114: Do I have orthorexia or am I just a healthy eater? Recognising the signs before your relationship with food turns into an unhealthy obsession.

Are you always trying to eat perfectly healthy?

As a dietitian, I've watched the pursuit of perfect health become an all-consuming battle for many. Myself included. 

In today's episode, we dive into orthorexia nervosa, the thin line between healthy eating and an extreme fixation on so-called 'clean' eating.

We'll explore how the pursuit of eating perfectly can lead to nutritional deficiencies, social isolation, and worsen our mental health. And discuss the importance of support, understanding our relationship with food, and the journey back to enjoying life - beyond what's on our plates.

But recognising the problem is the first step to healing. So, let's get into it.

If you think you may be struggling with orthorexia, please speak to your GP, or get more support at The Butterfly Foundation. 

Want to feel more in control around food? Check out my Stop Struggling With Food Guide, currently on sale for 40% off.
You’ll also find 50 of my favourite recipes to get you inspired!

Looking for more support to feel in control around food? I'd love to support you in my Binge Free Academy. 

Come follow me on the gram at @nude_nutritionist (no nude pics, sorry).

Want to share some feedback or have an idea for an episode, I'd LOVE to hear from you - hit me up at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi everyone and welcome to today's episode of no
Wellness Wankery.
I am your dietitian and yourhost, lindy Cohen, and someone
who has, at times in my life,become overly obsessed with
trying to be healthy, and thatis the case with something like
orthorexia.
What we're seeing are peoplewho are striving to only eat

(00:20):
pure, clean, healthy foods in anattempt to try and get the
ideal version of health, and theirony of trying to do so is
that the restrictions that areplaced on you from all these
food rules you have are actuallytaking you further away from
being healthy, and this is notgood.
So what is orthorexia?

(00:46):
Orthorexia nervosa is, well,it's an obsession with eating
healthily, and sometimes it's afixation on the quality of how
healthy something is, how pure,how clean something is it's a
term that we get a lot thesedays rather than something like
the quantity or how manycalories something has.
So, for example, it might be anacai bowl, might be something

(01:08):
that's considered very okay andticks a lot of the boxes that an
orthorexic person is going tobe interested in eating, but for
someone who's got something alittle bit more like an anorexic
tendency, they might not bewilling to have something like
that.
And what ends up happening withorthorexia is we start to
create all these food rules,about food, so maybe people tend

(01:28):
to cut out things like gluten.
They tend to go vegan,vegetarian, pescatarian, maybe
gluten-free.
They show quite an unusualinterest in what other people
are eating.
That's something that oftenhappens.
They can be really obsessivewith following a healthy
lifestyle blogger or some othersocial media figure, really

(01:49):
being interested in those what Ieat in a day kind of videos,
which I find are incrediblyunhelpful.
And what this can lead to, thisobsession, is nutrient
deficiencies.
Where you're just not gettingthe right mix of foods, you can
experience things like moodswings, anxiety and depression.
You can find it really hard tosocialize and you might find

(02:10):
yourself withdrawing from thosesocial occasions, particularly
the ones where food is involved,and honestly, I don't know
about you, but almost all of mysocial occasions involve foods.
That can make it really trickyand can be incredibly isolating.
You might experience extremeguilt if you eat anything that
you consider not healthy basedon the rules that you have in

(02:31):
your brain about what youconsider healthy enough.
And if you do eat according toyour strict set of rules, you
might start to feel better andcontrolled and like you're good
and it can be a really punishingthing to try and chase these
really extreme goals that you'veset for yourself.
You might find that you arealso obsessively checking the

(02:51):
ingredients and really listeningand reading lots of content
related to healthy eating, somuch so that it has gone from a
hobby or an interest into anobsession.
So where is the line betweenhealthy eating and orthorexia?
And I think this is a reallybrilliant question, because I
think diet culture has reallymade some orthorexic behaviors

(03:12):
celebrated, something thateveryone thinks oh, my goodness,
I can't believe you've got suchgood willpower.
Oh, wow, you brought your ownfood to the lunch.
Wow, I wish I was as dedicatedas you.
But if you're doing somethingwhere you feel like you are so
committed to your eating planthat you can't relax around it
enough to eat what everyone elseis eating, you know within

(03:33):
realm when you go to a socialoccasion it might be a clue that
your healthy eating has becomeunhealthy.
I think this determination toeat more healthily or clean can
start off innocent enough thatit can quickly become a
disordered relationship witheating.
Your relationship with eating,your relationship with healthy
eating, becomes problematic whenit starts to consume you,

