Everyone eats. And with that, everyone has their own relationship with food. Which is why everyone seems to be an expert in nutrition. Your Auntie Em announces that she’s going vegan at family dinner on Sunday, (your Italian grandmother is pissed) while your classmate from college is bragging how she’s now an ambassador of a new supplement that you NEED in your life. Everyone’s talking and everyone is OBSESSING over the food they are consuming. Not only that, they’re telling you to do it… adding you to the equation.
When diets and eating behaviors become obsessive, they can backlash and become dangerous.
Today’s Dietitian explains that orthorexia is the unhealthful obsession with eating nutritious food that can lead to diets so strict that they have health-related consequences. These consequences may include malnutrition and/or social isolation. Many times these individuals are cutting out major food groups, leading to unintended weight loss and overall nutrient deficiencies. Orthorexia can also lead to social isolation as it prevents you from doing the things you used to do with friends or family. Yeah, like the diet that says you can’t drink or eat any processed food so you’re stuck inside meal prepping “clean foods” on a Friday night while you’ve friends are out. Darn.
- Orthorexia vs Eating Disorders. According to the National Eating Disorder Association, orthorexia is not technically considered an eating disorder. With that being said, there is, however, many similar aspects between the two. Those who engage in those rules of “clean eating” and strict diets place themselves at risk of harming not only their physical body, but also the way they think and feel. Many engage in this disordered eating as a way to gain control. This sense of control is what commonly fuels the eating disorder, anorexia; meaning they can control what they put into their body, even if they can’t necessarily control their weight or appearance.
- More than just eating healthy. Not everyone who chooses to “eat healthy” is considered orthorexic. Orthorexia is heavily defined as the controlling obsession and, more importantly, how the individual reacts to the diet. So, just because you see your co-worker eating a salad while you’re eating a pull-pork sandwich doesn’t mean she’s orthorexic. It is really when individuals become inflexible; for example, an “all or nothing” way of thinking. If your co-worker is judging you as you eat your ice cream - claiming it has way too much saturated fat while she’s counting the amount of almonds to put in her salad, then we have a problem.
- #SocialMedia. Over the years, social media has developed into a double-edge sword. It’s not just about sharing your vacation view anymore, it's also used an educational tool. Consumers now use social media to find nutrition advice - what to eat, what NOT to eat, how to look, or how to exercise. Although these million follower bloggers want to help - they may actually be doing more harm. Social media invites the comparison, negative self talk, and overall pure judgement of food and body size.. More importantly, dietitians, dietetic interns and nutrition students are more at risk. Crazy? No way - we are taught from day one the importance of healthy eating and the risks of diet-related chronic disease, but we’re never formally taught that it’s okay to gain weight, it’s okay to eat dessert, and it’s okay to not exercise every day. (Hint - it is okay.)
Listen to your body. Not your judgmental conscience. Not your mom. Not your almond counting co-worker. Healthy has become a wacky term - but a small piece of advice to you is to stop judging all together - yeah i’m talkin' bout judging the way you look AND the way your plate looks. If you feel like a salad one day, order it. If the next day you want a burger, then get that too. If eating food starts to feel like a sudoku puzzle, or even worse, a punishment take a moment to ask yourself what YOU really want.