Too much of a good thing? :: Orthorexia
Just in case you thought your meat-free, gluten-free, exercise-twice-a-day lifestyle put you in the clear for all maladies and diagnoses, I’m hear to bear some bad news. You can, in fact, be TOO healthy.
Okay, so maybe this isn’t really news to most of you. Most of us are balanced enough to know that there can be too much of a good thing. But did you know that there’s a (somewhat hotly) contested term out there to describe individuals who take health a bit too far.
The term “Orthorexia nervosa” was coined by Steven Bratman, MD, a California doctor and author of the book, Health Food Junkies. If it sounds like anorexia nervosa, both in terminology and in meaning, that’s because the parallels are striking. The newer term is derived from the Greek “ortho,” which means “right,” or “correct,” and refers to individuals who develop an unhealthy obsession with foods that they consider healthy or pure in some way.
Bratman admits that he actually developed the term orthorexia as a joke, a way to “tease” his diet-obsessed patients and help them see that their obsessions were just as dangerous as those of patients with diagnosable eating disorders. However, he says that over time the term took on a darker, more serious significance, and he began to see patients whose health-obsession was putting them at risk of death.
So what makes a person “orthorexic”?
This is where the debate arises, because there are no evidenced-based criteria for this disorder. Advocates of the diagnosis suggest that a person may have orthorexia if he or she spend inordinate amounts of time in food-based thought and become so restrictive in what he or she will eat so as to be at risk for health problems.
Some individuals who have been diagnosed (unofficially – “orthorexia” is not included in the diagnostic manual used by health professionals) report thinking about what foods are “safe and pure” for hours each day. They plan meals much in advance, pour over nutrition labels and ingredient lists, and spend much of their time researching origins of their food. It’s also common to see these individuals become increasingly restrictive in their food choices, going going from eating only lean meat to becoming vegetarian, then vegan, then eating only raw foods.
“Many of the most unbalanced people I have ever met are those have devoted themselves to healthy eating,” says Bratman, on his website.
Well, that’s a bit of an extreme statement. I cannot say that this has been particularly true in my own observation. However, Bratman’s bold statement should not overshadow the point that eating healthy does not mean you ARE healthy.
If you’ve spent more than two minutes on this site or happened to have read my guest post on Healthy Living Blogs, you are well aware that I firmly believe that health encompasses not only the physical, but the mental, emotional, and spiritual as well. These various aspects of our lives must be in balance in order to achieve true wellness. Thus, when our supposed “healthy eating” becomes obsessive – to the point where the thought of eating something outside our strict regimen causes intense anxiety or our food habits prevent us from being able to connect with others and ourselves – well, there might be a problem.
This is not to say that anyone who chooses to follow a vegetarian lifestyle, for example, has orthorexia. Same for those for whom a special prescribed diet (due to health complications) that requires a bit more time and forethought. In fact, in an interview on Jezebel.com, Bratman warned against misinterpreting the term and applying to it people that are “overly-obsessed with diet” and should “lighten up a little.”
Orthorexia refers instead to a small class of people who take their eating habits to the extreme at the risk of hurting themselves, and it may in fact be more related to an obsessive compulsive disorder than an eating disorder, though these issues are often related as well. If you’re concerned that you may have a problem, you can check out Bratman’s ten-question quiz from his book. However, please don’t (and never!) substitute the results of an online quiz for consultation with a medical professional.
What do you think of the idea of orthorexia? Do you believe there’s such thing as eating too healthy?
Jayna @ Healthy Living Bites
605 days ago
Ohhhh, another GREAT post! It brings up so many good points. I don’t know that know that there is such a thing as EATING too healthy, as long as you are balancing fruits and veggies with grains, proteins, and a few healthy fats, but I can totally see where the mindset behind it might be dangerously unhealthy. All the more dangerous because it is easy to tell yourself that you are being healthy with your lifestyle. However if you think about food THAT obsessively then it is likely you are neglecting other areas of your life- most predominantly whatever it is that you are trying to AVOID thinking about with all the thoughts of food.
Reading the stories and comments on Dr. Bratman’s site has been interesting to say the least!
Jayna @ Healthy Living Bites recently posted..A Health-versary FEAST!
Ashley @ Nourishing the Soul
605 days ago
Really good point, Jayna. It’s all about the mindset… and how that mindset impacts our behavior and health.
Justin
605 days ago
I think the main take away from this “disorder” is that obsession on any single thought of item, no matter how “good” it is for you, is not healthy. If you become so obsessed with only eating foods that meet your very strict requirements for being healthy, to the point that you are fixated on it, then that is clearly an unhealthy way to live. You’ve talked a lot on this blog about intuitive eating, and I think orthorexia is the exact opposite of being intuitive. While I wholly agree that people should know what they are putting into their bodies and focus on eating a healthy and balanced diet, I also know for a fact that not knowing where your chicken came from for a few meals will not hurt you! Very good and thought provoking post, as usual!
Kate
605 days ago
This is an excellent piece – so important to bring attention to this growing issue. I believe it’s VERY real because I’m in the process of working my way out of it right now. I’d dealt with anorexia as a teenager and while there were similiarities, this was also quite different. I became obsessed with eating HEALTHY – all the time, no exceptions – and over-exercising. There can absolutely be too much of a good thing, and I’m working my way back to a healthy balance. It’s really bizarre, honestly, but harder than I expected.
