment seizes on it right quick.

Ah. According to this article, the idea started with Dr. Steven Bratman of Colorado. So it started here.

Oooo, scary! Look at me, I'm mentally ill!

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Healthy eating vs Orthorexia nervosa

Submitted by edterry on Sat, 2010-07-10 10:51.

Any behavior that is ultimately destructive can be considered a disorder. However, a commitment to eating low-carb is not a destructive behavior. Well, at least we know it isn't. Yesterday at the organic food store where I buy my coconut flakes, there was a woman in front of me at the checkout register who looked very unhealthy. Her purchases consisted of almost pure carbohydrates. What protein she did have was soy-based.

The shame is that when the medical establishment, nutrition experts, and government give dietary advice, a significant portion of the population suffers. I could classify those who eat strictly according to the USDA Food Pyramid as having orthorexia nervosa if they are suffering ill effects. It's all a matter of perspective and cognitive dissonance.

Overreaction!

Submitted by cheryl3660 on Tue, 2010-07-06 13:53.

The article you link to contains, in my opinion, an overreaction and inaccurate simplification of what is stated in the original article. It does not accurately reflect the disorder the original article is describing. I'm surprised that you posted this as I have always found your research to be much more in depth. It's one of the reasons I enjoy reading your work!

Here is a link to the original article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/aug/16/orthorexia-mental-health-eating-disorder

The original article is clearly referring to those people who take eating healthy to such an extreme that they are actually malnourished. This is not healthy eating and rightly deserves to be called a mental disorder and people who eat this way do need to get proper counseling and treatment so that they can eat in a healthy manner.

It is not the refusal to eat junk food that is making these people malnourished, it is the refusal to eat many healthy foods as well.

Please be more careful about reposting inaccurate information. It's been my experience that most people refuse to do their own research. Some of your readers will not follow the links in order to make an informed decision on whether this information is accurate. This could lead someone to inaccurately advise a loved one to ignore their "quack" doctor's diagnosis and instruction to get help, which could, in turn, jeopardize people's lives.

orthorexia

Submitted by lunch for two on Wed, 2010-06-30 10:57.

I read about this "diagnosis" a couple years ago. It makes me so mad I can't see straight. It makes me so mad I can't even articulate why it makes me mad. Just a sputtering disbelief and black madness.

To be honest...

Submitted by n3rt on Wed, 2010-06-30 13:11.

...I agree with them.

*Any* obsession or fixation on food is an unhealthy state to be in. Indeed, if your're taking "healthy" eating so seriously that you're neglecting to meet your own body's dietary requirements in order to remain fully nourished, it's not just unhealthy, it's downright dangerous. Carbs bad? Check. Fat bad? Check. Dairy? Nononono.

Sorry, but whilst I agree with the fundamentals of the healthy eating [not SAD, obviously] brigade, spending one's life glued to blogs, posts and RSS on such matters can't be good. Indeed there's a post on MDA at the moment regarding compulsive eating - but only "primal" fare.

Obsession: A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.

orthorexia

Submitted by everett on Thu, 2010-07-01 08:05.

I was vegan for 2 years, and I got more and more obsessive about it, scanning ingredient lists to make sure there was nothing that came from any animal exploitation. Even honey, because it exploits the bees. Refined sugar, because it is filtered through charcoal made from cows' bones. Then I went raw vegan. Then I started worrying about which foods I ate had the highest carbon footprint.

When I started going to therapy for some problems I was having at work, I just suddenly gave it all up and went back to eating whatever I wanted.

Now it's a year later, and my doctor says I have fasting blood glucose of 119, and I'm headed towards diabetes. He told me to read Sugar Busters and that I should start eating a low carbohydrate diet. I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and reading a lot of blogs about low carb. There are a lot of different ideas about the "right" way to do low carb, and they don't all agree 100% on everything.

I think that if I hadn't made as much progress as I have in my therapy, I would now be making strict rules for myself, trying to conform to ALL of these ideas, and end up driving myself crazy again.

I don't think orthorexia nervosa is intended to apply to people who are just concerned about making sure their diet is healthy. It's about people who make up elaborate rules and restrictions for themselves, until it interferes with their lives. I think it's akin to scrupulosity, which is when a person has unhealthy religious obsessions to the point that they can't function. In both religion and diet, there is the factor of other people watching you and judging you, and someone is always ready to tell you that you are doing it wrong. Both have a tendency to make people feel guilty. I think that diet obsessions, just like religious obsessions, are about trying to avoid that guilt. They're about never being good enough.

A big part of my therapy is about giving up trying to please other people, and being happy with myself for who I am. I'm going to find a diet that works for me, with as few rules as possible, and if other people don't like it, that's their problem.