Orthorexia & You

#21

Thank you for your kind words!

#22

My pleasure. I am interested in the topics you discuss and the research you have done. I have a very busy job at the moment and cant’t do the kind of research you are doing, so I find you work and words very thought provoking and deep. You are making a difference.

(Bunny) #23

Under the definition not an “obsession” but an ‘awareness’ about nutrition of what is natural and organic and the way the body processes the in-organic mediums (“fad diet”) we consider healthy food?

Proud to be orthorexic if that is the word for it, as far as a “belief that something is harmful” is concerned; that is a ‘process of elimination’ where you take into account all the possibilities and variables to ‘eliminate’ the fiction from well grounded facts and basic reasoning? If I ‘believe’ in something? Is that emotional attachment because I want to believe it is so, thus eliminating all the other processes involved in favor of a more simplistic form of thinking?

#24

This is slightly different, but do you guys think there’s something unhealthy about having too rigid of a plan? i.e. not necessarily having to eat excessively healthy, but for example, being so inflexible about calories that you can’t even go over by 1 calorie, and if you do, you have to make up for it the next day? I always thought that was kind of unhealthy, but now, I’m trying a new approach where I plan things out a lot (next day’s menu, calorie level, etc.). I wonder if it leads to disordered eating, since obsession kind of equals disordered.

(Nathan Toben) #25

It wasn’t my intention y’all to raise people’s hackles or offend or even jest.

Orthorexia, not even sure it’s in the latest edition of the DSM, if anything, is a useful word. And i value being able to put names to behaviors.

Being a ketonian, of course, I am orthorexic to varying degrees. It depends on my mood, the weather, my sleep, a million little factors.

But with this word, I think we can more thoroughly define progress. It is a friend and a foe, but ultimately, it allows us to conceptualize and thus grow our awareness and freedom from negative habits.

For me, the only way out is through, so i readily embrace the dis-ease model of food psychology.

There are worse things than being dis-eased in this day and age…little being right.

(Doug) #26

Good posts and writing, Nathan. :slightly_smiling_face:

No worries, man. I don’t think those hackles got raised much at all, not even above hock level. :smirk:

:thinking:

#27

It’s not in the DSM which I’m inclined to think is probably not a bad thing as I suspect its more likely to be a symptom of a disorder. But just because something is in the DSM doesn’t make it real & just because something isn’t doesn’t mean it aint.

("Don't call it calories, call it food") #28

I valued the post and the question. I think that orthorexia is a real condition, and your comment about using the word/idea to measure progress as we push forward is great. Dis-ease model and awareness of disease… Both are important.

#29

All the individual aspects of orthorexia are covered by other names in the DSM, so there is no need for the term at all. And as such, I think it attracts a kind of self identification that isn’t always helpful.

> ôrTHəˈreksēə/
noun
1. an obsession with eating foods that one considers healthy.
*** a medical condition in which the sufferer systematically avoids specific foods in the belief that they are harmful.**
noun: orthorexia nervosa

For me, the key in the orthorexia description is the word ‘belief’.

As someone with both hormonal and metabolic derangement I don’t believe that certain foods are harmful to me. I KNOW it. I have plenty of evidence to prove it to any passing psychiatrist, doctor, consultant or sceptic. They can look at my blood tests, my blood glucose meter readings and my bowel movements - if they wish.

Belief is simply not required.
And the next time anyone, medical professional, ‘shrink’ or Joe Public who tries to imply that my eating is the result of a psychological issue is likely get both barrels. Or maybe I will just ask them to follow me around for a few days - including the bathroom - while I experience the physical misery that eating ‘normally’ would cause.

(I have reactive hypoglycaemia, glucose intolerance that reaches diabetic levels without a ketogenic diet, a digestive tract that reacts to fibre with projectile diarrhea, and a benign tumour in my pituitry gland that disrupts quite a few hormones with several knock on effects on my health. For me, eating keto, and currently carnivore is eating the most healthily that I can. I would happily eat differently. But my body objects to a ‘normal’ way of eating, and believe me, it ain’t psychological)

(Hermie) #30

Interesting that you mentioned anorexia, I almost see a Keto lifestyle as the healthy alternative to anorexia. When I was in college, I took classes in deviant behavior and abnormal psychology. We had a young woman with anorexia come speak to our class. I had battled my weight from grade school on. Although I recognized that she had an illness, and that she was hurting herself, I also admired her, because she was able to control what she ate, even if it was in an unhealthy way. Now on Keto, I can do that myself, yay!

#31

If I’d have known why not eating made me feel good as a teenager & in my early 20’s I’d have saved myself & those that loved me a great deal of worry.

#32

When I became keto I really delved into the science of it, and therefore I finally began to understand why my body and brain acted a certain way during certain times of my life. Knowing that my sugar cravings weren’t a character flaw or lack of will power, but an actual hormonal response to the way I was eating, helped me be much more forgiving to myself overall. I also see the keto diet as a method of healing my gut and nourishing my body, rather than restricting my food to a certain number of calories so I can fit into a pair of shorts I wore freshman year of high school. Sure there’s more weight I can stand to lose, and I’d definitely like to improve my body composition, but it no longer feels like a life or death situation (although I realize and respect that for others, losing weight IS a matter of life or death). A person’s relationship with food is an ever-changing, life-long journey, and for me introducing the keto lifestyle has improved it. For others, it may be damaging. The key is noticing how following a certain protocol affects the person’s mental/emotional well being, not just the physical effects. The more I know, the more I realize I don’t know, and now more than ever I believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach to food or a healthy lifestyle or anything for that matter. Just my 2 cents :slight_smile:

#33

I wouldn’t say I was preoccupied with food anymore. Avoiding carbs easy, and no stress, anxiety, or feeling like I go without