OBSESSING OVER

HEALTHY EATING CAN

BECOME UNHEALTHYBy Richard Battista, Healthy Living Expert

In today’s society, advertisements

and advice on how to eat healthy

cannot be avoided. Healthy eating

choices are beyond encouraged;

they are nearly required, as

advertisements push for a surge in

pure and organic products in diets.

As a result of this dedication from

popular culture, a new eating

disorder has developed, according

to an article recently completed by

The Times.

At the start of orthorexia nervosa, a

change in eating habits is pursued.

An individual sees the pressure to

eat healthier and vows to veer

towards pure and organic foods.

At first, this is a healthy choice, as

a healthier diet is always a good

thing. However, with time, this

choice can develop into an

obsession and a disorder, as the

sufferer stops to think obsessively

on the ingredients of every meal

prior to consumption.

With time, the sufferer will start to

eat less and less, as they amend

their requirements for foods to

become even stricter and find

fewer foods that meet said

requirements; essentially,

eventually all foods that are not

deemed pure enough are purged

from the diet.

What started as a healthy choice

becomes an unhealthy obsession

with eating healthy.

The danger of the disorder,

according to psychologist Karin

Kratina, is when the food choices

become so restrictive in variety

and calories that the health of the

sufferer starts to suffer.

The condition is relatively new, but

gaining attention; popular food

blogger Jordan Young brought the

disorder to the attention of the

public, as she spoke of her own

obsession with eating healthy.

Young spoke of the obsession’s role

in going from a healthy eater to

unhealthy in physique.

While little is known about the

condition thus far, the United

States’ Eating Disorder Association

does acknowledge some possible

causes for the condition.

It is believed that orthorexia stems

from any combination of the

following factors—a compulsion for

complete control, a need to escape

one’s fears, a desire to be thin, a

pursuit to improve self-esteem, a

search for spirituality through food

or the inclination to use food as a

means of creating an identity.