Choosing healthy foods now called a mental disorder

I'm a very healthy eater, but I can see where they say some people would have this disorder. I worked with a gal who would actually have panic attacks if she drank or ate something that was not completely natural. It was almost like watching someone with bulemia or anorexia. Just saying...

[edit on 29-6-2010 by Triniteri]

thanks for finding this and bringing it to the attention of ats

eat healthy!

Originally posted by ModernAcademia

Choosing healthy foods now called a mental disorder

www.naturalnews.com

This is no joke: If you focus on eating healthy foods, you're "mentally diseased" and probably need some sort of chemical treatment involving powerful psychotropic drugs.

"Fixation with healthy eating can be sign of serious psychological disorder" and goes on to claim this "disease" is called orthorexia nervosa -- which is basically just Latin for "nervous about correct eating."

If you eat processed junk foods laced with synthetic chemicals, that's okay with them. The mental patients are

(visit the link for the full news article)

Funny, I went to the Guardian article they cite but see nothing about junk food being "okay" with them. Also nothing about "powerful psychotropic drugs."

But they somehow stripped the article of its context and logical process:

"I am definitely seeing significantly more orthorexics than just a few years ago," said Ursula Philpot, chair of the British Dietetic Association's mental health group. "Other eating disorders focus on quantity of food but orthorexics can be overweight or look normal. They are solely concerned with the quality of the food they put in their bodies, refining and restricting their diets according to their personal understanding of which foods are truly 'pure'."

Orthorexics commonly have rigid rules around eating. Refusing to touch sugar, salt, caffeine, alcohol, wheat, gluten, yeast, soya, corn and dairy foods is just the start of their diet restrictions. Any foods that have come into contact with pesticides, herbicides or contain artificial additives are also out.

The obsession about which foods are "good" and which are "bad" means orthorexics can end up malnourished. Their dietary restrictions commonly cause sufferers to feel proud of their "virtuous" behaviour even if it means that eating becomes so stressful their personal relationships can come under pressure and they become socially isolated.

"The issues underlying orthorexia are often the same as anorexia and the two conditions can overlap but orthorexia is very definitely a distinct disorder," said Philpot. "Those most susceptible are middle-class, well-educated people who read about food scares in the papers, research them on the internet, and have the time and money to source what they believe to be purer alternatives."

So, people freak out and go by what THEY think is healthy, and wind up malnourished. Makes complete sense...but the "NaturalNews" site misrepresented the article and used hyperbole when a measured approach - such as recommending that people guard against deficiencies and malnourishment - would have been far more useful.

And yet they say "consumption depends on ignorance." Yet their selective editing just contributes to ignorance due to over-compensation.

A normal person could develop a mental disorder by not eating very healthy. Over half of the foods in the grocery store is junk and loaded with, sodium, sugar, fats, caffeine, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, aspartame, hormones, acrylamide, and aluminum. I try to avoid those type of foods and stick to organic foods. So, I must be really crazy

Originally posted by Benevolent Heretic


It's good to eat healthy, but if you're obsessed with it to the point that it's interfering with your life, then I can see how it would be considered a disorder.

I gotta say, if I can't get to a Whole Foods store, it takes me quite a long time to grocery shop, anywhere else, because I read EVERY LABEL! If it is not a product I am familiar with, I do obsess over every ingredient. Seriously!

Also, I have pets, so, yeah, I have to admit I was my hands about 50 times a day, after I pet 'em!

As for clutter, only the really good stuff remains!

Seriously, to some people I might seem obsessed, but I don't consider myself so. Luckily, I have no regular life to interfere with my obsessions!

I think taking the article completely serious is rubish, unless a person ends up malnurished because of it.

Originally posted by Triniteri
I'm a very healthy eater, but I can see where they say some people would have this disorder. I worked with a gal who would actually have panic attacks if she drank or ate something that was not completely natural. It was almost like watching someone with bulemia or anorexia. Just saying...

Exactly. The same obsession, just in different forms.

here is a awesome website for people who are trying to eat healthy and right. It has just about enough information for eating 100% healthy.

www.fitnessspotlight.com...

reply to post by ModernAcademia



Well dont eat garden salad and watch a Rambo flick or you will really be over the edge.

Relax...relax people. I'm pretty sure the food police won't be knocking down your door anytime soon to drag you to the mental facility, tie you to a chair, and force cheeseburgers down your throat.

However, if it comes to that...I know a guy who knows a guy who can get you your fruits and veggies at a reasonable price and he's very discreet.

reply to post by ModernAcademia

Forget about basic health, isn't this becoming a life and death situation?
Fluoride in our water and toothpaste, aspartame in almost everything, GM Crops and arsenic in our water...... isn't this life and death?

Hey you got a bullet in your chest, but don't be OCD about it, you should be fine no need to go see a doctor.

In my very unprofesional opinion...I would say that yes you are indeed a bit OCD about all of this.

