‘Clean eating’ belies an eating problem called orthorexia: the truth behind this disorder

Today’s environment is characterized by a preponderance of organic grocery stores and wellness fads on social media, which can easily lead people to believe that being “healthy” equates to happy.

However, what many fail to recognize is that the quest for “clean” food may become harmful and become an obsession.

The term “orthorexia” is used in the medical community to describe this type of fixation.

The term “correct eating” refers to an obsession with consuming only “correct” or healthful foods. It is derived from the Greek words ortho, which means “correct,” and orexis, which means “appetite”.

Nonetheless, it is sometimes praised as a dedication to clean eating because it is not recognized as an eating disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

This condition has major effects on both physical and emotional health, even though it starts with a harmless dedication to eating healthily.

According to experts, this dedication can easily spiral into cutting out entire food groups or avoiding any food that one feels is unclean, like those with artificial additives or pesticides.

The founder of The Eating Disorder Centre, therapist Jennifer Rollin, remarked, “Some aspects of it can be very much like diet culture in disguise.”

“It can also limit one from what one’s sort of greater goals and values are,” she said.

Even though there isn’t much data on orthorexia, it seems to be associated with other eating disorders such binge eating disorder, bulimia, and anorexia.

In addition, experts have emphasized the importance of comprehending the intricacies of orthorexia, considering them essential for balancing attentive eating with a detrimental fixation on purity.

Signs of an orthorexic

According to Eating Disorders, the following are warning indicators that the disorder is developing into orthorexia:

• Extreme worry about the foods they choose, especially if their diet doesn’t fit their own strict personal criteria of “purity”.
• Social isolation as they distance themselves from people and activities that conflict with their rigid eating plan.
• Feeling guilty after “slip-ups”.
• Increased self-esteem from consuming “healthy” meals.
• Anxiety, sadness, and mood swings.