It is conspicuous that a coin has two sides and that it applies to every single thing. Hard to believe? Well, with this article you will get persuaded. Who would ever think that they can cause harm to their own body when they are completely zeroed in to always be with the healthiest of food? No one right? Spilling the beans, an obsession with healthy eating is going to harm you.
You might have confronted someone acting overly possessive with the food they consume or that person might even be you. If this is the condition then the person is engulfed with orthorexia. To get a deeper insight into orthorexia, scroll down, and know more!
OrthorexiaWhat Is Orthorexia?
When you type what is orthorexia in the search engine, one line of description that they are going to provide you with is, ‘ orthorexia is an obsession with eating foods that one considers healthy’ and this is fairly enough to decide whether it is a good or a bad one!
Anything that prefixes obsession with the description is known to indicate to the bad side. To give you a wider picture, orthorexia is nothing but an eating disorder where the person is obsessed with consuming only healthy foods. It is also known as Orthorexia Nervosa.
Here the person will reject even the slightest bit of unhealthy food items such as some edible colored or flavored food items. Not directly a psychotic disorder, but definitely akin.
You will find many other such eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia, etc. that are focused on maintaining weight but unlike them, orthorexia is something that revolves around the food quality and not the quantity.
OrthorexiaHow Does Orthorexia Start?
This is what you must be hankering. What, when, or how does orthorexia start? A quite diplomatic but relatable answer is when you drive yourself crazy or berserk at not being able to find cent per cent healthy food. There is no fine line that distinguishes whether you are a prey of orthorexia or simply a diet maintainer health-conscious, but via some behaviors, you can diagnose orthorexia.
Symptoms of Orthorexia
Here are some of the symptoms of orthorexia:
Skipping meals due to obsessive focus on healthy eating
A person falling under the category of orthorexia is likely to say no to a meal that does not include any health gems. They would prefer having a fast instead of consuming something that they categorize as unhealthy.
Even if that is the only food item available at that moment at that place, it will consistently be a no from his/her side. They will not mind spending a night or a day without food.
Unnatural behaviors
If a person pokes you the moment when you occasionally think of having an extra cheese pizza or a hamburger, how would you shape the person’s image? A clean eater, no more than that, agree?
An excessive fanatic of healthy food would always stay away from hanging out with friends or ganging up in a smorgasbord. They will try to not have food with you if you are a junk lover or would literally carry a lunch box filled with spinach and other super nutrients. They may even cause melee for not being served with their kind of healthy meals. And you might be like, seriously?
Health reports
What does orthorexia do to your body? Do they pay you a fair return? Eating healthy should fructify a person with good health and physic, but with this disorder, the person will achieve the opposite of what they desire. Orthorexia which is caused by the extreme focus on eating healthy will make the person lack proper and sufficient nutrition.
As per medical reports, they will be declared undernourished or in a state of malnutrition. Many other medical issues may hamper the person, such as excessive weight loss, lack of strength, etcetera.
OrthorexiaWhat Does Orthorexia Do To Your Body?
Orthorexia is capable enough to sabotage a person internally as well as externally. Following are the impacts made by orthorexia on a person’s health-
You will not be a survival of the fittest
Being confined to consuming only the healthiest of food, you are making your body stay adamant at not being able to be okay with some other fad foods which might save you at times. Familiarizing your body with every type of food is very necessary in order to survive well in any kind of situation.
Not every place will provide you the things that you consider healthy. Imagine you stay a month out of your station for some business issues and you just have bread and butter to survive on. Will you be able to?
Hampers your mental physic
Your anxiety levels will start to fluctuate if you think too much about what will happen if you consume junks, how can you manage to eat healthy food, blah blah… for gods’ sake get over that. Do not stress your mind over such trivial matters, there are a lot of other important things to work your mind on. This will look like a serious case of mental illness, saying which leads to the next point.
Effects your network of people
If you behave in a way that is unnatural to people then it is pretty natural for people to isolate you. You will be left with only your healthy foods and no friends or people to talk to. Duh, this is the time you should have fun, taste that street food on a rainy eve, walk with friends with a cup of coffee or maggie, and make memories.
Treatment For Orthorexia
The very first step to fighting such a disorder is to accept the fact that you are a prey of orthorexia. It is usually seen that the person with orthorexia does not feel that they are behaving in a different manner. Some of the tips that we would like to share are:
- Keep yourself well aware of what is orthorexia, their symptoms, and the impacts they make in your life.
- Do not be a bigot. Try to understand why the person reacted the way they did.
Secondly, start to consume A-Zee food items. Don’t make it junk on an everyday basis, but once in a blue moon is good to go with. Help your body to build some stamina by introducing challenging food items (ice creams, hot coffee, cold coffee, etc.) to your body.
You can also vide a doctor, psychologist, or a dietitian, but you can try to overcome yourself by changing some of your behaviors. If you make up your mind, it is not so difficult.
Concluding the whole topic, maintaining a healthy diet is widely recommended but make sure you do not fall prey to orthorexia. We hope the article was informative enough. If you know someone who would benefit from the above, kindly let them know.
Stay healthy!
Also read: Bulimia Nervosa: Causes & Treatment
