Orthorexia: How Healthy Is Too Healthy?

Orthorexia:

Since writing about Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food", I have been thinking about a point he explores in his book and I only touched on in my last post: the idea of Orthorexia, that is, an obsession with being healthy. Coined by Stevan Bratman, MD, in 1997, the term stems from the greek worth ortho meaning straight and correct. As stated in an article by ABC News, Anorexics seem to always think they're fat, but orthorexics know they're thin, but they want to be pure."

Read the whole story: Orthorexia

Comments

[blimie]

Perhaps they will develop a treatment center for all the poor orthoexias out there. If you are one you are not alone. There are others out there like you. Please everyone write your congressman and encourage them to provide funding for this terrrible illness. The one that no one has ever heard of. If you know an orthoexiac, offer them a few cheetohs. Thanks Huff Post for educating others.

[dsheaz]

Contrary to popular belief, health conscious eating is not really all about longevity. Everyone always seems to jump to this conclusion. Healthy eating is really more about creating the vibrancy and sensitivity to live life to the fullest NOW. A phrase I love to quote (can't remember where I got this from) is "eat to live, don't live to eat."

People with the attitude that we should eat whatever we like because we are going to die anyway are probably a little too attached to the pleasures of food. Yes, enjoy your food, but don't make too much out of it, depend on it for happiness, or cover underlying emotional wounds with it.

[kesmarn]

Not to beat the issue to death, but I think the article's author wasn't bashing health conscious eating. I think the point was to distinguish between health conscious eating and crossing the line into obsession. Just as being too attached to the pleasures of food can be a problem, constantly thinking about food in other ways is just as unbalanced. It's just a matter of the same "live to eat" philosophy with a slightly different spin. Whether it's "when can I have the next doughnut?" or "I'm going to vomit if I find out this omelet wasn't made with organic, free range egg whites" food-craziness is food-craziness.

[avicenna]

It was only a matter of time that we take that extra step into delusions of self-disorders that someone has decided to diseasify the compulsion to eat healthy. Therefore, we have managed to make most aspects of eating a disorder - too much, too little, too healthy, binging and purging... there are no normals really. What can we call obsessive diseasification? Pathorexia (for over pathologizing)?

[kesmarn]

I wonder if orthorexia and other anxieties like compulsive exercising and hypochondria are associated with the illusion that--if we can just manage by great effort and constant vigilance to do every single thing RIGHT--we just might be able to beat the Grim Reaper. We might be the singular exception to the rule that one out of every one humans will die. Especially when people are convinced that there is no such thing as a soul or an afterlife--they become convinced that maintaining our frail, mortal bodies for as long as possible is the most important obsession of all.

[fredjernig]

I must object to your comment about people (infidels?) who do not believe in soul or afterlife: I assure you that I know many miscreants who completely accept ageing and death. Just as I know fervent believers who do everything in their power to delay meeting the Creator -- they just don't seem to be in a hurry to see how great heaven is -- you'd almost think they are not quite convinced...

[kesmarn]

Needless to say, I didn't mean to imply that all non-believers are into orthorexia. There are plenty of drink-drin­k-and-be-m­erry-for-t­omorrow-we­-die folks out there, too. As well as people who are in neither extreme. But I've known people who cling to life and to the purity of their bodies with such fervour that you'd think they really believed in the realistic possibility of avoiding death altogether. One guy actually said that he believed that he personally might live forever. Woooo. Good luck on that. I'm not saying we should take silly risks with our health. Even believers in the afterlife often feel that the body is a creation of/gift from the Creator and should be treated with respect, and that there's not much to be gained by accelerating the rush toward death. But I feel sort of sad when I see people who feel that this vulnerable bit of flesh we inhabit is the only thing between us and total, eternal oblivion, and, hence, want to hang on to it forever.

[brooklyncitizen]

I think the health obsession is a natural consequence of problems we face today especially in the US. THe high incidence of illness attributed to diet has fueled an interest by many of us to avoid these illnesses when possible ( heart disease, diabetes, cancers, obesity) . THis coupled with the high-cost of health care and the lack of access to health care is a real factor, plus our diet is indeed crap.

No one thinks they can avoid death but to languish with an illness at the end of the line ...well that's no way to go out.

[AngieMom57]

Being a 'puritan' has never appealed to me.

[Skylarstar]

We live in a culture suffering from one huge case of OCD. (Michael Jackson obsessive disorder being the most recent.) Food and health is just the beginning. Our planet and food are poisoned beyond imagination so let's focus on keeping our bodies clean (whatever that means). We are puritanical to the core.

Have a little fun people -- celebrate life! I think Huffpo should start a section on the joys of hedonism.

Gotta run it's time for my Friday afternoon pizza and beer -- now that's clean living.

[rini]

Yeah, I'm more concerned about climate change and future food and water shortages than I am about avoiding refined carbohydrates or processed foods. I try to eat whole food, but I don't stress about it.

[fredjernig]

Be careful, you may be in denial. Pizza can actually be quite healthy, and a drink a day is also shown to be healthy. That pizza and beer may actually be more than just fun! :)

[maiforpeace]

Someone needs to send this article to Gwenyth Paltrow.

[wm1066]

Orthorexia is not an obsession with being healthy its an obsession with how food is prepared.
"correct appetite" is the litteral meaning. Of course most people are trying to be healthy but the meaning is not what the author says it is.

[Diogenis]

Thank you for your wise observation and definition of the Greek word "orthorexia"!