Orthorexia is basically the extreme version of being healthy where people feel an obligation to eat by a strict set of rules when in reality I believe that the healthiest course of action is to abide by the old saying “everything in moderation.” For example, while eating cake isn’t seen as being healthy and certainly would never be recommended as a staple for any diet, it is something that many people enjoy and so having it every once in a while as a treat shouldn’t make anyone feel guilty.
I believe I used to be a victim of orthorexia as the amount of rules I forced upon myself became so intense that I found myself becoming more and more isolated. I couldn’t meet up with friends if food or drink was involved (and when doesn’t it) because I knew that in doing so I would be putting myself in a position where I wouldn’t be able to have much, if any, control over my food as I wouldn’t be able to guarantee that the various ingredients in a dish would align with my rules. I even ended up taking it a step further where my workout routine became so obsessive that I couldn’t even enjoy a 25 minute TV episode as I would start to feel guilty for having not more effectively used that time where I could instead have been exercising or out running. In fact, this behavior ended up resulting in an intervention from some of my friends because they saw it as being more harmful than good and they were right. You see, I was spending hours a day at the gym as well as limiting my intake to the point where instead of being healthy I was more on par with living an unhealthy lifestyle that could be classified as being closer to anorexia (anorexia athletica) than anything else.
I was obsessed with becoming as fit as possible and more importantly, of physically representing this idea of being supremely fit. I would allow myself a treat a day in order to maintain a semblance of sanity but even that had to fit with my rules (it was an organic vegan oatmeal cookie) so as far as treats go, it wasn’t the most satisfying (I mentioned cake in my introduction earlier because I’m currently in love with Victoria sponge which is much more satisfying). I don’t qualify as being orthorexic or as being classified as having anorexia athletica anymore but my standards for myself haven’t changed much. I still want to be extremely fit and I still want my body and my lifestyle to embody that so what has actually changed? Really, it’s my level of knowledge that has changed as I’m now aware that the way I was living before wasn’t the best way to achieve the goals that I had set for myself. Overtraining is a real thing and my reason for training as much as I did was so that I could improve as fast as possible but really I was causing catabolism to occur and making myself more susceptible to injury and so was actually impeding my ability to improve my overall fitness. Not only that, but the way in which I was limiting my food intake so that I could better physically represent my efforts and achievements was also working against me. I wasn’t consuming enough in order to repair my muscles to the degree required and my low calorie intake was causing my metabolism to slow to the point where my results were starting to slow instead of increase at a consistent rate.
I was sabotaging myself and therefore limiting my ability to achieve what I wanted to achieve. Now however, I’m more educated and so I know how to go about reaching my goals and, not surprisingly, the way to do this is also the healthiest way to live… Shocking really that doing what’s best for your body begets the most desirable results. So, while orthorexia is considered to be a psychological issue, I see it as being an issue derived from a lack of knowledge. For myself, I can even enjoy cake these days without feeling guilty because I know my overall actions align with my goals and that my more realistic view on how I should eat and live is much more beneficial in the long run and significantly more sustainable too.
So if there's anything to remember from this post it's "everything in moderation." While I understand that knowing what's classified as being moderate isn't always easy, you'll definitely know what the extremes are if you encounter them. Yes, it's a case of trial and error but you won't know what's right for you until you try and there are a lot of resources out there (and of course here) that can help you minimize the errors in your trials. Don't let yourself get stuck in an unhealthy way of life as I did, and certainly not with the false belief that it's healthy.
In a study done by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) orthorexia symptomatology had a 57.6% prevalence with a female/male ratio of 2:1 from a sample size of 177 adults.
North Dakota State University (NDSU) notes that 35% of people who start a “normal” diet will take their diet to unhealthy extremes, and up to 25% of this group will develop a full-blown eating disorder. More statistics on eating disorders from NDSU can be found here.