What is Orthorexia? Can healthy eating be bad for you?
Orthorexia is one of those different eating disorders - one that isn't listed in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness). It is an eating disorder where the person hyper-focuses on healthy eating. Who knew healthy eating could be bad?
Hyper-focusing on health
It's actually not the healthy eating that is the problem. It's the hyper-focus on it, to the point of obsession. The goal is to feel pure and extraordinarily healthy. The goal is not to become thin, although that is often the result. While an anorexic will also tend to focus on eating healthy when she does eat, that is not the primary goal. This is the hallmark that makes this eating disorder different from what is anorexia.
Good foods and bad foods
A person with this kind of disordered eating will typically avoid "bad" foods - foods with fat, meat and other animal products, and preservatives. Vegetarians and raw food eating types are at risk for becoming orthorexic.
Steven Bratman, MD, based in Colorado, coined the term. He used anorexia as his model - anorexia which means without appetite. Similarly, orthorexia means correct appetite.
Diagnostic Criteria
There are no diagnostic criteria for this condition. However, there are some questions you can ask yourself to determine if you may have this different eating disorders.
A Note From a Reader - This is What my Girlfriend Has!
I never knew this was really a disorder, but I've known for a long time that my friend has a problem. She's always been a healthy person, but in the last few years it's gotten out of control. She only buys organic food - something I don't mind. But she's obsessive about it.
She makes comments about what I eat. We're friends, so I think that's okay. But she also makes comments to other people like, "Do you know what's in that? Do you know what you're putting in your body?"
She works out obsessively and her muscles are really defined. It made me think of your description about bigorexia - muscle dysmorphia. She wears a pedometer to measure how many steps she takes in a day. If she's under 15,000 she freaks out.
A few years ago I noticed she was getting a "baby bump." Since she hadn't said anything, I was afraid to ask. I thought she and her husband were finished being that they already have 4 kids. I finally worked up the courage to say something. Turns out it was because she was eating too much broccoli! The gas made her stomach stick out like she was pregnant.
I wish I could talk to her about her problem. Maybe I'll send her here to look at your site. Thanks for letting me share.
