Comments for Orthorexia Home Page

Comment on What is Orthorexia? by Steven Bratman

Steven Bratman — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:54:11 +0000

Keep in mind that Holistic Harry is fiction! Also, you haven’t read the end yet … but, yes, it is more or less autobiographical. I’m not so much cynical about alternative medicine as deeply disappointed.

For those interested, it’s available here: http://www.mendosa.com/Confessions.pdf

This is really going to get me a lot of hatemail … however, keep in mind that I nail the quackbuster in the story too!

Comment on Reader Hatemail! by Adam

Adam — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:25:36 +0000

Hey Steve, sorry, not hatemail. I read your original pieced in Yoga journal all those years ago and kept it (as well as the one “Blame the patient” I think it’s called) and often referred friends/students (I’m a yoga teacher) to it who I thought were a bit obsessed with healthy eating. It seems a well balanced piece.
I have since downloaded your book Holistic Harry and have not yet finished it but I an a bit shocked at how cynical a view you seem to have developed. Quite possibly well grounded and I can imagine that (if you are still) living in California “healthy living” is very OTT there and big business! I am in Thailand so reasonably well away from all that. The book is very amusing too. You generally seem a voice of reason in a very f**ked up world. Good on you. All the best, Adam.

Comment on Reader Hatemail! by interested

interested — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:19:34 +0000

Hello there, I am very interested in what you term Orthorexia. I have had very many weird eating habits for the past few years. I believe I have suffered for it for quite some time, going between orthorexia and anorexia. I feel orthorexia is an obsession to eat healthy, all the time, not giving in to one slip up. Everything must be perfect, white flour will never do, nothing but the freshest and most natural. It is exhausting and mentally heavy to believe that only a few things are good enough to eat, just fruits and vegetables, just fish, and only whole grains. Yes these things are healthy, but it is mentally unhealthy to believe that this is all you are limited to. It is ocd in that it is always well planned, always has to be perfect. There is a fine line between eating healthy and obsessing, if you want to obsess than there are very few things that would seem apropriate to eat, which does decrease your quality of life and excludeds you from society. I feel the motive is what makes it a disorder, why are you eating healthy? to look good? feel good? do you even like the foods that you eat? I think that being mentally sound is the biggest thing, are you happy? if you are not getting enjoyment from what you are eating ever that is just depressing and something needs to change.

Comment on About “Orthorexia” by catsy

catsy — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:22:43 +0000

just read your book – excellent, humorous, and thoughtful. I think many people making negative comments have missed your point; healthy eating is great, but obsession over it is not. Nowhere in your work do you advocate eating junk food. Thanks!

Comment on Reader Hatemail! by Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:11:47 +0000

Have you ever thought about treating people with orthorexia? You’re probably the only person in the world who can fill that job.

Comment on About “Orthorexia” by Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:06:14 +0000

I feel like this disorder is so deeply misunderstood by the media. Fact of the matter is that you can get all your nutrients/calories from an alternative diet and be ridiculously healthy for it, much more than the currently recommended “diet of moderation”. But most people I know who are into raw foods are not into “health” per say, they do it to maximize their energy, their spiritual connection – they don’t do it for intellectual/theoretical reasons, but real, applicable ones, which don’t necessarily have anything to do with health.

But the problem is when this diet makes you miserable, makes you swing between extremes and isolates you socially.

Comment on About “Orthorexia” by Sharon

Sharon — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 06:58:44 +0000

Why do orthorexic people become underweight? Once you decide that something is healthy, why not just eat that? For example, when I get me some organic bananas, that’s all I eat for days on end. But I eat about 30 bananas a day, so calories are not an issue.

Comment on What is Orthorexia? by Max

Max — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:19:38 +0000

Hi Stephen,
I am curious about this ‘Orthorexia’ term you have come up with. I am not clear what you mean by it.
I can imagine a couple of different ways it can apply to people:
-If you invite someone to dinner, and tell them you used Organic product, and then after the meal you told them you had lied, that these people would either become violent, or would throw up the food.
Or
-Do you mean it to describe people who will only eat Organic food, non-GMO, non-treated foods (Milk without BVGH and pesticide free), and foods that don’t contain high-fructose corn syrup?
Or
-Do you mean it to describe people who, if they do not have the option of the previously described group of food will choose not to eat at all?
I also noticed that the woman, Katie who starved to death was included as an ‘Orthorexic’. I am confused as to why you included her in this group since starving yourself is termed as ‘Anorexia’, which is thought to be caused by more than just a desire to lose weight; genetic inheritance, environmental factors, mineral and chemical imbalances are just a few examples of an excessive list compiled by physicians to be causes.
I guess I’m confused because of her desire to eat healthy and instead of eating so called healthy foods as Organic foods, non treated or natural foods (which are widely available), she chose not to eat at all. Did she simply have an aversion to all foods because her standards of healthy meant that nothing was healthy? As far as I can tell she had an aversion to food full stop.
I’m also confused about you talking about Raw Foodists and vegetarians as ‘Orthorexic’ (I enjoy my veggies the most when they are raw, but also eat cooked food and meat), I know a good number of raw foodists and vegetarians, none of whom are either emaciated, unhealthy or display a reluctance to eat food, if any thing these people really like food and eat with the same gusto as carnivores do. I understand that you do not consider these people to be unhealthy as a whole, yet you lump them into the Orhtorexic category. So again I’m confused by what you mean.
After reading about ‘Orthorexia’ I am curious as to whether there is a term describing people who refuse to eat anything healthy. One of my college roommates was one such examples, he ate nothing but microwavable and processed food, for breakfast, lunch and dinner; the idea of eating a ‘home-cooked meal’ , fresh vegetables or fruit simply repulsed him, we all just figured ”his loss, more for us”.
It would only seem logical, given that there are people who won’t eat (Anorexics) and people who will not stop eating (Bigorexia or muscle Dysmorphia), that there is also a group of people who are the opposite of Orthorexic, yet you do not mention this group. I have not read your book and cannot say for sure that you have not also coined a term for them.

In essence, I’m confused.

I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter, unlike others who apparently are not, and only want to vehemently criticize you, as can be seen on your ‘Reader Hatemail’ page.
I hope you respond,
Thank you for you time.
Max from sunny Colorado.

Comment on What is Orthorexia? by StevenB

StevenB — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:36:43 +0000

I love your expression “an eating disorder veiled behind white gossamer cotten.”

Comment on What is Orthorexia? by Dianne Seaman

Dianne Seaman — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:01:29 +0000

Dear Steven/Dr B,…Thanks for the validation. i observed this phenomenon in a small group of friends who became interested in yoga and eastern spirituality. What began as simple vegetarian choices, which seemed moderate and balanced, eventually morphed into what felt to me like “food fundamentalism”. As long as ten years ago I began to question whether they were displaying “an eating disorder veiled behind white gossamer cotten.” which I wrote in an article at the time. I suspected people were not choosing as much as reacting. In a culture where over consumption of food in general is the norm and excessive meat eating is common, are many people merely reacting to that extreme by going to the other extreme?
While I sensed what you have confirmed, it was challenging at times to trust myself since so many close friends were espousing this dogma, which they saw as an essentail part of their spiritual identity. While I was comfortable with my middle path, I questioned whether or not I was just not spiritual enough, disciplined enough.,Peer pressure is tough. And tricky because what they were doing looked so noble…both from a physical health and spiritual angle. Just goes to show anything taken to extreme can be potentially harmful, hence the wisdom in “everything in moderation.”
Best Wishes, Dianne