Choosing healthy foods now called a mental disorder

Not sure why there is any shock to this "late breaking" Natural News spin on the disorder. I subscribe to the Ranger's site and newsletter, but this is a little bit of fear mongering.

Here is the wikipedia entry on the "disorder" . . . It's been classified
since '97.

en.wikipedia.org...

The key to this is "unhealthy obsession" . . . no one is saying that just wanting to eat healthy and read labels is a disorder, as the Ranger claims.

This would be an extreme case of analyzing your food intake and labeling most foods as unhealthy, thus leading to malnutrition. Which . . . would actually be a "disorder".

Just sayin' . . .



[edit on 6/29/10 by solomons path]

Deanne Jade, founder of the National Centre for Eating Disorders, said: "There is a fine line between people who think they are taking care of themselves by manipulating their diet and those who have orthorexia. I see people around me who have no idea they have this disorder. I see it in my practice and I see it among my friends and colleagues."

Haha. Way to try and grey the lines! If you read the opening sentence of the paragraph above you will see a classic attempt at saying absolutely nothing at all, whilst subtly implying something else.

"There is a fine line between people who think they are taking care of themselves by manipulating their diet and those who have orthorexia."

So people who "think" they are taking care of themselves through a "manipulation" of their diet may have "Orthorexia"? Just a bunch of words designed to conjure up images of blundering idiots, and then compartmentalise them further by giving them a flash sounding name.

The way food is grown and consumed is being attacked on a massive scale ATM. I wish I knew why.

Edit for link - www.guardian.co.uk...

[edit on 29-6-2010 by Dookzor]

reply to post by ModernAcademia


Err hang on with that anger. There is a genuine concern about this. People who are extreme with healthy eating can actually end up being nutrient deficient, i know that sounds counterintuitive but it's true, espcially if they eat a lot of raw food.

Now i'm someone who eats incredibly healthy so don't think this is a rant of some fast food loving moron. There really is a genuine problem with some people who take things to extreme. It's like all things, to much is often bad.

I say all this as i tuck into a green vegetable smoothie lol.

Once again, for those saying this is BS
Take this test please:
take the Bratman Test for orthorexia'

The Bratman Test for Orthorexia

-- Do you spend more than 3 hours a day thinking about your diet?

-- Do you plan your meals several days ahead?

-- Is the nutritional value of your meal more important than the pleasure of eating it?

-- Has the quality of your life decreased as the quality of your diet has increased?

-- Have you become stricter with yourself lately?

-- Does your self-esteem get a boost from eating healthily?

-- Have you given up foods you used to enjoy in order to eat the 'right' foods

-- Does your diet make it difficult for you to eat out, distancing you from family and friends?

-- Do you feel guilty when you stray from your diet?

-- Do you feel at peace with yourself and in total control when you eat healthily?

-- Yes to 4 or 5 of the above questions means it is time to relax more about food.

-- Yes to all of them means a full-blown obsession with eating healthy food.

www.eufic.org...

I'll give them what is in bold, otherwise it's complete BS and whoever made this test probably never stepped into a gym.

reply to post by ModernAcademia


This is seriously a disorder within itself. These people who make up stupid crap like this.Next they will say your mental if u speak,breathe,eat at all,or oh my gods really bad mental disorder if you think differently

reply to post by ModernAcademia


The problem comes with the extremes, for example the exclusion diets. Now these have their place in real medicine when doctors are trying to isolate a very real allergy or trigge some people have to certain foods. These diets are designed to be use for only a couple of months, slowly adding things back in to see what makes a condition worse. However people stick to these diets permanently and that is where things go wrong.

We're talking diets that exclude many things simultaneously like wheat, dairy, all saturated fat, fish, meat, salt, sugar, spices, herbs, all cooked food...........you get the idea here. These are extreme diets which can and do cause harm.

[edit on 29-6-2010 by ImaginaryReality1984]

Originally posted by solomons path
Not sure why there is any shock to this "late breaking" Natural News spin on the disorder. I subscribe to the Ranger's site and newsletter, but this is a little bit of fear mongering.

Here is the wikipedia entry on the "disorder" . . . It's been classified
since '97.

en.wikipedia.org...

The key to this is "unhealthy obsession" . . . no one is saying that just wanting to eat healthy and read labels is a disorder, as the Ranger claims.

