Obsessive Eating Disorder Can Be Mistaken As Healthy Lifestyle

OLATHE, Kan. - In this age of monster burgers and bulging waistlines, it's good to eat healthy, right? Not when it becomes an obsession. There's no official name for it yet, but many call that obsession "orthorexia."

Laura Hergert developed the obsession through junior high, high school and college. Foods were either good or bad to her. She'd eat only the good ones and she'd spent hours each day thinking about eating healthy and going online between meals and snacks to log everything she ate.

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Orthorexia, Bacon Worship And The Power Of Food Culture

Is it possible for healthy eating to become an unhealthy obsession?

Absolutely.

Orthorexia is a word turning up frequently in the media to describe an excessive focus on healthy eating and dietary restriction. Though the term is not yet an official psychological diagnosis according to the DSM-IV, it is being used by some clinicians to describe patients with eating disorders that resemble obsessive compulsive.

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The most common eating disorder you’ve never heard of

Sara always blots her pizza with a tissue to save calories. Carrie never eats the crust. Margaret professes to love deep dish pizza, but peels off all of the cheese. Mark rarely eats pizza because he doesn’t deserve it unless he runs ten miles first.

Which of these behaviors is normal? Which might be signs of an eating disorder? Sometimes it’s hard to make a distinction.

While perhaps none of these fictional characters would be diagnosed with anorexia, bulimia or a binge eating disorder –- the most commonly referenced eating disorders -– they may each have their own varying levels of undefinable psychological food struggles.

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