The wellness industry is huge right now. It seems like every time I scroll through Instagram, there’s a new diet dedicated to clean eating. But when eating well or trying to improve your life turns into an obsession, you could be orthorexic. Orthorexia is an eating disorder where obsessive behavior in pursuit of a healthy diet occurs. Although being aware of and concerned with the nutritional quality of the food you eat isn’t a problem in and of itself, people with orthorexia become so fixated on so-called ‘healthy eating’ that they damage their well-being. If you or someone you know has an obsession with healthy eating, here are the signs to look out for. Read on.
The Wellness Obsession is Causing this Eating Disorder
A fixation over the quality of food: This is at the core of orthorexia. Individuals with this condition often limit “go foods” to those that are organic, farm-fresh, whole, raw and/or vegan. The quantity of food is typically less important than that quality.
Cutting out food groups- Elimination of entire food groups is a common occurrence for people who suffer from orthorexia, commonly including processed foods, sugar, meat, dairy products, carbohydrates and/or gluten.
Weight loss-An orthorexia diet is an unbalanced diet that often results in malnutrition. While someone with orthorexia may feel as though cutting out certain foods will bring immense health benefits, they are often doing quite the opposite–depleting their own nutrition in vastly limiting food variety.
Anxiety simply being around certain foods: Someone with orthorexia might feel an intense need to separate themselves from their forbidden foods. They may feel incredibly uncomfortable or leave a room if that food can be seen.
Do you have orthorexia? It’s an eating disorder that’s probably more common than we think. Click here to learn more about Orthorexia and how it’s becoming an unhealthy obsession.
