Unhealthy Eating Disorder

Source Link: Unhealthy Eating Disorder

Orthorexia is “an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food.” This is how Dr. Steven Bratman defined it in 1997 and although it is not a medical diagnosis, it can become a life-threatening disorder. Unfortunately, Orthorexia is hard to identify in its early stages because it simply looks like an admirable desire to eat “healthy.”

An Unhealthy Eating Disorder

It often starts as a simple and positive desire to eat in a more wholesome, nutritious way. The brain chemistry imbalance that causes Orthorexia turns this into a destructive addiction that results in malnutrition and physical and mental harm.

Orthorexia shares some features of both anorexia nervosa and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, it differs from anorexia nervosa because the sufferer experiences an excessive and compulsive “need” to be “pure,” “clean,” or “natural” as opposed to “thin.” This leads to refusal to eat any foods that do not meet with the individual’s impossible standards. Of course the quest for “perfect” eating is not only unrealistic but unattainable since it not based in reality and the person’s sense of failure reinforces the desire to avoid even more foods.

Signs of Orthorexia

Even though a person with orthorexia may not want to lose weight, the disease nevertheless can cause emaciation or starvation due to food rules, restrictions and avoidance. This malnutrition makes it harder for the individual to recognize the disorder and increases anxiety, which then perpetuates the harmful restrictive eating behavior. Some symptoms of Orthorexia are:

• Preoccupation with nutrition and diet far beyond that which is necessary for health.
• Over-reliance on eating in a certain way in order to feel “safe” or “good”.
• Fear of eating, accidentally eating, or even being around “unhealthy” foods.
• Experiencing anger or panic while watching others eat “unhealthy” foods.
• Judging others harshly due to their eating and/or only associating with others who share the same restrictive food rules.
• Emotional distress or self-harm after eating a food considered “unhealthy”.