In 1997, Steven Bratman, M.D., published an essay about a new kind of eating disorder. He coined the condition as “orthorexia nervosa.” Although orthorexia nervosa is not an official psychiatric diagnosis (it’s typically categorized as a variety of anorexia), Dr. Bratman’s disorder does possess unique attributes. The main difference between an orthorexic and an anorexic is the individual’s motivation. Dr. Bratman used the prefix “ortho” to mean right or true. Orthorexics don’t operate from a desire to be thin; instead, they strive to eat pure and healthy foods. While this condition may sound innocuous at first, it can have serious consequences. These health food addicts may obsess about eating the right foods to the point of social isolation, pathological obsession, and even starvation.

Specialized diets have achieved wider popularity in the United States in the last few years. Widely acclaimed regimens such as the Atkins diet (which allows little to no carbohydrates) have introduced self-imposed severe dietary restrictions to the mainstream, and made unusual or rigid dietary practices more socially acceptable than ever before. In addition, escalating obesity rates in the United States over the past two decades have created a backlash of healthy and socially-conscious eating in some areas.

Like people with anorexia or bulimia, orthorexics transfer their entire self-worth into their eating practices. People with these three conditions are pathologically fixated on food. Ironically, they begin by trying to control their eating, and in the end their eating ends up controlling them. Individuals with eating disorders think about food almost (more…)

Orthorexia Nervosa is a recently discovered disease because it was thought to be Anorexia earlier on. This type of disorder is an obsession with eating only healthy types of foods. This disease usually occurs when people are so driven to become thin that they start to become obsessed with everything that they are consuming.

Someone who struggles with Orthorexia Nervosa will do things like planning out their meals for the next day. This means that they will have a strict planned schedule of breakfast, lunch and dinner. This person will try to be constantly limiting the amount of food that he/she is eating in order to maintain a certain weight. People who have Orthorexia Nervosa are often critical of what others eat, and usually isolate themselves from surroundings