Orthorexia Nervosa

The percentage of people in the world that have never tried dieting has to be pretty small. Unfortunately, diets often lead to even poorer self-image than the person originally began with. The guilt of eating the wrong food often consumes and the diet fails. It's not just adults that are faced with eating issues. Obesity, anorexia, bulimia have even become issues facing the world's youth. No one seems to be immune from the stresses of attaining a slim body or muscular physic. Many want quick fixes and are willing to try fad diets, pills, and even surgery. Ideally, we would all just eat unprocessed foods and focus on lean meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds and we'd live relatively healthy and long lives. This quote sums it all up:


"Perfection is impossible. However, striving for perfection is not. Do the best you can under the conditions that exist. That is what counts."
- John Wooden


But can striving to be healthy (not thin) be a danger too? According to Dr. Steven Bratman, Orthorexia Nervosa, has become a serious concern in the health community. Orthorexia is an obsessive focus on eating only healthy foods. The term healthy is defined differently by those with orthorexia - but it is often food free from pesticides, herbicides, or other chemicals. In some situations, the focus on chemical free, only clean foods can lead to malnutrition and even death.

Food can be very a very emotional, mental, and physical roller coaster. As someone who coaches others to eat foods similar to the paleo/primal lifestyle, I can see how the restricting what eats every day can lead to feelings of failure and guilt. I try coaching clients that by making strides towards a healthier life they are by far outweighing the potential harm they were inflicting before eating primal. So if they have a few non-primal foods, I'm still ok with it. We are here to enjoy life and therefore prolong it by living healthier so we can fit more fun stuff into every day. As Mark Sisson says, strive for 100% and be happy when you achieved 80% or better.


Everything in moderation!


Check out this article from Time: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1963297,00.html