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Orthorexia Nervosa

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  • elizabethhelizabethh Raw Newbie

    definitely, definitely it exists. i suffered with it myself (probably stemmed from my already existent extremist nature). i think i took care of it mostly by stepping back from 100% raw, having a few drinks with friends occasionally, having some cooked food. i’m not suggesting that’s the only way, but it has helped me.

  • iknikn

    Wow, really great topic. I did the quiz and I definetly fall into being othorexic. Spend a lot of time reading about nutrition, food combining, planning, etc. But I am working on not to be too freaky about it. I do go out with friends and drink a glass of wine and I got to a point where I don’t feel guilty about it anymore. For me the hardest part was/ and still is/ that I feel guilty if I don’t eat a certain way. I do not judge people at all, but I have this expectation of myself, that I have to be “perfect”.

  • WinonaWinona Raw Newbie

    Everyone has raised interesting points. However, I want to say that we shouldn’t assume that all raw foodists have an obsession with food. Remember that if someone is really interested in food preparation – that’s normally called a hobby and that person may be employed as a chef. Raw food preparation can be a hobby, just like folks who are into cooking food for a hobby.

    Initially, one has to spend time learning about raw food. There is a learning curve when you first get into raw food, as debbietook mentioned. I got excited and wanted to research it. After time, once I had absorbed the knowledge I needed, I moved on to improve other parts of my life (exercise, going green, volunteering, social activism, sharing recipes). I get excited about farm vegetables, but I don’t obsess over food.

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    In some ways I wonder if it’s a little like the alcoholic suddenly being sober. Some friends just have to change. What you say is so true, Winona. The clarity on Raw just leads you to follow other passions. I guess. I wonder how do you live a purely raw life when the husband and family are not raw and when none of your friends are raw? I think the disorder comes from trying to be raw in a cooked world! I certainly look nuts running around recycling shower water, pulling the brown paper towels out of the trash for my compost, composting my raw scraps, soaking , sprouting, dehydrating and biking to the grocery store looking like a total Geek with my beach cruiser’s penier’s loaded down like I’m feeding a family of Gorillas! 90% of the world doesn’t bother so I have a disorder. Sniff, sniff. I’m really whining today. ikn-you must be a Virgo! I feel your pain.

  • I think there will always be another ”disorder” cropping up to let those who follow them feel good about what they want to do and not be threatened by “extremists”. I will not read that survey because I don’t need that stuff dumped on me. To me, eating raw is the most natural thing I can do to be healthy in a sick world so why would I not be almost fanatic about it when I know what it is doing biologically in my body. I now am building the cells today that will be my future tomorrow. I have to be a little extreme because almost everything in my environment has been tampered with so I must make an effort to search out what I need to eat and if that makes some people uncomfortable, too bad. Maybe they need to deal with their own feelings. I love what I eat, the taste, the smells and the vitality it gives me. I do not have an eating disorder but I know those who do and it is a very complex problem but I refuse the label that does not fit me.

  • jellibijellibi Raw Newbie

    This is a good topic, thank you for bringing it back up. I think about this a lot.

    For me, I KNOW that I use food as a diversion to keep me from doing things that I am scared of, from thinking thoughts that I am scared of thinking, from remembering things that I am scared to remember. Food is never-ending, I need it everyday. I keep myself busy with food to avoid underlying things that I don’t really want to deal with.

    I didn’t really realize all of this until recently when I noticed how often I turned away from work (I’m a painter) to read/study/prepare/eat/think about food. Every time I come to a part of the painting that is difficult for me I log onto gone raw to see what’s up, or go have a snack, etc. I love painting- it’s my passion. But it also scares the hell out of me. Being an artist in general is just really scary because I’m constantly creating things that other people are going to judge.

    I initially turned to raw foods because of its simplicity. But it’s funny when I realize that instead it has become my safety blanket to a certain degree because in some ways it is so complicated.

  • If you care about yourself, you are “making” the rest of the world feel bad. Therefore, you now have a disorder!

  • iknikn

    Izhpt: you got it, my ascendant is virgo. =) but with a Sagitarius sun sign. Luckily I don’t expect perfectionism form other people. I am only hard on myself. My kids and husband would go crazy.

    I think this topic is not about generalizing that we all have disorders. I am sure there are many many people who are raw and do not fret about it at all. Hopefully I will be one of them too. I just need to work out some emotional issues, but I am getting there =)

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    rosehebrew-I’m so with you! And isn’t that just it? This food makes me feel amazing. I’m far from being underweight as a result yet I vascilate between, “get out there and be the change!” and “Forget it, shut the door and soak some groats!”

