Orthorexia Nervosa

This section contains the following information about Orthorexia Nervosa;

What is orthorexia nervosa?

Orthorexia is a relatively new diagnosed form of disordered eating that is characterized when individuals go to extremes and obsess about a healthy diet. It literally means a ‘fixation on correct eating’. Unlike anorexia or bulimia, the individual consumes without purging, however they becomes so engrossed with what they are eating that their lives become governed by their diet. Only healthy foods are part of the diet, they also scrutinise the nutritional content of every single item that they eat. Anything that is found to contain even just a trace of what is on the ‘not allowed’ list is not to be consumed and is discarded immediately.

Sufferers will not allow themselves under any circumstance to deviate from their schedule of permitted food types.

In sufferers of Orthorexia, healthy eating turns into fanaticism. The overall quality of their life is diminished if the "quality" of their diet decreases. Physical health can also be put at risk in some sufferers (not getting a correct balance of healthy and ‘unhealthy’ foods can inflict malnutrition upon the patient). Individuals with Orthorexia sometimes become too thin, however their obsession is predominantly with eating healthily, opposed to losing weight.

In addition to undertaking personal research on foods and meals, Orthorexic sufferers will often call food companies and restaurants for additional information on products. They begin to obsess about unlisted ingredients and also worry about contamination during the processing of food products.

Finding food often becomes difficult; food bills put a strain on financial budgets of sufferers. This is because it becomes expensive searching for and purchasing specialty foods that meet personal quality standards of Orthorexics.

The “not allowed” food list often becomes longer because those suffering become afraid to ‘risk’ consuming unsafe/impure foods. As the list grows longer, it is virtually impossible for an Orthorexic to eat outside the home, thus this is one reason for social isolation.

Orthorexia Nervosa

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