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Orthorexia – what happened underneath it?
Orthorexia is an eating disorder that has been talked about for a relatively long time recently. It literally means obsessed with healthy eating. You can say it is an addiction to diet and controlling what you eat. Although the disorder appears to be harmless, it can be just as harmful like bulimia and anorexia.
Harm orthorexia
People affected by this disorder overly focus on the quality of the food consumed. They control the composition of products and nutritional value. They reject those products that do not meet the criteria they deem to be health. So they reject products that contain, inter alia, preservatives, dyes or sugar. They are also fashionable for various types of diets, for example those which recommend the elimination of gluten or dairy products. Over time, it turns out that the quantity The “safe” foods that they can consume becomes very limited. So they eat monotonously and deplete the body of nutrients. Despite the fact that try to eat healthy, often because of this narrow range of products considered safe Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are observed in them, which is negative affects the functioning of the body and causes a number of health problems.
How does orthorexia manifest itself?
People with orthorexia spend hours each a day to think about food, plan what to eat, read labels, and counting nutritional values. The decision about what to eat ceases to be theirs choice. It becomes a compulsion caused by excessive concern for one’s health. Not You can call it a harmless madness, because it not only affects your health such a person, this also affects their social functioning. It often happens that they eat alone and refuse to socialize by the fear that they will have to eat what they think is unhealthy. An exception there are situations where they can take their own food with them. In addition to every day patients feel misunderstood and isolated by the environment. Exaggerated focusing on food also makes them pay too little attention to others, important things. They give up their previous passions and interests.
Whom is this affected disorder?
Orthorexia usually affects perfectionists. People are sick very self-critical. They set the bar high for themselves and want to move forward in accordance with the standards set by them. They have a strong need control their life and wish to control their health as well. Of this therefore spend a lot of time learning more about nutrition.
Information chaos – what is healthy and what is harmful?
The problem, however, is that nowadays everyone encourages a healthy diet without saying exactly how to do it. New discoveries about the risks associated with consuming various products. We are warned against GMOs, additives to food, hormones, antibiotics and pesticides. There is a lot of talk about the negative the effects of saturated fat, cholesterol, salt and sugar in the diet. Majority reports that appear in the media focus on the negative ingredients foods and products that should be eliminated from the diet without focusing so much very much on what is healthy and what you can eat.
In addition, there is information chaos. A lot of the news is based only on a desire to make a sensation and there is nothing common with reliable knowledge of real threats. Being interested in healthy nutrition is important, but you need to learn to tell the truth from the truth those that are only meant to serve as a cheap sensation. So let’s look for confirmation overheard information in scientific publications or from specialists. You should too remember that there is a fine line between healthy eating and illness. The disease develops gradually and it always begins innocently. Sick people initially they only want to eat healthy food, so they give up sweets and fatty foods. Later, however, it is on their list of prohibited products more and more foods are consumed, which can lead to disorder over time nutrition.
No desire to seeking help
It is also worth mentioning that sick people rarely seek help from specialists. For it seems to them that there is nothing in their behavior wrong. They are convinced that they eat normally and only they know how to take care of your health. They also think they have enough knowledge on healthy eating that only they know very well. Do not listen so they advise others and find it difficult to accept theories that contradict their own beliefs. For this reason, they do not seek help, and they need help. It should be based on psychotherapy and the care of a dietitian who will teach you a truly healthy and rational diet.
Test – is orthorexia also applies to you?
If you want to see if the problem of orthorexia can about you, answer the following questions:
1) Do you spend more than three hours a day thinking about healthy eating? 2) Do you plan your meals the day before? 3) Is what you eat more important to you than the pleasure of eating? 4) With the improvement in the quality of your diet, did you experience a deterioration in the quality of life? 5) Are you becoming more and more strict with yourself? 6) Are you willing to sacrifice the pleasurable eating sensations to eat what you feel is right? 7) Do you think your self-esteem increases when you eat healthy foods? Do you condemn people who do not eat healthy? 8) Do you feel guilty or self-loathing for deviating from your diet? 9) Does your diet isolate you from society? 10) When you eat according to your beliefs, do you feel in complete control?
If you answered yes to 4 or more questions, you may suspect orthorexia may also affect you. In such a situation it is worth seeking help.
Main photo: Photo credit: LauraLewis23 / Foter / CC BY