Orthorexia is an eating disorder characterized by excessive preoccupation of eating “healthy” or “clean” food. For some it may start to improve health, but quickly becomes a fixation with “healthy” or “clean” eating to the point where it interferes in everyday functioning with side effects including isolation, depression, anxiety, malnutrition, weight loss, and the ability to eat in an intuitive way.

People with orthorexia are “solely concerned with the quality of the food they put in their bodies, refining and restricting their diets according to their personal understanding of which foods are truly ‘pure’.” This differs from other eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating disorder, where those affected focus on the quantity of food eaten. So a person with anorexia may eat a large quantity of food they deem “healthy” and avoid foods they deem “unhealthy.” The main characteristic is rigidity based on the quality of food.

Some warning signs are:

• Obsessively checking nutrition labels and ingredients
• Heightened concern about the ingredient’s health
• You may cut out entire food groups (meat, dairy, carbs)
• You refuse to eat food that are not deemed “healthy” or “clean”
• Intense fear of “unhealthy” foods and will avoid them at all costs
• Spend inordinate amount of time and money shopping, planning, and preparing meals which interferes with other areas of their lives
• May excessively criticize or judgment other people’s eating habits
• Avoid social events involving food
• Bring premade meals to events and occasions because the food there is not “healthy” enough
• Malnutrition and/or weight loss from food restriction 

While Orthorexia is not in the DSM-V as a mental disorder, most believe it is a subcategory of an eating disorder or obsessive compulsive disorder. Either way it can have a major impact on your life and treatment is necessary. Some forms of treatment include psychotherapy, food exposure, behavioral modification, psycho-education, and cognitive behavior therapy. For some nutritional deficiencies are so high risk that an inpatient setting may be most appropriate.

If you are missing or obsessively avoiding “less-than-perfect” meals or snacks, you may have orthorexia and support is available. Please check out my website and blog at http://recoveryfromanorexia.com for psychotherapy and certified eating disorder coaching or https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/ for additional information and resources.

Warmly,

Meredith