  • MarichiesaMarichiesa Raw Newbie

    Wow Jellibi,

    You just totally nailed it for me. My experience is identical to yours. I paint (or perhaps avoid painting) and have found myself using food and raw food preparation as a distraction.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    This is so interesting! I’ve had some of the mental/emotional parts of eating disorders, but I’ve never acted on them physically – I tried to go raw because I “should” and it was a crazy battle for six weeks, having to eat 100% raw so I wouldn’t live on junk. It was too much for me – I was under a huge amount of stress and went back to the SAD worse than before, because I was eating what was easiest to get & would fill me up the quickest, and I was eating more to make up for a lack of sleep. I didn’t plan to ever return to raw. I gained a lot of weight, but I knew I had to fix the psychological things before I’d ever be able to maintain a healthy weight. So I went to work on the emotional issues, and at the end of that process came a desire & decision to feed the real me – to give my body (and my mind, heart & spirit) exactly what was needed for the best health, life, abundance & joy. It wasn’t hard to know what was best for me, once I decided that was what I sought. That is why I don’t listen to rules of what I “should” eat, or what I “shouldn’t” eat, or how much, or anything like that. I mostly eat raw plant foods, because that’s what feels best to me. In another few months, I may eat some salmon or Manna Bread; I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. The only times I’ve stopped feeling my best in the last three years were when I ate in a way that didn’t feel best to me – lots of cooked foods when I was stressed & low on money, or going without certain foods because I listened to someone who said I shouldn’t eat them, or eating more of something else because I listened to someone who said I needed to eat it. I trust my body and the process of life. I have been not feeling great physically the last several days, because I haven’t been able to go to the store & get the foods my body wants this week. I’ve still been eating “healthy” raw foods, but I am happy to go shopping later today so I can have what’s healthiest for me.

    I spend time with people I care about, and I just make the best choices I can. For my sister’s birthday at an Italian restaurant, I asked for a special salad and loved not feeling heavy afterward. If I had chosen to eat something else there, too/instead, fine. I didn’t eat the salad wishing I was eating pasta or salmon or cheesecake. I didn’t do it because I had to; I loved feeling light and clear, and maybe next time I’ll bring avocado or dressing or salt so the salad is more flavorful, but maybe not. I really enjoyed being there with everyone, and it was about time together rather than focusing on food. This didn’t happen all at once, and I have been recently offended when people tell me my food looks like poop, but I just decided that I love people too much to isolate myself, and that there is enough stuff in life trying to pull me down, that I don’t need to add to the burden on myself. I think that planning ahead and really taking care of myself has really been the key to this change. I realized that I have full capability to make choices about what I eat, say, participate in, etc. so it doesn’t feel hard, or like a punishment. I don’t feel deprived when other people are eating whatever they choose to eat, because what I eat is my choice, so I could eat what they’re eating if I choose, but I really WANT whatever I’m eating, whether it’s raw or whatever other thing I choose. I used to try to make raw versions of whatever my family were eating at a party – raw tacos, raw pizza, etc. – so I wouldn’t feel left out. Now, I realize that I can eat whatever I want, and it’s extremely liberating to eat “bread” and seed “cheese” while everyone else eats tacos, because I’m taking care of me instead of trying to impress them or pretend to be the same as everyone while being obviously different. :)

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    Angie-i’m coming to your garden! Though (totally off topic) our growing season is so early here in Atlanta, we have so much drought. you should see my very depressed tomatoes! I’m going to post them for laughs.

  • My name is kdaca, and I’m an orthorexic. No, I’m not poking fun at people with addictive behaviors. For me this whole orthorexic thing makes sense with respect to addiction transfer.

    Many thanks for the posting this thread.

  • Hi You Guys,

    Thank HEAVEN people are discussing this topic. There is not much out there other than Bratman’s book and website (which he does not update and has not for a long time – we recently spoke about this over email).

    I was interviewed this spring by ABC 20/20 and this Fall, 2008, I will be appearing on 20/20 talking about orthorexia – as well as some others. I’m the token “living with orthorexia” participant so I probably come across pretty loony but there are others talking about RECOVERING FROM orthorexia, death from it, medical input, etc.

    There are many different levels of orthorexia nervosa and quite a few suffer from it, many not even knowing. The disease will convince people everything is okay because “how on earth could eating healthy be unhealthy” when really it’s all in the attitude and mentality towards food and eating.

    If you’d like more updates on when the show will air (it was set for august 1st and got moved to the fall) – check out my website link listed in my profile.

  • lzhptlzhpt Raw Newbie

    Oh, Rawdance, i’m going to check that out!

  • Rawdance ~

    i just tried to check out your website and for some reason, it just isn't working! any ideas why, because i really want to check it out.

  • internettouristinternettourist Raw Newbie

    Obesity should be classified as an eating disorder.

  • emtpdmomemtpdmom Raw Newbie

    Amandamac, since the upgrade of this web site, some of the older clickable weblinks don't work. Usually, if you copy and paste them into your browser they will work. I've tried several ways to get into Johnny's (RawDance) website without success. As far as I can tell, he hasn't posted on this site in about three months, and a Google search does not yield any "live" links. There are some youtube links with videos of his artwork. I know his site was up and functioning in September. Sorry I can't be of more assistance.

  • laural788laural788 Raw Newbie

     

    Hi Everyone!

    My name is Laura and I am a third year Psychology student at the University of Derby (UK) looking for participants to take part in an online survey on Orthorexia Nervosa and personality traits. The aim of this project is to contribute to the current knowledge on Orthorexia.

    Anyone here in the community who is interested in participating can click on the following link: https://derby.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6Jw187EtzcesIgR.

    All data collected is anonymous and you can withdraw from the survey at any time up to 2 weeks from completion.

    Your participation is very welcome and if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at L.Lazzaro1@unimail.derby.ac.uk or my supervisor Philip Clarke, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Derby P.Clarke@derby.ac.uk .

    Thank you.

    Laura

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