This morning on
CBC Radio's The Current, host Anna Maria Tremonti tackled the issue of obsessive healthy eating - now termed Orthorexia Nervosa.
If you've never heard of it, it's a condition where someone becomes overly obsessed with healthy eating to the point of malnutrition. It's not officially recognized as an eating disorder quite yet, but many nutritionists and doctors are reporting that the condition does exist - people are becoming unhealthily obsessed with healthy eating.
As proponents of healthy eating, we wanted to know what does it look like and how do you know if you're at risk?
Experts suggest that the red flags are diets that become progressively restrictive AND that the motivation for these restrictions is a fear of specific ingredients or anything that might be seen as unhealthy.
For example, going vegan, then raw foodist, then drinking only kale juice. Other red flags include when food thoughts, preparation and consumption start to take up a disproportionate amount of time and when you can no longer eat out or socialize because your food restrictions are so severe.
We shared
Lynsey Walker's story a few months ago about her dance with the dark side of healthy eating. She's a nutritionist who found herself at risk for becoming overly obsessed because of her fear of unhealthy foods. Luckily, she recognized it and was able to pull herself back to a more moderate approach to healthy eating.
It's one of the reasons we were so happy to have Lynsey as part of our advisor group for
tuja's 21-Day Eat Clean Challenge, coming up on May 4th. During the challenge, we'll talk a lot about finding that right balance (for you) of healthy foods and fun foods. We'll explore the importance of moderation, in all things.
Food should be flavourful and fun.
This was our favourite take-away from this cautionary story - food needs to
nourish the body, mind and soul. Food provides sustenance, yes, but it also provides pleasure. If you've dabbled in our recipes, you know
we're big fans of taste and we're definitely not fans of going hungry in the name of health.
We're so glad that CBC brought this issue to the foreground. We believe that your relationship with food needs to be as healthy as the food itself. And that limiting (not necessarily eliminating) unhealthy food choices is a great way to stay on top of your health but that keeping your restrictions in check will result in overall optimal wellness.
What do you think? Can we achieve optimal health through moderation? Or, do you think these warnings are exaggerated?
Where do you draw the line?
Valerie McTavish from Kelowna, British Columbia
Valerie McTavish is a professional writer and video producer living ‘the good life’ in Kelowna, BC. She’s a long-time decision evader which she satisfies by letting a roll of the dice deliver her to spontaneous fun. Follow her adventures by chance at www.zufalladventures.com.
More about the author
