Healthy eating is now being labled as a food disorder!

[dixiegrrrrl]

Boy, I don't know what to think about this.
Apparently,
"Respected publications like JAMA and Psychology Today are recognizing another new eating disorder,
"orthorexcia", an obsession with healthy eating".

"What is orthorexia? Identified in 1997 by Colorado physician Steven Bratman, MD, orthorexia is Latin for “correct eating.” Here, too, the focus isn’t on losing weight. Instead, sufferers increasingly restrict their diets to foods they consider pure, natural and healthful.
Some researchers say that orthorexia may combine a touch of obsessive compulsive disorder with anxiety and warn that severely limited “healthy” diets may be a stepping stone to anorexia nervosa, the most severe - and potentially life-threatening - eating disorder."

and get this:

" Orthorexics: Those affected may start by eliminating processed foods, anything with artificial colorings or flavorings as well as foods that have come into contact with pesticides. Beyond that, orthorexics may also shun caffeine, alcohol, sugar, salt, wheat and dairy foods. Some limit themselves to raw foods."

Oh, there may be a reason to name healthy eating as a disease:

"Neither adult picky eating disorder nor orthorexia is included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM), the American Psychiatric Association’s “bible” of mental disorders.
Once a disorder is listed, treatment is often covered by insurance and it’s easier for researchers to get grants to study it.

Here is the link:
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/new-eating-disorders-are-they-real

Your thoughts?

[cleanhippie]

1. Unrec for misleading OP title

Its not "eating healthy" that is the disorder, its the obsessive compulsion related to eating "healthy" that is the disorder.

[Cronus Protagonist]

5. Yeh

I know a few people on this kick, and they buy into just about every bullshit thing on the market in their quest to be "pure" and to "get rid of toxins". Limiting the foods they eat is really a form of extreme diet control in order to quell some internal demons. Orthorexia clearly belongs on the same page in the reference books as anorexia and bulemia.

[HillbillyBob]

19. Not really if you can be bothered to read the side of the package

It seems like almost every thing that is packaged beyond wash and present has HCFS bht and a whole alphabet of chemistry. I stopped eating most of that crap when i was diagnosed as pre diabetic. I have the occasional coke /junk food.

I was also developing food allergies that we could not pin down. In the end it seemed to be hfcs and pesticides on produce, even washed thoroughly.
I lost 80lbs, my overall Chol went from 353 to 150, bp is down to normal. I still had a heart attack from 30mumble years of the standard 'American' diet.
I rarely eat fast food, anymore it tastes strange.

It does take time to cook, but I make use of crock-pot or things I can set in the oven and forget for a couple of hours. I'm also a 30 yr hiv survivor, 4x cancer survivor, seizure disorder. Since eliminating most sugar, chemicals and such I have had many fewer seizures too.

We have learned to can-jar. Planning a solar powered dehydrator..I have an electric one, but it takes too long or it gets too hot to save the seedss for next years heirloom veggies.

We are trying to buy local, started gardening etc. Even pots of fresh veggie crops on the patio seem to be beneficial to attitude and enjoyment of growing something yourself. I have gotten to where I don't even go down the center aisles unless i need a particular thing like rice or rarely canned goods for emergency supplies..We are nearly off grid here..the powerline goes through the front yard, but when the power goes out it can be out for a day or 3.

We use mostly local honey (helps with allergies and thrush), raw brown sugar and white on occasion (the last 10lb lasted 1 1/2 yrs). Low salt, low fat. I use off the shelf kosher and sea salt, I can't afford that fancy stuff. I dod stick with Cane sugar since beet sugar is now from roundup ready genie beets.

[XemaSab]

27. My mom's friend has been strictly macrobiotic for years

She was diagnosed with breast cancer about 10 years ago and she's been slowly dying ever since simply because she's not feeding herself properly.

I don't eat critters, but I never met a woman more in need of bacon, eggs, and hash browns for breakfast every morning.

Carrot sticks and a cup of tea is not a proper breakfast. If you've been sick, you need protein and calories.


Edit: verb tense

[peoli]

8. the disorder is that there is no disorder at all

+1 to counter your -1

[cleanhippie]

14. Huh? The article shows that there actually IS a disorder, and "healthy eating" is not it.

Not really sure what your point is or why you would rec a misleading post. :shrug:

[leftstreet]

20. No, it says "a touch of obsessive compulsive disorder"

which they apparently believe could "lead to" anorexia

It's just an odd article all around. You never see these "studies" about the behavioral issues of people who crave junk food.

[blondeatlast]

11. Exactly. nt

[Bunny]

12. Exactly. It's the OCD that's the problem, not the specific diet.

If it can lead to disorders such as anorexia, then they may have a point. I don't remember offhand if anorexia is rooted in OCD, or if there is a different source for that condition.

