I think you have Orthorexia

[Patrick Yeung]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/26/he...tml?ref=health (wfs)

Dr. Steven Bratman of Denver has come up with a term to describe people obsessed with health food: orthorexia. Orthorexic patients, he says, are fixated on “righteous eating” (the word stems from the Greek word ortho, meaning straight and correct).

“I would tell them, ‘You’re addicted to health food.’ It was my way of having them not take themselves so seriously,” said Dr. Bratman, who published a book on the subject, “Health Food Junkies,” in 2001.

Angelique A. Sallas, a clinical psychologist in Chicago, says the idea of a “health food disorder” is practically meaningless. “I don’t think the symptoms are significantly different enough from bulimia or anorexia that it deserves a special diagnostic category,” Dr. Sallas said. “It’s an obsessive-compulsive problem. The object of the obsession is less relevant than the fact that they are engaging in obsessive behavior.”

Lawl.... I think many of us suffer from this. Especially anyone whos reading and responding to this.

[George Mounce]

I just put MSG on my stir fry. I definitely am not one of those.

[Garrett Smith]

I wonder at what point this is said to begin at, and who determined that.

If one doesn't try to find/secure healthy foods these days, then they almost get unhealthy food by default.

Next thing you know, people will be diagnosed with "pharmaphobia"--the unjustifiable fear of taking pharmaceuticals for their condition.

[Gavin Harrison]

So eating healthy and living a healthy lifestyle is now a "condition" and/or psychological disorder? How about that..

[Dave Van Skike]

I buy it.

I have always felt veganism was a mental illness so why not the paleo freaks.

[Scott Kustes]

Paleo doesn't support the GDP. It has to be an illness.

[Mike ODonnell]

I drink beer....I'm safe.

[Emily Mattes]

The difference between orthorexia and healthy eating is like the difference between anorexia and losing weight or bigorexia and trying to put on a few pounds of muscle. Nobody would argue that losing weight, adding muscle, or eating healthy are inherently bad things. It's when you take them to extremes, to the point where they psychologically consume you and negatively affect other facets of your life like family, friends, work, health, etc that it becomes a problem.

Having just a bite of your daughter's wedding cake and choosing the salad over the pasta is healthy eating. Skipping your daughter's wedding entirely because she wouldn't tailor the reception dinner to your eating needs and you're angry that you might intake more that 50 grams of carbs that day is orthorexia.

A six-year-old who knows that it is better to have a piece of fruit than a piece of candy is a six-year-old who is being taught healthy eating habits. A six-year-old who has a panic attack when confronted with a piece of birthday cake because he's worried about the sugar content is being taught an extremely unhealthy relationship with food.

Moderation with everything, you know?

[Dave Van Skike]

Originally Posted by Emily Mattes

Moderation with everything, you know?

sounds good... but is moderation paleo?

[George Mounce]

Originally Posted by Dave Van Skike

I buy it.

I have always felt veganism was a mental illness so why not the paleo freaks.

Yes because choosing either of those makes you a "freak", and eating total garbage makes you "normal".

So its "normal" to kill yourself through food, but its "freakish" to eat healthy food.

Sounds almost like a political debate I once heard...

Also read the article Dave, that dudes ideas on what "healthy" are, are kind of ridiculous.