Orthorexia: When Eating Healthy is Unhealthy By: Sarah Crissinger RN

Seattle is the fourth healthiest city in the United States and Seattleites are the second healthiest eaters according to a recent survey by Sperling’s Best Places (2013). You can’t go far without seeing a cross fit gym, yoga studio or a high end grocery store. The Paleo Diet, “eating clean”, and The Raw Foods Diet are commonplace in the Seattle culture and have undoubtedly helped some ward off early disease, increase health, vitality, and quality of life.  For some, what starts as eating healthier can become an all consuming obsession. The paradox is eating healthy can be unhealthy.

Orthorexia is an unofficial diagnosis that was named by Steven Bratman MD, who discovered the disorder after recognizing his own unhealthy obsession with healthy eating. Orthorexia is derived from Greek meaning right/proper appetite (Bratman, 2013). Obsession with being healthy and pure is what differentiates Orthorexia from other eating disorders. Like other eating disorders Orthorexics often have a need for control, and make food/way of eating a source of identity and validation. Perfectionism and black and white thinking often keep Orthorexics obsessed with following a diet strictly or they can struggle with accepting themselves.

Orthorexia embodies traits of Anorexia and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as foods allowed in the diet are reduced to a point where unhealthy weight loss and malnutrition ensue.  Some attributes of Orthorexia can be; extremely limiting the types of foods eaten, such as any food with the possibility of having pesticides, GMO’s, being non-organic or specific ingredients and entire food groups (Nelson, Zerasky, 2011). Dr. Steven Bratman describes how some Orthorexics limit food intake to a dangerously low and even fatal level of nutritional variety by only allowing themselves to eat a couple types of food items (2013).  Additional components of the disorder are obsessive compulsiveness regarding food preparation such as excessive washing of foods and not being able to eat out or eat food prepared by others, and spending excessive time thinking about healthy food (Nelson, Zerasky, 2011).

 Healthy diets, such as the ones mentioned earlier, in and of themselves are not necessarily disordered but can cross the border into Orthorexia when; 1) Fixation on food becomes all consuming. 2) Personal relationships and other areas of life suffer due to rigidity to the diet often resulting in isolation. 3) Immense guilt, anxiety, mood swings and self loathing persist when the diet is not followed.

The tricky thing about eating disorders including Orthorexia is the denial of having one. Especially due to the food restriction in Orthorexia often stemming from a medical condition, food sensitivity, allergy, or wanting better health. If you feel like you follow a very strict diet to be healthy and other’s have shared concerns or you have noticed that the obsession in healthy eating is taking away from important areas of your life, Ramey Nutrition is here to support you. Ramey Nutrition offers individualized care that begins with an individual session with one of our Dietitians. We work with many therapists specializing in eating disorders in the Seattle area that we can refer you to in order to address deeper underlying emotional issues. Ramey Nutrition offers you a full recovery that results in a restored relationship with food, ownership over your health, and freedom to begin living your life fully again.

References:

Bratman, S.(2013) Orthorexia. Retrieved on 09/04/10 from: www.orthorexia.com

Nelson, J., Zerask, K.(2011) Orthorexia: When eating healthy goes awry. The Mayo Clinic.Retrieved on 09/04/2013

from:  http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/orthorexia/MY00768

California Shines, Ohio aches in battle for healthiest city (2013). Sperling’s Best Places. Retrieved on September

12, 2013 from: http://www.bestplaces.net/docs/studies/healthy.aspx

The Mask of Halloween by Kate Kaczor

The Mask of Halloween by Kate Kaczor

If you have taken a walk down our Seattle streets recently, you will have noticed a few changes. The air is a bit crisper, the leaves are changing colors, and pumpkins are seated upon the porches of most homes. It is clear, October is upon us. While October brings about many joys throughout the entire month, its claim to fame comes on its final day. The holiday designed to scare our pants off, Halloween, is one of the most celebrated holidays by Americans. We love going to haunted houses, having costume parties, and the pumpkin-flavored, well, everything.

The Halloween we know and love today has an ancient history. The holiday is said to have originated over 2,000 years ago in the area that is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France by the Celtic population. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1^st. They viewed this day as the end of the summer and harvest time and the beginning of winter and season of hunger and death. In preparation for the New Year, on October 31, a festival known as called Samhain was held. During this festival the Celts dressed up in costumes in hopes they could ward off the ghosts they feared would come the next day to create chaos and destroy their crops.

Halloween has changed quite a bit since the time of the Celts, but one thing has remained constant: the costumes. It is the one day out of the year where it is socially acceptable to dress up however you please and pretend to be someone else. It makes sense that this tradition of escaping our identity has been a constant in this holiday so closely associated with fear and terror. When we are threatened with some of our fears, whether it be spiders, witches, or screaming kids with candy, we often search for a way to disconnect from situations in order to avoid dealing with the fear. Our hope is that if we can avoid being ourselves, the situation that is causing the fear will simply disappear.

This may work out okay on Halloween. After the night is over, the ghosts and ghouls are put away, the kids are calmed down after their sugar fix, and life goes back to normal, until Thanksgiving at least. However, there is a point where this strategy to protect ourselves becomes harmful, where we become so afraid to leave shelter of the costume and strongly fear returning to our own identity.

This is something many individuals struggling with eating disorders can strongly relate to. Many of these individuals have faced situations that were too scary to handle at the time. In order to cope with this, they clung onto something that allowed them to disconnect from the situation and therefore, survive. They put on the mask of the eating disorder, taking on that identity and attempting to protect their own in the process. This can be highly effective in the moment and there is little doubt that the eating disorder does its job. It helps the person survive the situation without having to cope with such extreme pain. But then what happens?

If you are struggling with an eating disorder, you may view it as your lifeline, a lifeline you are not capable of leaving. You may think, “If the eating disorder helped me get through this situation, how will I be able to survive if I leave it?” “Will I be able to make it on my own if I let go?” “Am I able to fully face my emotions and life’s challenges, if I am myself?”

This situation can become very frustrating for those in eating disorder treatment. Often, patients come to a point where they desire to be free of the eating disorder, but at the same time are terrified to leave. There may be feelings of shame, humiliation, and defeat. It is important to remember, however, that it is perfectly normal to have this attachment to the eating disorder. Just as the Celts dressed up in costumes to help ward of the ghosts who threatened their existence, putting on the mask of the eating disorder is a tool we often use in order to get through a difficult time. Without the costumes, the Celts feared they would not survive the winter. It likely would have caused them panic and anxiety to remove the costumes and pursue other avenues such as preserving food or migrating to land with a better climate, even if it made logical sense to them. Clinging to the costumes may have prevented them from achieving their goals, but the thought of doing something different would have created fear. The costumes provided them with such comfort, and they were uncertain of the outcome if they changed their course of action.

The same is true for eating disorders. It is important to let go of shame, acknowledging that the eating disorder is not a character flaw; rather we may have needed it to survive. In recognizing this, we can take small steps to take off the mask and let go of the eating disorder. By taking those small steps we practice living life without the assistance of the eating disorder. There may be times when we return to the mask and that’s okay, we just need to remember that each time we choose to remove the mask and be our true selves, we are going down the path of recovery.

If you need support in letting go of your eating disorder, facing your fears, and living the life that is true for you, call Ramey Nutrition to get an individual assessment with one of our providers.

Sources:

http://www.history.com/topics/halloween

Eating in the Light of the Moon by Anita Johnson, Ph.D (1996)