(03:54):
control you and keep your lifesmall.
So, for example, if you'relying in bed at night really
feeling stressed about what youate that day, going through
everything that you ate, tryingto work out whether or not it
was okay or not, I think that islimiting your potential.
It's taking up a lot ofheadspace, leaving less room for

(04:16):
important things for you to bethinking about.
It becomes really stressfultrying to work out what you're
going to eat when you go out fordinner with your friends, so
much so that you end up perhapsnot going.
You might have found that whenyou first started eating
healthily that you could stilleat quite a few foods, but as
you progress toward anorthorexic mindset, the list of
foods that you are allowed toeat has become smaller and
smaller.

(04:42):
Now here's the thing there is nocategory specific to orthorexia
in the DSM-5, but it isactually captured in the DSM-5
under something called avoidant,restrictive food intake
disorder, which is what we callARFID.
It's basically a broaddiagnostic category that holds
orthorexia, as well as a wholebunch of other eating and

(05:03):
feeding disturbances.
Now, to be diagnosed withsomething like ARFID, for
orthorexia would include anavoidance or a restriction of
food intake, and nutritional orenergy needs are inadequate.
And then you have to haveanother one of these experiences
, one of the following thingsthere is a significant weight
loss or an inability to gain ageappropriate weight.

(05:24):
There are nutritionaldeficiencies the person requires
enteral feeding or oralsupplementation.
Or there is impairedpsychosocial functioning,
basically meaning you're findingit tricky to eat out with
everyone else.
Now I think it's not that hardto be able to qualify for
something like this.
But even if you're not takingthose criteria, I think, even if

(05:44):
you notice you're starting tobecome obsessive over what you
eat, you feel like there aremore and more food rules that
are overcoming you.
We don't need to wait until youget a diagnosis before we can
do something about it.
So if you think you're startingto become overly fixated or
concerned with how healthydifferent foods are, try asking
yourself if it's worthsacrificing your joy and your

(06:07):
connection in your life just tobe slightly healthier,
remembering what is yourdefinition of healthy.
And perhaps you sit down andyou think about what does
healthy look like to you?
Think about a time in your lifewhen you felt you're most
vibrant.
Were you obsessive over whatyou were eating or was there a
bit of relaxedness with how youwere eating.
And what about your body?

(06:27):
Do you remember that happy time?
Were you preoccupied with whatyou looked like, obsessively
looking at yourself in themirror, taking photos, weighing
yourself?
Or were you also feeling alittle bit more relaxed about
your body, even if you perhapsweighed?
A little bit more relaxed aboutyour body, even if you perhaps
weighed a little bit more thanwhat you weigh now?
Remember that food has so manypurposes in our life beyond just
giving you energy.

(06:47):
It is a tool for connectingwith others.
It's meant to be pleasurableand delicious.
That's why it tastes good andit's something you can create
memories around.
So limiting your food choicescan limit the benefit of food.
What I would recommend you do ifyou're going oh, okay, I don't
even know if I might beorthorexic it's still a really

(07:08):
good idea to go and getprofessional help from a
psychologist or a dieticianSomeone.
Please go find someone whospecializes in eating disorders,
and this is going to be one ofthe most powerful ways to
prevent you from developing aneating disorder.
It'll help you get the supportthat you need.
Basically, what they willsupport you to do is to slowly
reintroduce your fear foods,starting with the ones that

(07:31):
you're less afraid of andworking your way up to the ones
that you've come to consider themost anxiety inducing or
unclean, and they're going tosupport you in this process.
And yes, change is necessary.
But what you're going todiscover in the process of
change is you're going to regainso much more of your life.
I really want you to know thatyou can completely recover from

(07:54):
orthorexia and go back to havinga positive and a balanced
relationship with food, but youneed the right support to do it.
It's way too isolating, toolonely and too hard to keep
trying to do it by yourself.
You can get a team around you.
The best place to start make anappointment with your doctor.
Go tell them what you'refeeling, their thoughts around

(08:14):
food, and they can refer youonto the right support crew for
you, to the right support crewfor you.
I hope you've got some benefitfrom listening to today's
episode.
If you know of someone whomight benefit from listening to
this episode, please do flickthem a listen so that they can
benefit as well, and I'll seeyou next week.
Bye.