This would be an extreme case of analyzing your food intake and labeling most foods as unhealthy, thus leading to malnutrition. Which . . . would actually be a "disorder".

Just sayin' . . .

[edit on 6/29/10 by solomons path]

Exactly!! Nothing odd here. The case is refering about people with a fixation/obsession on the theme. Any kind of Fixation/obsession is considered a mental disorder!
The news don't refer to normal people, with a normal preocupation to eat "better"!

A proper name for this disorder would be, INSECURITY.

[edit on 29-6-2010 by scoopkill]

-- Yes to 4 or 5 of the above questions means it is time to relax more about food.
-- Yes to all of them means a full-blown obsession with eating healthy food.

If the companies we rely on to prepare our foods didn't pack so much crap in the food they give us and if they could be trusted, that wouldn't be the case.

reply to post by solomons path


You've hit the nail on the head. The cited article is just trying to catch attention. The disorder is not officially recognized, although it might be if the trend continues.

The wiki article really sums it up quite nicely.

Orthorexia, or orthorexia nervosa is a term coined by Steven Bratman, a Colorado MD, to denote an eating disorder characterized by excessive focus on eating healthy foods. In rare cases, this focus may turn into a fixation so extreme that it can lead to severe malnutrition or even death.[1][2] Orthorexia is not recognized as a mental disorder in any of the medical manuals, such as the ICD-10[3] or the DSM-IV,[4] neither is it part of the proposed revision of this manual, the DSM-5.[5] [emphasis mine]

en.wikipedia.org...

[edit on 2010/6/29 by GradyPhilpott]

reply to post by ModernAcademia


The "Bratman test" is not a medical tool. It is a pop-culture quiz created by a pop-science doctor. No medical professional would use that questionnaire to diagnose orthexia.

You can calm down now.

Do you people know what obsessive stands for?

I eat healthy but I'm not obsessed with it.

Originally posted by tooo many pills
This is a joke!

I can play this game too!

I invented a new disorder for TPTB and Phsyciatrists, “resurrectio populus nervosa," which is Latin for, “nervous about the people awakening.”

Psychotic freaks

I'd always called it ACI (Anal-cranial-inversion) meaning they have their heads up their @$$e$

They can call me crazy if they want. I noticed that after I stopped eating stuff that had MSG or artificial sweeteners in it, my headaches and heartburn went away in a matter of days. No support group needed

Hi, I'm OuttaTime, and I'm a compulsive healthy eater

I think everyone should just stop caring what those idiots say and start living life the way they want to experience it.

Their little game doesn't run without it's pawns.

I started eating organic about a year ago. At the time, I was a hypochondriac. Making myself sick worrying about every little thing. I used to get headaches ALL THE TIME. More days with headaches than without. I'm also transitioning into the vegan lifestyle. But anyway, this last year has been GREAT! I've never EVER felt better. I've had so few headaches, I could probably count them all on my hands. And, they seemed to coincide with the times that I ate something horrible, like fast food.

Of course it's a mental illness. If it doesn't keep the money moving around through addiction to crap food or hospital visits caused by all of the garbage we send through our bodies, then it has to be. If it isn't profiting some corrupt jerk or organization somewhere, then it must be a mental illness. So that money can once again be wrung out of every living person. Health be damned.

I'll S& F this but realise one thing folks.

EVERYTHING YOU DO IS A "MENTAL DISORDER"

The article contradicts itself by saying "those who eat foods laced with syntehtic chemicals are okay"

Give me a break! In USA, The 1st Lady has waged War on Obesity calling it a mental disorder, considering prosecution for parents who let their kids get heavy set!

Left and Right, you have these no-experience-scholars and medical wanna-be's calling any little thing they consider strange: a disorder.

Big whoop on the synthetic materials btw. This country is build off of synthetic materials. We are encouraged to create new ones. Fans of extra-terrestrial theories know that advanced civilizations are known to live off of synthetic chemicals and materials created so they don't NEED to be interested in nomadic material invasions.

You hate bugs? Entomaphobia
You feel shy, timid, with your self? Anthrophobia

You eat too little? You have a disorder.
You eat too much? You have a disorder.

Silly babble. Food for Thought, but don't eat too much. You might get a "mental disorder" for being too interested.

