In terms of what is hot & trendy today, one could say healthy is the new Black! Just take a peek at Instagram and you’ll see it’s saturated with images of women in leggings and sports bras balancing atop cliffs in envy-inducing yoga poses. There are pictures of defined legs in Nike sneakers and perfectly-manicured nails encircling all-natural-vegan-kale-and-quinoa-energy smoothies in bedazzled tumblers. Blogs are dedicated to healthy recipes for otherwise unhealthy treats, and athletic, skinny, beautifully made up women have become the standard for beauty across most mediums of popular culture.
But with the glorification of the healthy comes a slew of negative side effects. Eating disorders, for example, often arise from a desire to meet these unbelievable standards of living. And, as the standard of beauty becomes more complex, so do the disorders. One disorder that has gained prevalence in the past few decades is orthorexia nervosa. Initially, it may not even appear to be a problem.
Orthorexia may begin as an innocent attempt to live a healthier lifestyle. Perhaps a woman chooses to cut out sugar or potato chips from her diet or look for more natural, less processed options in the grocery store. Maybe she is trying to look like her favorite Instagram star; whatever the initial reason, it seems normal enough, at first.
Until, that is, orthorexia nervosa takes effect. What starts as an earnest interest in healthy eating gradually becomes an obsession; a fixation on food quality and purity that causes the orthorexic to become pickier than the pickiest of eaters. They’ll often refuse food they have not specifically planned to eat and implement punishments if they slip up–usually by instigating even stricter eating limitations. For those suffering with orthorexia nervosa, unlike those suffering from anorexia and bulimia, the focus is often not on being thin. It stretches beyond physical appearance and onto the food itself. Orthorexics obsess over the quality of their foods, instead of the effects that those foods produce. So, it is the lack of freshness in freezer-foods that makes causes them distress. It is the preservatives and corn syrup. It is the unpronounceable ingredients on the back of the package.
Ironically, however, instead of improving their health, orthorexics’ fixation on healthy eating can be incredibly harmful. The nutritional deficits that come with any sort of obsessive eating are obvious, but orthorexics in particular can miss out on nutrients their bodies need because of their misconstrued definition of “healthy. Of course, fruits and vegetables are great–but they alone do not construct a balanced diet.
What is often overlooked are the emotional effects of orthorexia. Living in a world consumed by thoughts of food can result in social isolation. They spend their time planning their food intake–when they can eat, what is appropriate to eat, and how they can control their meals. It’s hard to go out for dinner with a girl who refuses to eat anything cooked by someone other than herself.
As with most eating disorders, the unhealthy relationship with food that orthorexics foster is often tied to issues of self-esteem, self-acceptance, and depression. They often tie their eating habits to a sense of pride. If a woman, for example, forgoes a piece of cake at a birthday party in favor of a fruit salad, she may feel superior to the other party guests. The issue with this line of reasoning is the inevitable chance of failure–nobody eats perfectly all the time. But, what might be an innocent piece of cake for one person is a massive failure for an orthorexic, and the cause of a huge emotional blow.
Living a healthy lifestyle is a noble goal, but obsessing over it is not. It is vital that healthy eating is just that ... genuinely healthy.
Sources:
HD, RD, LD/N, Karin Kratina. "Orthorexia Nervosa | National Eating Disorders Association." Orthorexia Nervosa | National Eating Disorders Association. National Eating Disorders Association, n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.