Ashley @ Nourishing the Soul
605 days ago
Thanks for sharing your experience. The issues are similar but different, as you mention. I’m glad you’re addressing them.
Emergefit
605 days ago
I think the argument for anything being too excessive, outside the realm of alcohol and narcotics, has only as much to do with what is sacrificed in the pursuit, as well as how life is nurtured beyond that pursuit.
That is, what gets lost or forsaken in the pursuit? Who gets hurt in the pursuit? How has individual’s life changed, and how have they changed the lives of others (for better or for worse) in the pursuit.
These are the unintended consequences of excess everything, be it exercise, healthy eating, religion, et all. These are very hard question to ask and answer of one’s self. Harder still would be applying the knowledge gained from the process of asking them.
No easy answers. Food for though… so to say.
Ashley @ Nourishing the Soul
605 days ago
Those are some great points. I agree that it’s so important to consider what’s being lost or diminished due to the behavior. That’s really how we know something is a “problem.”
Katie @ Health for the Whole Self
605 days ago
I agree that anything can be unhealthy when taken to an extreme, even “being healthy,” as ironic as it sounds. I think you’re right that it’s probably linked to obsessive-compulsive tendencies. What do you think the chances are of something like this eventually being included in the official psychological diagnosis book? I know for a long time BED wasn’t in there…it just recently got in, right?
Katie @ Health for the Whole Self recently posted..Loving Little Katie
Ashley @ Nourishing the Soul
605 days ago
I don’t think “orthorexia” will be included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual any time soon. They are working on the new edition now and there’s not nearly enough evidence to support its inclusion at this point. It often takes a really long time and a lot of research studies to include a new diagnosis. Providers who see this type of behavior will likely diagnosis it as anorexia or an “eating disorder not otherwise specified.” Right now the later is what BED falls under, though it’s proposed to be its own diagnosis in DSM-V, which should come out in 2013 (and has been in development for YEARS!). Hope that wasn’t too much info!
Rita @ The Giggly Bits
605 days ago
You’re not the only one with a DSM-IV text revision on the book shelf then?
The idea definitely speaks to excess. I also think people like to label things. But I have to echo Roy a bit, some often it’s the balance that’s important.
Rita @ The Giggly Bits recently posted..Your Stretchy Pants Are Lying to You
Margarita Tartakovsky
605 days ago
Great post, Ashley! I am curious to know how much research there is to support orthorexia. Intuitively it makes sense, especially because our society encourages this sort of thinking. We’re so obsessed about “healthy eating,” cutting out certain foods, bad food and good food.
I also wonder if it is OCD and just manifests at the dinner table, so to speak, like it does with germs and cleanliness. This might just be another type of OCD that we’re noticing or that’s manifesting in part because of our obesity- and diet-obsessed culture.
It’s really a fascinating topic!
Margarita Tartakovsky recently posted..Body Image Booster- Finding People of Substance
Mary (A Merry Life)
605 days ago
Great post! I definitely think this is real. Anything you do to extremes can be bad for you, even being healthy. I’ve definitely thought this about a few bloggers I read, actually. But it’s not my place to decide that they are healthy/unhealthy. I hope people know that extremes of any kind are bad!
Katie
604 days ago
I think healthy eating is defined by eating things that make you both physically AND mentally healthy. If you eat all of these healthy foods (even if you balance all fats, prots, carbs etc like a nutritionist), your body will be healthy, but if your mind is not (ie. you feel deprived or stressed out or obsessive about it, or can’t function at a party where your foods aren’t available), then you are not experiencing true healthy eating.
Megan
589 days ago
Oh my! “Orthorexia” describes me to a T… I certainly have a list of foods that I usually avoid because they are nutritionally deficient (refined grains, sugar, hydrogenated fats, junk food, fast food, deep-fried food, etc.). Fortunately, however, I’ve become vigilant in recognizing when my preference for a healthy diet crosses over into obsession. I know that obsession has taken over when I stand in my kitchen – or in the supermarket aisle, or a restaurant – and fret over the exact types or brands of foods that I “need” to eat or buy. When I get to the point where I’m experiencing anxiety or a depressive mood due to the restrictiveness of my diet, I know it’s time to take some deep breaths and remember to trust my body.
I think that one of the core beliefs behind orthorexic behaviour (at least, it is for me) is that we can’t trust our bodies to effectively and advantageously utilize the food we eat unless we eat only those thing we believe are nutritionally superior, and nothing else. We also suffer from irrational, black-or-white thinking. We fear that, should be eat a sandwich made with white bread, for example, that the nutritional deficiency of the white bread cancels out all the other available nutrients in that sandwich; we belief that our bodies will immediately suffer some ill effect from that sandwich due the white bread, while we negate the possibility of any benefit from the rest of the ingredients. Orthorexics lose sight of the truth, which is that the body is a genius, and if we live by the 80-20 rule (80% healthy lifestyle, 20% pure hedonism) we can trust our bodies to effectively handle a moderate amount of “less nutritionally superior” foods. In fact, these “nutritionally inferior” foods are often what most people refer to as “comfort” or “soul” foods, and with good reason: these foods feed the soul. And, in a truly healthy lifestyle, feeding the soul goes hand-in-hand with feeding the body.