Orthorexia Nervosa -Taking Healthy Eating To Extreme Levels

Fitness Drifter

Orthorexia Nervosa, or orthorexia for short, is in simple terms an eating disorder where the sufferer becomes obsessed with "pure" or "healthy" foods.

And what is deemed pure or healthy will vary from person to person.

It's not a commonly recognised eating disorder and a lot of the time we will just tell ourselves we are being healthy and doing ourselves some good.

But there is a fine line between healthy eating and looking after yourself, and genuinely disruptive or disordered behaviour.

In this episode we'll talk about the basics of this eating disorder, where the term came from, some of the symptoms, how to recognise if you have it, and treatment options.

The blog post and transcript of this episode are available here: https://fitnessdrifter.com/orthorexia-in-men-healthy-eating-obsession/

Other references:

• A republication of Dr Steve Bratman's original article on orthorexia - https://www.beyondveg.com/bratman-s/hfj/hf-junkie-1a.shtml
• Dr Bratman's updated research and commentary -

  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40519-017-0417-6

• BEAT's (UK) guidance on orthorexia nervosa -

  https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/about-eating-disorders/types/other-eating-feeding-problems/orthorexia/

• Bratman Test for orthorexia -

  https://www.healthsadvisor.com/en/guest/qs/orthorexie-test-de-bratman/

• Studies and stats on the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa -

  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15330084/

  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24852286/

  • https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26902744/

  • https://www.bradley.edu/sites/bodyproject/disorders/orthorexia/

• Men's Health article on why guys might be most at risk of developing orthorexia - https://www.menshealth.com/health/a21600497/orthorexia-signs-symptoms/
• NEDA (US) guidance on orthorexia -

  https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/other/orthorexia