When healthy eating becomes an obession

Back in 2001, I wrote a story on orthorexia - an obsession with "healthy" eating - for The Chicago Tribune. I interviewed a "recovering orthorexic" named Kate Finn, then a 34-year-old Venice, Calif., yoga instructor,whose descent began as an experimentation with the raw foods lifestyle and led her a hospital psychiatric wards eating-disorder unit, where she as admitted at 5 foot 8 and 85 pounds.

Kate started out innocently enough, a moderately healthy vegan who ate no animal products, ample vegetables and lots of junk food. Following the advice of friends, who proselytized about the increased clarity and energy that come with eating only uncooked vegetables, fruits, nuts and whole grains, she became a raw-foodist. Though the stomach problems that had long plagued her relented, she began to lose weight.

Next, an acupuncturist diagnosed her with a "weak spleen" and suggested she eschew all raw foods in favor of cooked vegetables, soups and even meat. Talk about mixed messages. One man urged Finn to eat nothing but sprouted wheat. Another time, while working at a health food co-op, she asked one customer how she was doing. "She said, 'Not well. Yesterday I ate some cooked food.'"

Kate told me her "Aha!" moment came when she spotted an article on orthorexia in a yoga magazine. "I was like, 'Wow, that's what I have,'" she recalled.

Sadly, Kate is no longer with us. She died from complications of orthorexia. From her obsession with eating "too healthy."

Back in September, I introduced the concept of orthorexia here and asked if this was something you'd ever struggled with. The majority - 58% - said "There have been times when I became way too focused on eating only "good" foods, but it never got out of control." Which made me feel happy and relieved...and yet some of the comments were concerning.

One reader said, "I once invoked a sugar, wheat and dairy embargo, it started under the guise of an experiment for my health, but once the pounds starting dropping off my motivation changed rather swiftly...it made me a little crazy to be so deprived, I'd spend my evenings wandering the aisles of my local supermarket, gazing longingly at all the forbidden fruit, while feeling all smug and superior to those who didn't have my self control."

Another said of her strict control over everything that went into her body, "People would always tell me 'You are the healthiest eater I know!' and 'I wish I had your self-control!"' and 'I bet your intestines look like brushed steel!' But there are real costs, both physically, mentally and socially with orthorexia. Even though my weight never got freakishly low, I still lost my period and had severe vitamin deficiencies. I was tired all the time. Plus I couldn't eat cake at my kids' birthday parties! Who wants to live like that?"

I'm so glad she summed it up with that moment of clarity. When eating begins to interfere with your life, monopolize your time or dictate how "good" or "pure" you feel, there's a problem. You wanna go organic? Fine. Cutting out dairy and wheat? I understand. But when it gets to the point where you've cut out milk and wheat AND eggs, cheese, soy, corn, oats, bananas, avocados, broccoli, tuna, apples, butter, spinach, oregano, tomatoes and more (as did one patient of a doctor I interviewed on this topic for the Tribune), clearly you are not in a "healthy" place anymore.

I'll be posting my Today Show segment on this topic shortly - both myself and iVillage nutritionist Madelyn Fernstrom are being interviewed. Hope you tuned in and can join the discussion here!

Comments

I am glad that I've managed to get a grip on myself before sliding too far in that direction- but I've definitely had issues with having the unhealthy obsession with being healthy. There's such a fine line, and it's especially difficult to see that line when we're such an extremist society! Am so glad that there's being more awareness brought about for this kind of disordered eating so people can recognize their problem and become HEALTHY healthy again as opposed to the unhealthy kind of healthy.

Thank you for talking about this. I have never gotten carried away, but I know people who have, and for them it becomes so cyclical - healthy healthy healthy - and then a binge....it's scary to watch.

so glad you posted this.

it always amazes me the number of orthorexics who suffer from vitamin deficiencies.
it seems so counter intuitive...

Aw, you quoted me! Glad your show went well, can't wait to see it!! And thanks for talking about this - it's a really important topic in my opinion and the more people talk about it, the more people will get the help they need.

I feel like I'm gonna get crap for this, but oh well...

What Kate went through is why so many people look at holistic medicine as a load of you-know-what. Instead of trying a million different food combinations, it's time to see a REAL DOCTOR.

I used to live in Santa Cruz, and when I had back pain I had naturopaths suggest diet change, yoga, flippin' lavender oil... I am so glad I went to see a real doctor, got my slipped disc fixed, and moved on with my life.

I think a lot of holistic medicine is good, but a lot of those people are quacks. They don't get trained properly, and their advice ends up hurting more than helping. Sorry if I offended anyone, but there's a reason you have to go to school for 7 years to practice medicine.

When reading this article and seeing ya'll on the today show, I realized that I am one of those people that falls into this category. It started as a healthy lifestyle change to drop weight when i came back from studying abroad, but has escalated to the point that I hate going out to eat with friends or family. I google all restaurant menus and nutrition facts before i set foot in them, I don't eat anything with butter or oil in it and stay away from all "white" products, yet rarely allowing wheat or most carbs into my diet, except the occasional 2 oz. frozen yogurt.

