Orthorexia, when eating healthy is not as healthy as it seems

This psychological disorder has been described for such a short time (1998) that it has not yet entered as such in psychology manuals. In fact there is a strong discussion about whether it exists as such.

Orthorexia would be defined in any case as the obsession of an individual to eat healthy, to the point where they can self-harm both physically and psychologically. Can eating healthy be harmful? Yes, as long as it becomes something obsessive. In fact, one of the reasons that is argued against orthorexia as a disorder is that it would actually be a manifestation of obsessive-compulsive behavior.

Orthorexics live dependent on what they eat, to the point of rejecting foods that they consider harmful for whatever reason. These prejudices are often based on unverified information, received through the Internet or from people without any training in nutrition. They can express a phobia towards fats, carbohydrates or dairy products without evaluating the consequences of their suppression, coming to meticulously plan the diet they follow with the sole mission of eliminating them.

Given that the Internet allows them to select what information they want to receive and there are a series of informants - influencers, tiktokers - who live precisely from the fanaticism of their followers, the individual suffering from this disorder isolates itself from calm and reasonable messages, seeking in extremist statements the constant affirmation of his ideology. The orthorexic individual associates certain foods with the possible consequences of their consumption, without considering that it is the quantity and proportion of them within a diet that can cause adverse effects. According to them, fats cause obesity, eliminating them completely, ignoring that certain vitamins are fat-soluble and without fat they cannot fulfill their nutritional function. Carbohydrates are also often demonized, as well as dairy, gluten and in general any food that has "sounded" to them that can produce some kind of unwanted effect.

The orthorexic also develops socialization problems when he lives surrounded by people who do not show same obsession about healthy food. Since eating healthy is associated in their mind  with a type of moral/cultural superiority, they constantly criticize the diet of their partners or relatives, not accepting any comment made towards their own. This can lead the individual to demand a differentiated diet that is often masked by the adoption of extreme diets within the vegan or vegetarian currents. This can lead to problems with the group since there may be problems when choosing a restaurant to go to dinner or when demanding conditions in the food that are unaffordable or difficult to carry out, apart from being looked at with skepticism or ridicule by those who do not share the same "beliefs".

It is possible that orthorexia may stem from previous problems such as infantile anorexia, anorexia nervosa or bulimia. Now food is no longer denied, nor is it a matter of overeating, but of adopting certain rules that the individual has created and which seem difficult to discuss since tending to eat healthy should not be considered something harmful. This is precisely what makes the diagnosis of orthorexia difficult. It is very difficult to determine when we go too far with the diet and it usually happens when we have already done considerable damage to our body.

Being orthorexic in childhood-adolescence begins to be something habitual. It can start as a loss of appetite that leads to an obsession with healthy eating that also seems to provide advantages in terms of thinness and in general the cult of image that social networks promote so much. Poorly balanced diets cause nutritional problems that can become serious. The signs that we have to attend to are:

1. They suddenly announce that they have adopted a diet which restricts the eating of certain foods. They don't expect you to argue with him/her if it's the right thing to do, but rather to "accept" and "respect" her choice.
2. They criticize the way we eat but they do not accept criticism against it. They argue with a lot of data, with many pseudo-scientific mentions, but they are unable to define correctly even what a protein is.
3. Probably they have previously suffered from eating disorders.
4. They live obsessed with what they eat, developing phobias that are increasingly restrictive. A vegan teen may think her diet isn't "enough" and go raw vegan or cut out entire food ranges for no reason other than the support provided by some information on the internet. They rarely go the other way, increasing food range, because that would mean admitting mistakes.
5. They become really fanatic. They flee from dialogue, they do not want to hear anything against their ideology, increasingly radicalized.
6. They lose weight ostensibly, denying that it happens. They suffer from headaches, migraines or problems with menstruation. Also suffer from mood changes.
7. They are obsessed with their physical appearance. They can combine orthorexia with vigorexia - obsession with physical appearance - and can visit gym many times per week. 
8. They refuse psychological help. Actually, for them, the crazy ones are the rest of us. Forcing them to drink whole milk, with all the fat, would mean an act of torture towards them.
9. They isolate themselves from the group, frequenting only those people who share their same ideology.
10. They make us mistake thinking that their eating behavior is "expected" in adolescents, similar to criticism, rebellion, etc. An eating disorder is a disorder, be it a child, adolescent or adult

Eating healthy is something positive, but eating in a balanced way is much more so. And remember, an orthorexic can be at any age, but it is much more dangerous in children and adolescents because it can seriously affect their growth, health and later development as adults.