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Permalink Reply by Helen Howes on April 28, 2011 at 1:11am

Orthorexia isn't new. The name is derived from the Greek... And, by definition, any diabetic who controls their food intake by looking at how it affects their blood sugar in order to stabilise their numbers, is orthorexic. I found a reference to this "disorder" when I was first diagnosed -
Diabetic Nurse "You'll end up orthorexic"
Me "Good"

But as with all these things, it's a label, not an actuality.. My elder daughter was a fussy eater as a small child - lived for a long time on cheese porridge and black cherry yoghurt.. I wouldn't recommend that as a diet, but she grew up OK on it and eventually discovered other things she wanted to eat...

For a long time I didn't use milk. If I had an allergy that would have been regarded as OK, just not liking the stuff is apparently pathological... I also don't touch yoghurt - it makes me feel really sick. Same nurse told me that yoghurt (Low Fat!) was compulsory every day...

HH

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on April 28, 2011 at 2:25am

I think you should reconsider the definition of orthorexia. It's an UNHEALTHY obsession with "healthy" eating.

Not liking the taste of dairy products -- or feeling squidgy after eating some -- is not orthorexic.

Deciding to shun all dairy products because you read an obscure blog post or three or ten that dairy products are (supposedly) "bad for you" is orthorexia. The issue is: are you shunning foods because of imprecise and/or incorrect data that they are bad for you, in an obsessive quest to have a "perfectly healthy" diet, thereby depriving yourself of an innocent source of nutrients, and furthering malnutrition, social isolation and obsessive thinking in the process?

I hate liver. That's not orthorexia. "Anyone who eats liver is poisoning themselves." That's orthorexia.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on April 28, 2011 at 4:18am

I just copied the definition from the article. I agree that it would be a good idea to reconsider it!

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Permalink Reply by Frances on April 28, 2011 at 6:38am

There was an article in the NYT mag once about a woman who was super-concerned with healthy eating and ended up contracting scurvy because she was avoiding vitamin-C containing fruits.

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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on April 28, 2011 at 7:34am

Although we think of fruits as the only source of vitamin C, that is just not true. Other good sources include veggies like cabbage, spinach, peppers and cauliflower. And surprisingly other sources include brains, heart, roe, tongue, raw oysters, and livers. Fresh goat, camel, and cow milk also contain vitamin C. I've been eating a lot more liver stuff lately, 100 g of beef liver contains 27 mg of vitamin C, four times the amount found in an apple.

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Permalink Reply by BadMoonT2 on April 28, 2011 at 9:06am

The Inuit, eating their traditional diet, who had no fruit and limited seasonal berries got their vitamin C from liver and other organ meats.

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Permalink Reply by Frances on April 28, 2011 at 12:30pm

Yeah, well she wasn't an Inuit, unfortunately for her. They were able to cure her with intravenous vitamin C tho. I just looked up the article and it was 2/26/06.

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Permalink Reply by Brian (bsc) on April 28, 2011 at 1:28pm

I've been on a liverwurst kick. I think I much prefer liverwurst to an IV.

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Permalink Reply by She Ra on May 2, 2011 at 4:08am

I think you should reconsider the definition of orthorexia. It's an UNHEALTHY obsession with "healthy" eating.

That is an oxymoron LOL.

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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on April 28, 2011 at 2:18am

Hey there. I created a blog post about orthorexia not too long ago. I think it's an important consideration, especially for diabetics. Our food choices are already so fraught with drama: "Will this slice of birthday cake result in a double foot amputation in twenty years?" I think it's an important subject to consider, perhaps even with a qualified therapist if we can see shades of ourselves in the description of orthorexia. I know I do. Ironically, one can be morbidly obese AND obsessed in an unhelpful way with "perfectly healthy" eating. I have a tendency to want to banish entire food groups in my desperation to get control of my diabetes and my weight -- and I mean recently, not just when I was in my 20's.

I think there is a WORLD of difference between sensible portion control ("I'm going to have a one-ounce serving of walnuts, not the entire bag") versus orthorexia ("All nuts are too high in fat; I'm banishing nuts from my food universe for all time in my quest for dietary perfection".)

People with an understanding of the healthy fiber, protein and most of all, essential fatty acids that are GOOD for us will see the irony in the above examples. An orthorexic response to foods -- especially based on nutritional fads -- often turns out to be highly counter-productive in the long run. Fats were 'the enemy' of every dieter just a few years ago; now we see sensible portions of healthy fats as an important part of our diets again.

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Permalink Reply by Holger Schmeken on April 28, 2011 at 2:24am

To avoid some foods is far away from eating a small variety of sanctioned food I assume. Like you I have a problem with one fruit: I can not stand the texture of Mango in my mouth - it makes me shudder.

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Permalink Reply by Brunetta on April 28, 2011 at 4:04am

Holger, I too, hate the taste and smell of Mangos, abhor the spice oregano, and find the texture of vermicelli and spaghetti to be slimy, worm-like and gross.. and I am not orthorexic.. I .just do not like them!!! ( mac and cheese, a southern delicacy ,are another story: I love it but have to run away or take a very small portion

God Bless,
Brunetta

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