Chill out...eat a greesy burger...no one lives forever. Your stress will probably do more damage to you than any junk food.

seeing as how food was once naturally fine to eat, and the vast majority of the bad stuff man-made, i dont see how this is at all a disorder.

Eating disorder charities are reporting a rise in the number of people suffering from a serious psychological condition characterised by an obsession with healthy eating.

The condition, orthorexia nervosa, affects equal numbers of men and women, but sufferers tend to be aged over 30, middle-class and well-educated.

The condition was named by a Californian doctor, Steven Bratman, in 1997, and is described as a "fixation on righteous eating". Until a few years ago, there were so few sufferers that doctors usually included them under the catch-all label of "Ednos" – eating disorders not otherwise recognised. Now, experts say, orthorexics take up such a significant proportion of the Ednos group that they should be treated separately.

That which I have bolded:

1 - Eating disorder charities: Is it me, or does anyone ever wonder how much revenue these charities are throwing around? How much are their 'leaders' paid, and who supports them?

2 - serious psychological condition: Wouldn't a trained physician or specialist be required to make such a diagnosis? Would such a diagnosis be forthcoming if there were no other symptoms than the patient living a regimented dietary lifestyle?

3 - sufferers tend to be aged over 30, middle-class and well-educated: Hmm, isn't that just about the age when most adults realize that their digestive systems can no longer handle our modern day 'heavy fuel' food consumption lifestyle? That's when I decided to stop eating 10 oz of Doritos as a snack late at night, no more super meat-lovers pizzas for me, no more super-sized fries with that Mcmeal.

4 - Californian doctor, Steven Bratman: While presumptively we are to take it for granted that this doctor is a godlng within his field, I find myself wondering about a pissed of doctor who is tired of his patients doing their own research on dietary matters. I wonder what the volume of his research grant was? Was it enough to start a clinic? Is it corporate?... Is it hungry?

5 - "fixation on righteous eating": "righteous" is an interesting way to describe something, as in, perhaps the doctor was facing faith-like zealous behavior in those he was treating. The natural human response to zealotry external to their sensibilities is what, condemnation? Does he say, can we know?

6 - "Ednos" – eating disorders not otherwise recognised: It is less than comforting to know that the community which endorses this concept, as an element of errant behavior requiring professional intervention, has a 'catch-all' bucket in which to drop those who they want to treat, even if they lack an understanding of the offending behavior.

7 - they should be treated separately: Why shouldn't everything be treated separately, why should every disorder be treated uniquely, why shouldn't every patient be treated as an individual (with an identity and a name?)

In all seriousness, obsessive behavior will manifest itself any way it can. Of course there are those who will decide that they can and should survive on a diet of grape soda and pop rocks. I applaud those doctors who spot these traits and try to bring balance back to them. But to use this aberration as a call for organized action seems a bit ill-conceived, unless the contention is that this problem is epidemic in nature. I don't get the impression it is.

On the other hand, maligning the concern as anything other than medical interest requires much more than proof that a person can control their own diet without medical support or psychological evaluation.

I suspect that arousing the ire of the health-food enthusiasts is good business. And it is essential that we question such trends. Other components of global governance are beginning to come to bear... the CODEX for one. Considering the Pharmaceuticals intense participation in this regard justifies such scrutiny.

reply to post by Blanca Rose


Agree with every word.
You would truly be surprised at how much better you function and feel on real food, plus it does seem to keep you full.
But in the Gubbment's defense, I do love my eevol Twinkies.

This is just another way the Pharmacutical Industry can market off of our stupidity.

reply to post by Juggernutty


Any raw vegetable or fruit is days better for you than anything else that you could eat. If not raw, then steamed but not to the point that you actually kill the veggie of any vitamins.
Try to stay away from anything that is processed.
I still do red meats but they say optimally a vegan style diet is best, Vegan is kind of like Vegetarian with benefits.
A video someone on ATS posted that really helps is
The Beatiful Truth good stuff for starters.

Why do people continue to take NaturalNews seriously? As several posters have pointed out, this article, like nearly every other article on that site, is full of half-truths and blatant lies in order to fit into their worldview/agenda.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


You have to be honest, to some extent this is very true! I've had "Healthy, Hippie" friends come over my house and absolutely refuse to eat food because it wasn't to their "healthy" standards(But to me was just right). So in all actuality like everything in this world, 2 much of something, equals mental distress. Take it all with a grain of salt... no pun intended.

If this is no joke then half the planet is mental!!!

What would be the appropriate label for the illness afflicting members of the psychiatric committee and profession who suffer an irresistible compulsion to tag every imaginable human behavior as some form of sickness?

reply to post by g146541


I much prefer vegetarian to vegan, as one of the benefits of being vegetarian is being allowed to keep my walking boots..

I'm also shocked by how many people in the world around me think fish is part of a vegetarian diet. (Not that you said it).

I seriously tried to go vegan, but doing without dairy and my silk dressing gown was just too hard.

Eating healthily and staying fit is something I do because I have a kid and a wife that I like to spend time with. Don't care if that makes me crazy.