What is Orthorexia?
Orthorexia is a new “unhealthy obsession” with healthy eating.
To protect ourselves, we tend to create a “control strategy” such as deciding to only eat “good foods”. This is a good idea in theory, but a healthy interest can easily become an unhealthy obsession.
Today, the constant stream of social media focuses on food 24/7. Thanks to blogs, Instagram and Facebook, we can see what other people are eating and read all about their diets.
One of the biggest problems is that we´re led to believe that the food people post on social media is reflecting what they eat all the time- but actually it’s not.
The pathological preoccupation with healthy food leads to consuming only organic foods, free of pesticides, herbicides, etc. This practice can often lead to the suppression of meat, fat and some food groups and in some cases they are replaced correctly, which leads to nutritional deficiencies.
These people usually, take more tan 3 hours to think about food per day, decrease the quality of their life, feel guilty, plan excessively and are socially isolated.
Here are some helpful tips:
- It’s very good to think about your food and a healthy lifestyle, but always be balanced, and don’t stress about it
- Be flexible with yourself
- Don’t believe all things that are hyped
- Eat mindfully