It worsened when I realized I could make myself purge. Therefore, i could just eat healthy all day long, and when i wanted to have something bad, i'd just reverse the process afterwards. It's horrible, i know and i am overcoming the bulimia. I'm a college grad who comes from a family of medical professionals and knows all the side effects of eating disorders. I just dont know how to allow foods back into my diet again and enjoy life.

That is so sad that Kate passed away.

A few years ago I decided to move from vegetarian to vegan.. which turned into anorexia. I became obsessed with what foods I would eat/shun and eventually fell prey to all other things anorexics deal with (how low could I go, wanting my bones showing, etc.). At that time in my life there were a lot of other factors, so I can't way what had the strongest influence on my eating disorder, bu mt eating habits were definitely fine until I became vegan. (I know not all vegans go through this- just for ME, 'going vegan' is a little taboo in my life!). Leslie, thanks for putting some light on this issue.

such sad news, to lose one's life when just trying to become healthier. It really is sad.

Two things.

1. Nikki I can definitely agree with you, although I feel that there is a great place for holistic medicine. When I go to the doctor and find all i have is a common cold he prescribes me antibiotics plus a slew of all other things- that's what leads me to holistic medicine. Appendicitis or flu? Definitely cause for a doctor. But back pain that comes every 2 days from no physical source (unlike ur slipped disc)? time for some holistic healing.

and 2. I think life is too short to eat healthy 100% of the time. It is simply not an enjoyable way to live life because you are spending so much time focused on what you can and can not eat. Food is one of the greatest pleasures of life and should be enjoyed.

What was her complication? How do you die from eating too healthy? it obviously wasnt healthy if she passed, so i guess im not understanding that statement.

Thanks for bringing light to so many weight related subjects! I agree totally that anything in our lives that we become so consumed with can be dangerous!

Poor Kate. Absolutely heartbreaking.

There's so much cross-over with orthorexia and anorexia, I often wonder if my problem wasn't a little of both. I used to feel disgust if people around me ate anything remotely processed or calorific. They seemed like great big cartoon greedypeople who had no control in the face of fat/sugar/carbs. And I also used to wander the supermarket aisles for hours wondering if I'd ever eat pasta again, if I'd ever have another chocolate chip cookie, another bowl of cereal....

The thing that frightens me most now is that this sort of behaviour is ENCOURAGED and ADMIRED because of the obesity epidemic. It's no wonder that cases like Kate's slip under the radar so frequently.

TA x

I was going to say that I could've written the above sentiments before realising that I think I actually did write it!

Nowadays I'm more of a believer in everything in moderation, (even moderation...!).

i totally have had orthorexia.... i avoided all fat...my body fat got dangerously low and my hair started falling out, my teeth were rotting and i lost my period completely...while not even knowing it was the lack of fat in my diet and need to eat "perfectly"!! this is real and thank you for bringing it to light!!

I also am not sure how in Kate's case it was orthorexia not anorexia? I suppose it doesn't matter because she passed away, that is so sad... Unfortunate that people can get that far, and there is no way to help them...

Hi Leslie,

Do you have a WG e-mail for more, eh... discreet comments? Just wondering? :)

Thanks

CM

I am so glad this is being talked about...I've had so many friends over the years who are dangerously walking that line, and don't see any harm in it because they are "just eating healthy." Thanks for shedding the light. ;-)

P.S. CUTE outfit!

This is a big problem. I had never heard of it before. I started going to the gym and eating really healthily to lose weight, but it quickly escalated to the point where I am so afraid that something is not 'healthy' for me that it has turned into full-blown anorexia. I avoid all situations where food is the focus and I know that I am slowly killing myself... I just can't seem to get out of it.

I think it's very ironic that it started by just wanting to be healthy to eating virtually nothing because of the fear and anxiety that I am filled with when trying to decide what is healthy.

Thanks Leslie for being an ed advocate!

CM - feel free email me at leslie@lrdiaries.com

A person, like a commodity, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration, however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantage. To display personal charm in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself.wow gold A master packager knows how to integrate art and nature without any traces of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely

Thank you for posting this. I'm passionate about bringing this topic into public awareness! So nice to see your Today Show piece. I've also written about orthorexia here http://healthydiscoveriesbyjolene.blogspot.com/search/label/Orthorexia

I once had this problem. At 6'1", my weight dropped from 185lbs to 162lbs. My wife was very worried because of how thin I became. It all started slowing. I began the Body for Life program and my diet gradually became stricter and stricter.

I finally gave in and began to increase my weight. I interesting thing is that I realize now that I feel at my best more from maintaining a health exercise routine than concentrating on weight.

I heard someone else say this before and I realized for the first time.When one is on Weight Watchers Points,the'diet'on that program almost forces you to*have to*obsess over food.Rather than eating"like a truly healthy person"who only eats when they're hungry,then goes on to occupy their thoughts with other things until the next time they are hungry.Whereas the person on Weight Watchers Points(about 25 points per day for a woman,50 cal.=1 point approx.)is constantly hungry because they can only eat a certain,designated number of points each day,and when they've eaten 25 points,they're finished for the day- even if they're still hungry,leaving them unsatisfied and thinking about food until the next morning.Even then,you're constantly calculating points,writing down your points...and when you're done with your measly breakfast and don't have enough points for a full lunch you're left wondering what you can make your family for dinner that you can actually eat a measly portion of. Is this also orthorexia?