Organic. Pure. Clean. Healthy.
Great words. And wanting to pursue a ____________ (insert whichever word applies in the blank–Organic. Pure. Clean. Healthy) lifestyle often is inspired by good intentions. However, for some of us, things can go haywire.
Instead of ____________ (insert whichever word applies in the blank–Organic. Pure. Clean. Healthy) improving our lives and making things feel more fully and healthily experienced, our lives get smaller. Things get obsessive. What we can and can’t eat gets more and more limited. Fear creeps in if there is a question about quality of food. Fear shifts to panic. We stop attending social events because of the food quality or we abstain from joining others in consumption because it’s just not ____________ (insert whichever word applies in the blank–Organic. Pure. Clean. Healthy).
Days are filled with thoughts and plans about ____________ (insert whichever word applies in the blank–Organic. Pure. Clean. Healthy).
Sound or seem familiar?
Believe it or not, this kind of attention to a ____________ (insert whichever word applies in the blank–Organic. Pure. Clean. Healthy) food and lifestyle can actually consume a person’s quality of life.
Though it is not included in the most current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, orthorexia is a term coined in 1996 by physician Steven Bratman to describe a ‘fixation on righteous eating’” (Haupt, 2010).
If you might be struggling with orthorexia or even having trouble between a healthy lifestyle with a mix of freedom, too, it may behoove you to reach out to a professional who works with eating issues and eating disorders.
Please take a moment to notice if you might have experienced a shift from “choosing” ____________ (insert whichever word applies in the blank–Organic. Pure. Clean. Healthy) options to having little to no choice in the matter…
References
Haupt, A. (2010, December 14). Orthorexia: An unhealthy obsession with healthy eating: Eating right taken to an extreme is orthorexia, and the condition seems to be spreading. [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://health.usnews.com/health-news/diet-fitness/brain-and-behavior/articles/2010/12/14/orthorexia-an-unhealthy-obsession-with-healthy-eating
