Orthorexia

Orthorexia, or righteousness with eating, is often times well-intended or even encouraged by others to start. A crusade for healthy eating leads to obsessive thoughts and strong fear of food. Wanting to eat healthy can be normal and even helpful within limits, but someone struggling with orthorexia can become so fixated and rigid that eating often becomes severely restrictive. This obsession with health, ironically so, leads to deteriorated well-being over time. Often times clients struggling with orthorexia also struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder, making moving away from this approach to eating very challenging due to intense fear. The mindset of orthorexia can lead to:

—Eliminating whole food groups or ingredients (such as carbs, fat, sugar, animal products, etc.)
—Obsessively checking nutrition labels and ingredient lists
—Judgement of others’ food choices when foods are not deemed “healthy” or “pure”
—Avoidance or intense fear of social eating
—Bringing your own separate food to social gatherings
—Unusual amounts of time spent researching food or following “healthy lifestyle” influencers on social media
—Inability to eat even a single meal prepared by a loved one
—Body image concerns (although weight and shape may not be a marker for some)

In society healthy eating is often praised. Our clients are often confused to why it’s not okay to want to only eat healthy foods while at the same time knowing there is a problem (or sensing distress around food). Our goal at Lotus Therapy Group is not to push an unhealthy lifestyle with food onto clients or make clients fat. Instead, we focus on balance and an understanding of how all foods can fit to allow for emotional health and wellness. It is possible to have limits to our quest for health and wellness while not compromising overall well-being.