Orthorexia: what you need to know to understand and treat it

Javier Colomer 7 min. of reading Well-being habits Leave a comment

Orthorexia is a disorder linked to becoming obsessed with healthy living

Exercise and proper nutrition are key factors to keep a good level of health.

But wanting to strictly follow these principles every day and doing “whatever it takes” to stick to them leads to a life full of anxiety, which in the worst cases causes a disorder: “The Obsession with Healthy Food”

Index

1 What is Orthorexia?
2 Orthorexia Nervosa
3 Causes of Orthorexia
4 Habits of People with Orthorexia
5 Symptoms and Signs of Orthorexia
6 Orthorexia Diet
7 Effects of Orthorexia
8 Anorexia and Orthorexia
9 Vigorexia and Orthorexia
10 How to Treat Orthorexia?
11 Sports and Restrictive Diets
12 Related Posts

What is Orthorexia?

Orthorexia is a condition related to extreme eating disorders, where the person behaves compulsively and puts something that isn’t unhealthy into an unhealthy scenario.

Orthorexia is also linked to signs and symptoms of anxiety and depression disorders that often occur alongside anorexia nervosa or other eating disorders

Orthorexia Nervosa

A person with orthorexia nervosa starts their “obsession” with eating healthy foods, making it their main fixation and goal, pushing aside other important parts of life: thinking about what to eat replaces relationships, friendships, career goals, leisure time…

In extreme cases, the obsession with restricting the diet can lead to dangerous malnutrition, a truly ironic consequence of what started as a quest for better health.

Examples of people who might suffer from this condition could include:

Excessive exercise
Obsession with weight
Bulimia
Anorexia

Causes of Orthorexia

Nowadays we live in the age of technology, with its pros and cons, especially regarding social recognition

This can be one of the main causes. Something that starts off insignificant can snowball and lead to the development of compulsive disorders.

However, there can also be other factors pushing someone to maintain this extreme behavior, like emotional refuge, desire to keep an ideal weight, obsession with control…

In most cases, there’s always a compatibility with obsessive-compulsive disorder behind the person…

Habits of People with Orthorexia

A characteristic trait of people suffering from orthorexia is their fixation on eating only foods considered healthy, avoiding other food groups that, in their view, don’t fit a healthy lifestyle.

They also tend to show a certain “discrimination” against people who don’t share their “habits”.

The risks for someone maintaining these behaviors can range from injuries, anxiety, depression, to isolation

Of course, trying to keep proper eating habits is important for health but sometimes this fixation can turn obsessive, including feelings of guilt…

Symptoms and Signs of Orthorexia

Taking all these behaviors to the extreme can cause:

Extreme weight loss
Gaunt appearance
Paleness, skin texture changes
Lack of essential micronutrients, with the corresponding weakened immune system, among other consequences
Cardiovascular risk

Orthorexia Diet

A person who could be considered to have orthorexia would be someone who follows dietary patterns or a diet reflecting behaviors such as:

Only eats “healthy” foods
Thinks that because of this diet, they are superior to others who don’t follow these habits
Has little variety in food sources, even suppressing essential macronutrients like fats

Foods are “inspected” down to the last detail…

Effects of Orthorexia

Among the possible effects on the body and health from maintaining these habits without proper diagnosis and treatment, more serious behaviors like anorexia and bulimia can develop, as well as:

Anxiety
Stress
Nutritional deficiencies
Weakened immune system
Kidney and cardiovascular problems
Weight loss
Cognitive problems
Loss of bone mineral density and osteoporosis
Infertility
Low self-esteem

Anorexia and Orthorexia

How are they similar?

Both are treated as eating disorders and can pose serious health risks. They start with small isolated episodes, then take over practically all aspects of the patient’s life.

Their usual thoughts revolve around food intake
Using undiagnosed food allergies as justification to avoid eating
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD)
Social isolation

How are they different?

The obsession with weight is one of the main signs of anorexia, bulimia, or other eating disorders, but it’s not a symptom of orthorexia.

This is closely related to the desire or need for strictly healthy foods

A person with anorexia tends to restrict food to lose weight, whereas someone with orthorexia focuses on getting the highest quality food, not the quantity

Vigorexia and Orthorexia

Another common denominator for people with these behaviors is the strong desire to maintain an aesthetic appearance according to their wishes

In this sense, just like with food, maintaining an obsessive sports behavior becomes the exact opposite of what you’d expect from practicing sports and everything related to health.

We’re talking about people with vigorexia or exercise addiction

When is exercise too much?

Someone who shows strange behavior by doing an excessive amount of exercise, without being involved in any sports plan for an event, and just because they think it’s necessary, and sometimes still think it’s not, could be showing a symptom of orthorexia.

Similarly, other signs of this condition would be:

Continuing to exercise despite being injured
Avoiding any social contact to not miss training
Training multiple times a day

How to Treat Orthorexia?

Since this illness is a compulsive disorder, and in very severe cases, the best advice is to see a mental health specialist

If you notice these symptoms in people around you, the steps to take could be to start a conversation and make them aware of the situation and possible health risks.

Help mechanisms would include:

Stopping physical exercise for long enough so the person can recover their capacities.
Working with training professionals who can advise and plan workouts aligned with their goals and especially considering their condition
Consulting nutrition professionals to incorporate recommended dietary guidelines under medical prescription, not just the patient’s subjective view

So it’s really important, if you don’t have much experience or don’t know nutrition aspects related to sports well, not to take things lightly and consult the right specialists

Sports and Restrictive Diets

Diets or nutrition can become a problem when multiple sources of information clash, especially when they don’t share any similarities

There are diets that advocate practically eliminating an entire macronutrient group, like the well-known “Atkins,” which cuts out carbohydrates.

Others are considered less strict than this one, like “low-carb” diets

From an athlete’s point of view, combining these dietary approaches with intense activities like weight training can lead to very rapid weight loss, due to the calorie deficit from the eliminated macronutrient, and can affect athletic performance

Athletes

It’s true that healthy athletes who have planned ahead and understand the basics of this type of diet and the goal to achieve, practicing this eating behavior occasionally is beneficial for that goal.

But they know perfectly well that it will be brief, never to be maintained long-term

In other cases, for an athlete who just wants to establish healthy habits combining sport and nutrition, in my opinion, this wouldn’t be the way to go.

Possible symptoms caused by restrictive diets when there’s no adaptation: