I have read that raw foodism is considered Orthorexia. It sounds like a disease. Does anyone worry about this? Did "they" just make this condition up to make themselves feel better about eating foods they know are bad for them?

lol. Just the word makes me laugh. Search the forum.. it's been discussed/debated before.

A disease? Ahhhhhhhhh, that explains it. I have been wondering why every creature on the planet eats all raw except humans -- they all have the same disease! Is there a cure?



When orothrexia was first made popular it was a term coined by one man to explain restricting one's diet from 'conventional' foods based on *gasp* nutritional beliefs. It is not a clinical disorder recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.

Google it.

There was a really good thread on it before on here but i cant find it.

Alot of the diagnostic criteria is bull**** if i may say people who dont want to eat preservatives doesnt mean they have an eating disorder etc .

But i do believe it is a real disorder, members in that other thread put it in better words than myself. But othorexics are mainly people who even eliminate healthy foods because they believe there toxic/bad for them and often make up there own science to support there beliefs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/2010 09:49AM by powerlifer.

REAL orthorexia in my opinion, as rocketship is right, the APA does not recognize it as a legitimate disorder as its currently defined, But I believe if it was defined as some one was so obsessive about health that they believed only one particular food is healthy for you (or a similarly short list), and all other foods (including other good raw healthy foods) is bad in comparison, and they can only be the healthiest possible by just eating that, then I think they would recognize it... Ive known people who think lettuce, even organic, is poison... and we all know about the paleo diet people, who eat primarily raw meat, and dont believe in parasites or harmful bacteria... there definitely is Orthorexia, just not as its currently defined:/

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I believe orthorexia, while not a recognised condition, is a real phenomena.

But we need to take pains to separate it out from the average person who adopts a raw foods diet.

Eating disorders are conditions where the act of eating, the rituals surrounding eating and the food itself become something that an individual becomes so obsessed by that it detrimentally affects their physical and/or mental health.

In the case of orthorexia, their focus is on the health or lack thereof of certain foods and their obsession leads them into extreme restrictions and rituals and a fear/paranoia about foods that are deemed less than healthy. It afects their mental wellbeing, their social interactions, and often their physical health

Eating disorders come in many shapes and forms, and it's not necessarily the food one ingests with EDs, but the ritual, restriction and control one exercises over food and one's body when under the influence of an ED.

For example, a compulsive eater, or a binge eater. Health professionals do not identify the junky food they eat as the main problem, it is what's going on in the mind of the person with the ED.

From my experience in almost a decade and a half of observation, I've come to the conclusion that restrictive diets like veg, vegan and raw food attract people with EDs or the propensity for them, but are not the underlying cause of these EDs.

As with any condition that has a psych component, we need to be vigilant that 'over diagnosis' or blaming the lifestyle do not become a part of every day attitudes.

VERY well put, and I agree entirely with everything you've stated, far better than my half assed/half asleep response,lol.

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

Haha! We're all half arsed or half asleep (or both) at some stage or other

I've had this convo on several forums before and it's a really interesting one. I feel that we do need to face up and talk openly about these things in order for progress to be real and healthy.

Thank you, thank you. The answers were helpful! Many thanks!

I think this exists and I believe it's related to anorexia. Not that every person with this affliction wants to lose weight, but the idea is the same: extreme anxiety about what one ingests. It's an eating disorder and I think every raw/high-raw fooder has to be vigilant to make sure that they don't veer into this disorder, in the same way that people losing weight have to watch out for anorexia. I saw a raw fooder associated with a bigshot raw food "guru" and she looked terrible. She was way too thin and just had a sickly appearance. I thought that she had either orthorexia or anorexia.

It was John Stossel who coined the term, I think. That's enough for me not to worry about it.

John Stossel couldn't possibly have contrived this word--he knows no Greek

I believe it was first used by a medical doctor from California, quite a few years ago. Oh, here we go: Steven Bratman, 1997.

@ Tamkukha and krefcenz:
What does it mean though?

As with anything, if you are obssessing about diet to an unhealthy extent, if it is all you think about, if it's really restrictive to the point of interferring with your daily life, if it causes stress, if it feels bad, it is unhealthy.

aijazkhan,

Ortho-correct, rexia-appetite. What Bratman was referring to in his original notes was obsessivenes about and elimination of foods that a patient considered unhealthy. It is controversial among raw foodist because his parameters were rather broad; the elimination of processed foods for their perceived unhealthiness was lumped in with the elimination of certain plant foods for idiosyncratic reasons. Doing the former is, to any person with a scant knowledge of nutrition, a good idea and should not be considered pathological. Doing the latter, like eliminating yellow bananas because you think they are unpure somehow, could be pathological and might be possible to define that way. Personally, I think Bratman was seeing a rise in raw foods vegetarianism in California at that time, and because there were lots of rawists promoting lots of different regimens, he probably didn't know what to make of it. So he tried codifying it in a way that today, with all we know about high fructose corn syrup and modified soy products, doesn't really stand up to the definition.

... an eating disorder really has nothing to do with what you eat or what you don't eat... it is a way to try to control and other wise out of control life. The obsession with food health weight becomes a way to not feel the feelings we are meant to feel, or not face the stresses in life... and much like the alcoholic a "normal"(raw, vegan, vegetarian, or SAD) eating person cannot truly understand what it's like to be out of control where food is concerned... where one might say well just don't eat the pound of almonds and be forced to drink laxative tea to sooth the upset stomach... or just eat the brown rice even though you think white rice is more pure... it's more deeply and emotionally rooted then that... and for a "normal" eater to eat what feels good is great but if there is a disorder it's a bit different... for me when i was deep in my disorder in a strange way it felt good to stuff myself to a painful sort of numbness...

My take on orthorexia is simply a new category for people like me that didn't fit directly into anorexia or bulimia or overeating world etc and my understanding is that Bratman dealt with orthorexia on a personal level and that is where he defined this term... there is nothing wrong with choosing not to have corn syrup or soy or processed or chemical laden or cooked foods etc... there is something wrong if you use it to avoid life, or relationships or emotions or you become so obsessed with feeling unclean that you must constantly cleanse or have ultra pure foods... or feeling empty that you must constantly stuff yourself or your emotions down... or the only way you feel you have control in your life...

if you are not balanced in mind you will not be balanced in body and spirit no matter what you eat!!!

love laugh and dream

So, you mean orhtorexia is just a kind of illusion for some, and for some its what people who are effected with anorexia?

Super awesome reply by Tamukha!