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Eating disorder Orthorexia nervosa is overlooked but just as dangerous, argues dietician
A registered dietician has issued a public service announcement on Orthorexia Nervosa, a little-known and rising eating disorder that is often the result of a compulsive and obsessive need to eat healthy.
In 2024 we are all too familiar with the growing epidemic of obesity in not just America, but the entire world. From BMI scores used in schools to the effect of processed foods, we are constantly being fed information that hopes to turn us on to a healthier lifestyle. But health also has a dark side.
WARNING: Content of a disturbing nature ahead
Some think Orthorexia Nervosa is a fake disease
Though a lot of us could undoubtedly do with a healthier mindset when it comes to eating, taking that to the extreme can be just as damaging to your health. Enter Orthorexia Nervosa, a mental health condition that is born from an obsession with clean eating.
“Although being aware of and concerned with the nutritional quality of the food you eat isnt a problem in and of itself, people with orthorexia become so fixated on so-called healthy eating that they actually damage their own well-being and experience health consequences such as malnutrition and/or impairment of psychosocial functioning,” the National Eating Disorders Association says.
Registered dietician Abbey Sharpe, who last month highlighted 4 overrated healthy foods, is no stranger to breaking misinformation for her impressive 853k followers on TikTok. In a clip earlier this week, Abbey stitched a man who claimed that Orthorexia Nervosa was a ploy to keep people eating processed food that makes them sick.
“I’m a dietician so, of course, I want to encourage people to make diet choices that improve their health,” Abbey, who suffered from the condition herself, said.
Abbey said there is a clear difference between say, choosing a chicken salad for lunch because of its health benefits, and “ruminating” over the consequences of indulging in the latest fast food release or guilty pleasure meal.
“It’s the absolute need to hyper-control every food that touches your plate grounded in this fear of potential ill health,” Abbey added. “But this notion of ‘health’ is super short-sighted and incomplete.”
Being healthy is not just about the food you eat
Our health is affected by just about everything we come in contact with, from the chemicals that leak from plastic packaging to the effect of climate change on our bodies. As such, obsessing over the food on your plate doesn’t necessarily equal glowing health.
The expert continued: “Maybe you can control your blood lipids or weight by only eating raw, vegan, single-food ingredients, but at the likely expense of social health, emotional health, and psychological health. Like the mental gymnastics involved in just trying to get yourself fed can be crippling.”
Abbey concluded by noting how pre-social media, the world wasn’t facing an “epidemic” of Orthorexia.
If you or someone you know needs support, there are many eating disorder helplines in the UK here to help. Beat can be contacted at 0808 801 0677 while Mind’s contact number is 0300 123 3393.
If you are based in the USA, you can call NEDA on (800) 931-2237.
