What on earth do you mean?

Healthy eating is great, right, so shouldn’t we all be doing it? Typically, yes, there are so many benefits to healthy eating – more energy, improved health, superior cognitive performance, better well-being – so don’t let this article encourage you to put down the quinoa salad and pick up the crispy crème doughnut just yet…

However, occasionally, eating ‘healthily’ can cause problems, if you become too obsessed with it. Experts have identified a new kind of disordered eating called orthorexia. Orthorexia refers to an obsession with healthy eating, where an individual can become fixated with only eating healthy, ‘pure’, high quality or natural foods. Cases are now being documented where individuals become so ridged and controlled about what they eat they can:

  • spend so much time stressing about food and preparing food they don’t have time in their life for important things like study, friends and work
  • become stuck in cycles of shame, depression, guilt and feelings of failure if they deviate from eating what they perceive to be a healthy diet
  • harshly judge themselves and/or others for eating ‘unhealthy’ food
  • stop socialising with friends and family to avoid situations where they might have to eat ‘unhealthy’ food
  • avoid going away on holiday because they can’t access the food they like to eat

What causes orthorexia?

Causes are poorly understood, but as with eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia, it’s likely to be a combination of factors. Often individuals start healthy eating for very good reasons – to improve their health, for body building, or wanting to minimise their impact on the environment or animal suffering. But for a small number of people, they then take it to the extreme – maybe because they have an obsessive/perfectionist personality, have experienced past trauma, or are feeling pressure to look or behave a certain way. It can also be part of another eating disorder like anorexia or bulimia. Our research highlights some of the key features of orthorexia and influences on its development (see here).

The Blonde Vegan was a well know example of a person suffering with orthorexia – she was a lifestyle blogger who documented how following her vegan diet had helped with her stomach problems. She shared her diet with all her followers which got more and more extreme eventually consisting of mainly juice cleanses. One day she admitted to her followers that she had become consumed with anxiety over her food to the extent she was having difficulty sleeping. Her hair was also thinning and her periods had stopped, suggesting her body wasn’t getting the food it needed. After seeking help for what had become disordered eating, she now calls herself the Balanced Blonde promoting a more relaxed and less extreme approach to diet and health.

Why is orthorexia emerging now?

Our society is becoming increasingly concerned with healthy eating and healthy lifestyles. Research has shown the importance of healthy lifestyles in managing the increasing number of lifestyle related conditions in our society like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Therefore public health campaigns have rightly promoted healthy eating; but there is a downside. We can often feel bombarded with messages about healthy eating, with advertisers, the food industry and bloggers all getting in on the act. The messages they promote can often be conflicting, making it confusing and overwhelming for individuals to decide what to eat.

The role of social media may also be important. With beautiful people promoting their images of health and well-being, encouraging people to follow and emulate them. It can be easy to get caught up with the glamour of the images. Although often this is only what it is, a glamorous image, those promoting this lifestyle sometimes admit they don’t always eat the food they post about and may use filters on their image posts. The image presented above is a piece of street art appeared in Central London, which sums up these messages.

Tips around healthy eating.

Do your best to eat well and be active (see here for advice on this), but try not to become over focused or obsessed with these things. Remember enjoying yourself and socialising with friends is also good for you.

Following an extreme diet or prioritising healthy eating in your life doesn’t mean you have orthorexia though. Many people follow diets like keto, vegan, clean eating approaches and feel great. However, if you are finding that trying to stick to your diet is causing you stress or health problems you should consider becoming more relaxed in your approach.

If you are wondering if you might have orthorexia, there’s a self test you can do which provides some guidance. Tips around managing orthorexia can be found in this article.

If you are recovering/have recovered from an eating disorder it may be advisable not to choose to follow very strict eating approaches or ‘rules’, as these may re-trigger your disordered eating.

Avoid labelling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as this can lead to feelings of moral superiority (when eating ‘good’ food) and guilt and shame (when eating ‘bad’ foods).

If you are concerned that you have developed an unhealthy relationship with food that is affecting your health and well-being, seek medical advice from your General Practitioner.

You can also check out counselling/wellbeing services at your University; where you can seek advice and possibly talk through concerns you have. For University of Westminster students, you can find this here.