Not only have I noticed that Natural News seems to have no understanding of mental health, it also appears that most people on ATS don't understand how the treatment of mental disorders occur. Any treatment is strictly voluntary, unless you are an immediate threat to yourself or others. This is why people who are anorexic don't usually get treatment until they've already ended p in the hospital. Therefore, if this ever becomes an official diagnosis you're not going to be locked away simply because you're eating healthy. However, if you start thinking that your obsession with eating healthy is interfering with your life, then you can seek a diagnosis. The majority of all people who are diagnosed with a mental disorder are voluntary outpatients, and they can choose between a psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist if they don't want medication. This site tries so hard to malign mental health care professionals, yet most people forget that any treatment you receive is entirely voluntary, just like any doctor. There is no conspiracy here, just people afraid of a field that they don't understand.

reply to post by darkelf


I think you would be mentally ill to NOT want to eat healthy, ESPECIALLY after finding out you have diabetes. My roommate was just diagnosed with this a few months ago. To be honest, I was not surprised. I love her to death but she is overweight and eats TERRIBLY. The diagnoses shocked her and she started this pretty intense diet that is only meant to last a few weeks then you just switch to maintiaining a healthy diet.

The diet, which consisted of only drinking water, no caffine, no carbs, no junk food, mo sugar, no CRAP, made her lose 15 pounds instantly. I'm pretty sure MOST of it was due to the fact that she stopped drinking soda all the freaking time. However, once the diet ended she went right back to her old ways, including soda, but now because she's diabetic she only drinks diet . But she still puts regular sugar in her coffee in the morn instead of the stivia she bought as a substitute.

I even try to "lead by example" because I've been trying very hard to buy all natural and/or organic food as much as humanly possible (can't give up the Chef Boyardee Ravioli's!!) even when it comes to buying snacks like cookies and chips. I buy organic milk, eggs, and meat no exceptions any more and have expressed to her that I'm trying to turn a new leaf and she thought it was a great idea and would help her eat more healthy, too. But every time she goes to the store she buys the regular stuff and only buys frozen and canned foods for herself to eat. I even buy "green" cleaning products but everytime we run out, if she gets a replacement at the store first it's always the regular stuff filled with chemicals that make me sick when I'm cleaning.

It's like she doesn't even THINK about what she buys at all because it's not like she's just oblivious since I buy this stuff on a regular basis and she knows exactly why. In regards to the food, most of that crap, if not all of it, is what contributed to her diabetes in the first place but she continues to eat it. I just don't get it.

How the hell is wanting to eat healthy compared to just plain NOT doing so, like my roommate, a mental disease? (I'm not saying my roommie has a mental disease, just showing how ludicrous the notion is comparatively)

I think they do have a mental disorder.

For many reasons.

1) All of those people who diet all the time and worry about carbs or whatever the latest fad is = mental problems

2) Thinking you can actually eliminate risk in eating food = disorder
(No matter what you eat, you are taking risks as you do not KNOW what is actually on it- Labels can Lie) Hell even your backyard garden could be contaminated by local toxins you don't know about...

3) They end up living no longer or better than the "other" people = disorder

4) Many of their "reasonings" for choosing to eat "healthy" have little to no basis in fact or science = disorder


People who just eat what they want, when they want, actually live fuller lives because they do not ruin everything with countless rules and regulations.

People who eat what they want don't spend all their lives worrying about what they eat.

Right some food is dangerous, but it can be ANYTHING. Any food, no matter what it is, can be contaminated. And typically is.

Even fresh organic lettuce can be contaminated with bacteria,pesticides, etc; WHICH HAPPENS OFTEN.

Of course, anyone who just drinks Drano is a total moron and deserves to die. But we are talking about real food here not chemical poisons.

Also the biggest indicator that they are suffering mental problems, is the fact they think the Government should FORCE through this "healthy eating" BS onto all of us, which actually turns out to be no more healthy than any average diet.

I could rant about the hypocrisies all day. I have countless reasons to agree they are crazy.

But I DISAGREE strongly with locking them up or forcing medications on them.

No let's just tell them how WRONG they are about all of their foolish assumptions.

If they reject the obvious reality, that is their choice to be an idiot.

No government, jail, or pills needed.

Let them be stupid, it is their RIGHT.

Plus how would we scam people for their $$$ without diet fads??

The book of mental disorders must be pretty damn thick nowadays. Has anyone ever heard of Truman show syndrome? This is a newly classified disorder, which is beginning to recognised in it's own right as supposed to just a delusion symptomatic of another illness.

www.telegraph.co.uk...