Orthorexia-The Health Food Eating Disorder

Do you:

1. Keep getting stricter with yourself about food?
2. Feel an increased sense of self-esteem when you eat healthy food, and superiority to those who don’t?
3. Feel guilt or self-loathing when you stray from your diet?

Or do you know people who spend most of their days evangelizing on behalf of their current health-food theories? Steven Bratman M.D. has given a name to this obsession with healthy food: “orthorexia nervosa.” Ortho means right or righteous; orthorexia nervosa means, a “fixation on righteous eating.” The difference between orthorexia and anorexia is the anorexic focuses on the quantity of food, whereas the orthorexic fixates on its quality.

Herein begins one of the many slippery slopes of eating. We all agree it is important to eat healthy but what happens when pursuing healthy food can itself become unhealthy? Bratman published his book in 2000. The book fell under the radar and not many people heard about it. I, however, picked it up and to this day still reference it.

In college and my early 20’s I would struggle with binge eating. Food was a constant focus and obsession in my sorority. Then I jumped on nutritional bandwagons when I began to study nutrition. I’ve lived through periods of having a righteous attitude about food. I’ve watched people over the years place pseudo-spiritual connotations on their “superior” diet. Bratman says; “a day filled with sprouts, umeboshi plums and amaranth biscuits may come to feel as holy as one spent serving the poor and homeless.” Though the details differ, the emphasis is the same: if you wish to be an enlightened person, you will strictly control what you eat.

The obsession often begins innocently enough, as a desire to overcome a chronic illness or improve general health. For most people there is nothing wrong with cleaning up their diets and eating healthier; this is beneficial and positive! The problem begins when thoughts about food occupy a greater and greater portion of the day.

“When food overrides other sources of meaning in our lives; the day is spent planning, purchasing and eating meals. Your life becomes dominated by efforts to resist temptation, self-condemnation for lapses, self-praise for success at complying with the self-regime and feelings of superiority over others less pure in dietary habits. When healthy eating becomes this extreme, it is arguably worse than the health problems it is supposed to prevent or cure.” -Steven Bratman M.D.-

Bratman himself was once an Orthorexic. In his book, Health Food Junkies: Orthorexia Nervosa – the Health Food Eating Disorder he explores the hidden causes, the dangers, and how to find a healthy balance regarding food. He discusses the pitfalls and negative side of Food Allergy and Raw Food diets, Macrobiotics, Vegetarianism, the Zone, Candida, Eating for Your Blood Type, and living on pills and junk food.

By all means eat a healthy diet. There is nothing wrong with educating yourself and discovering what diet philosophies work best for you; but don’t give it more of a place in your life than it deserves. Food is one form of nourishment; surrounding yourself with supportive healthy people, having a purpose and passion and relaxing with hobbies and downtime nourish and “feed” you as well. Keep the perspective and the balance in all areas of your life!