[Buzz Clik]

17. +1

[librechik]

2. wait a minute--isn't the AMA asking us to limit salt and sugar? That's not extreme!

Yes citizens, continue to consume to vast amounts of poison your corporate masters offer in your feed bins. Do not trpouble yourselves with ideas of escape. You can not.

[Cronus Protagonist]

9. Orthorexics eat NO salt or sugar

Unless it's expensive "Himalayan Sea Salt" from oceans that dried up millennia ago or raw, unprocessed agave juice (almost 100% fructose, oddly enough).

[librechik]

16. OMG THAT"S INSANE

no...

[G_j]

18. what is the name for those who are obsessed with what others choose to eat? nt

[leftstreet]

21. +1 Thread WIN

:-)

[Ignis]

25. DUers

;)

[blondeatlast]

34. It was right on the tip of my tongue--thanks! nt

[Cronus Protagonist]

28. Glib

And amusing. Good zinger! Of course, no one is obsessed about what others eat more than the Orthorexics.

[stuntcat]

30. lol

win, agreed.

[Warren DeMontague]

32. THEY MUST BE STOPPED!!!! nt

[monmouth]

3. The good ship "Crazy" has docked and many have landed....n/t

[a la izquierda]

4. Oh FFS.

That is all.

[Marrah_G]

6. Actually even good things can become symptoms of a disorder

if you are obsessive and it starts to effect your life and relationships negatively.

[Duer 157099]

7. Some people are OCD about hand washing

Should we conclude that hand washing is the problem? No, it's the OCD.

[Modern_Matthew]

10. The AMA is a joke. You can't set standards of normal human behavior then...

classify every outlier as a disorder. I don't give credence to things like that.

[blondeatlast]

13. then you haven't read thoroughly enough to understand

what they are labeling here.

[Xithras]

15. Anything can be taken too far

I can see how someone suffering from OCD like symptoms relating to "food purity" could be a problem. I once dated a girl who had OCD about her food being "clean". It had to be prepared on sterile surfaces, she ate using gloves, the whole nine yards. If a single fingertip touched her food, it went straight into the trash. Yeah, it was weird, but mental disorders usually are.

Someone could have easily mischaracterized her diagnosis by claiming "Not eating dirty food now being labeled as a food disorder!" There's a difference between normal food preference, and uncontrollable obsessive compulsive behaviors.

[kickysnana]

22. The key word is obsession here.

I know two people who almost died claiming to be eating healthy and I saw a marriage break up not because the wife wanted to eat healthy because she kept changing what healthy was based on the latest fad without any research behind it and insisting everyone agree with her.

[FLAprogressive]

26. +1.......the hyperbole squad is out in full force on this one.

[damntexdem]

23. I know what they mean: food fascists.

A plague for many years now.

[housewolf]

24. This is interesting to me, I have a sister who likes almost no food items

There's almost nothing that she likes - especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. She eats like a little kid. Almost everything she eats is highly processed. She seems to exist mainly on chocolate (daily candy eater), bread (her favorite is soft squishy wonder-bread style), white meat of chicken or turkey, hamburgers (plain and dry - absolutely NOTHING on it), an occasional potato in some form or another, macaroni & cheese and pizza, spaghetti & meatballs, lasagna. That's about it. Triscuits. Cookies. Cakes and cheesecake. She only drinks water since she recently gave up Pepsi about 6 months ago, occasionally a glass of lemonade. Virtually nothing else passes her lips. No spices beyond salt and mild Italian spices). Everything plain, simple, non-spiced. Virtually no ethnic foods.

She's finally reached the point where she can find "something" on almost every menu at restaurants serving American food so she can take part in social "going out to eat" situations.

She's 60 years old and has been this way all her life. She thinks it's because she's a "supertaster." Someone else suggested that her taste buds just never matured beyond childhood. Is she this as a rail, you might be wondering? Nope, she's been significantly overweight all her life, while remaining pretty healthy in spite of it.

Of course I don't know. This is the first I've heard of "picky eater disorder". So I googled it and found that there's a fair amount of information out there on it, and maybe I'll do some additional information. It's not really my problem - it's hers. Nonetheless, I found this to be kinda interesting.

[stuntcat]

29. a disease I'd be glad to have.

don't care what the haters here say, control over what goes INSIDE us is the best kind of obsession and the best power to have.

[blondeatlast]

33. I do have control. I only eat steak maybe once in 3-4 months and a Snickers maybe once a month. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

31. It can lead to deficiences in refined sugars, pesticides, chemical additives

and, most distressingly, profit margins for corporate mega-conglomerates.

[dixiegrrrrl]

35. That DID cross my mind when I saw the article.

Yes indeedy.

Almost as if " being sane is unhealthy and can lead to bad things".
Which may be true.
Ya notice people like Palin, and Taitz, and ...hell, the whole list, seem to have no problems living in the world they have created.