Do you simply love indulging in healthy foods? The South African Nutrition Experts Panel (SANEP) warns that this too can become an unhealthy obsession.

People, who are taking the health gospel too far, could be setting themselves up for a disorder called "orthorexia nervosa". The name orthorexia nervosa literally means "a fixation on righteous eating" – i.e. when healthy eating is taken to such an extreme that it becomes an obsession.

Advertisement

According to experts, there is an increase in the number of people who are suffering from this relatively new disorder (that can't be found in any diagnostic manual).

"The fact that I've seen a growing number of patients with orthorexia is hardly surprising," says Cari Corbet-Owen, psychologist to SANEP and author of Mind over Fatter.

Social, cultural trends at play
She explains that eating disorders follow social and cultural trends. The rise in anorexia (found mainly in women) follows the media ideal that for western women, thinness equals beauty.

The phenomenon of bigorexia (found predominantly in men) follows the advent of TV shows such as WWF and Gladiator, gyms becoming big business, and muscularity being sold as "powerful and strong" by a host of magazines aimed at men.

"Orthorexia is destined to be the new eating-disorder-kid-on-the-block," Corbet-Owen says. "It's following hot on the heels of the organics movement and a growing backlash against junk food, pesticides and processed food."

She believes that orthorexia is also fuelled by the new wave of spirituality that focuses on a "holistic" approach to health. "In some cases this 'healthy eating' can take on almost pseudo-spiritual connotations with sufferers feeling 'holier than thou' as they gulp back sprouts and tofu, only to crash into a tub of 'illegal' ice cream – followed by guilt," Cobet-Owen says.

The cycle and end results of both anorexia and orthorexia can be the same: ludicrous restriction and emaciation and, in extreme cases, death. But while anorexia is about quantity, orthorexia is about quality.

Patients misdiagnosed, mistreated
Corbet-Owen admits that despite having a special interest in eating disorders, she never heard of this disorder until asked to investigate it.

"Going through my case files, I can think of at least three gaunt faces that come back to haunt me as, believing they were anorexic, I misdiagnosed and mistreated them," she says. – (SANEP)
 

Print this article

Rate this article Poor 1 2 3 4 5 Excellent

JOBS

Senior Secretary Gauteng - North/Sandton Infrastructure Resource Gauteng - Johannesburg Management Accountant R450,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial Manager R350,000-400,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial and Project Accountant R300,000-360,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg Financial Accountant R380,000-420,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - Johannesburg SSIS Business Intelligence Specialists (SSIS; SSAS) R350,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - North/Sandton Financial Accountant R350,000-450,000 Per Annum Cost To Company Gauteng - South Find more jobs Register your CV Post a job