Rise of New Eating Disorder: Orthorexia

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Orthorexia is a fairly new eating disorder that has recently been getting more attention in the media. This disorder affects people who fear eating anything not pure enough for what they perceive as “healthful.” Someone with orthorexia is so consumed with eating a healthy diet that is completely “clean,” that their food choices become very limited. Trying to only eat foods they think are healthy or pure causes them stress and anxiety. Those with orthorexia may also make up lies about having allergies in order to fend off questions from others when people ask about why they are avoiding certain foods. At first many people with orthorexia start cutting out processed foods or they only eat organic, but then they keep increasing the types of foods they want to cut out and their diet becomes very limited. Even though it may good to cut out certain foods like processed foods, those with orthorexia take things too far, and their health may be compromised. Malnutrition and brittle bones are two issues that may arise if someone has this condition. Social isolation may also be another problem that those with orthorexia face. Our culture has become obsessed with talking about how to eat “clean” and what types of foods or food groups should be avoided. This causes some people to fear certain foods and develop orthorexia. Unlike anorexia and bulimia, those with orthorexia are not as concerned about losing weight or worrying about how much they weight. They are more concerned about the value and wholesomeness of the foods they are eating. Those with obsessive compulsive disorders or people who strive for perfection seem to be more likely to develop orthorexia. Orthorexia was first named in 1996, but it has not yet been accepted as a formal diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Some professionals classify it as an eating disorder, but others see it as a type of OCD. No statistics tells us how common it is, but health professionals say that it is becoming more and more common.

Link to article:
http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-orthorexia-20140215,0,2691398.story#ixzz2tcWlHi2M
-AW

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