The ultra-processed food war is upon us. Health and science journals as well as click-bait media have recently placed tremendous focus on UPFs (ultra-processed foods). I can guarantee you have been exposed to something related to a particular food you should stay away from. Red dyes might be public enemy number one at this moment, but the UPF smear campaign will certainly pivot to other foods or food components soon. We are already well into the “Make America Healthy Again” rhetoric, and I have a feeling we are about to hear much more confusing messaging about finding ways to “improve health.”
Maybe you have heard of the concept of “orthorexia.” In a nutshell, the term just means an obsession with health, especially healthy eating. Steven Bratman coined the term in 1997 to describe the restrictive nature of becoming hyper-fixated on one’s health.
To be clear, I am very pro feeling good in your body. There is nothing wrong with seeking new approaches to feeling better. I advocate trying to slow down and get more curious within yourself before jumping into new health practices. This is important in order to (a) not blow through tons of money buying into worthless gimmicks and (b) prevent you from engaging in dangerous disordered eating behaviors rooted in orthorexia.
So how does this look in real life? Perhaps you would like to sleep better. You do a quick Google search that takes you down a rabbit hole and you stumble on some findings that suggest that focusing on your diet might improve your sleep. No harm in reading more. You begin to find more connections. Reduce carbs, eliminate sugar, focus on proteins—you know the drill. While none of these practices are bad, per se, you might have a history of body image issues, and the slippery slope leads to more and more restrictions. It is further complicated when maybe you even start to “feel better.” I put that in quotes because I hear it all of the time. In a weight-obsessed culture, when folks lose weight, they tend to “feel better.” There very well could be a connection to the actual reduction in weight, but it is a super gray area—such a complicated experience. I have the privilege of being able to work with folks on understanding what else might be connected to “feeling better.” This process involves slowing down. It involves curiosity, and it involves flexibility.
As a certified eating disorder specialist, I have worked with plenty of clients who struggle with orthorexia or even have orthorexic tendencies. This particular subset of symptoms can be some of the hardest to treat. I find it incredibly challenging because, as I’ve come to find out, health is incredibly subjective. The nuances of feeling good seem endless. Everyone has a different internal compass guiding them on what might feel good in their bodies. And in my line of work, that internal compass is almost always impacted by some internal thoughts that have been hijacked by disordered eating behaviors or just misguided diet culture beliefs.
An old blind spot of mine as a clinician was around orthorexia. I was trained to work with eating disorders through the lens of “all foods fitting.” This is a great perspective to take—in life and in treating eating disorders. I was taught to be skeptical about one’s “health journey” because so often an eating disorder was the motivating factor. I was also taught to remain skeptical about eliminating entire food groups from one’s diet, outside of ethical or religious reasons.
It isn’t that I have had a total change of heart or that I practice drastically differently in my work with clients, but I have allowed myself to hold much more space for nuance. This in part was influenced by a dear friend having lupus and watching her journey of trying to reduce painful inflammation in her body. Witnessing her trials and errors opened my eyes to the fact that individuals have to experiment with different diets.
Again, there is obviously nothing wrong with feeling good. Absolutely no issues with being in sync with your body’s needs. No red flags with finding foods and movement that satisfy you.
The issues start to pile up when life becomes restricted. When your energy and time are so dedicated to maintaining “health” that you miss out.
The slippery slope of a fixation with health is still something I am very aware of. Noticing that certain foods impact your body differently is not disordered eating. But again, it is worth being mindful of the pitfalls of black-and-white thinking when it comes to food and movement. Allowing space for flexibility is one hands-on way to avoid an obsession with health.
When we completely abstain from any foods, we open the door to placing moral judgments on foods. Foods are not good or bad, but they can affect your individual body negatively. It is far different to approach food as neutral and not something that sits well for you than to judge it indefinitely, negatively impacting those around you.
So, what can someone who needs to abstain from certain foods do to achieve balance?
I think when we focus on intentionality, we avoid much of the slippery slope into an unhealthy fixation on health. If our intention is to have a full and rich life—there are less orthorexic tendencies.
Additionally, I do think there is still space for flexibility even when we must abstain. Flexibility might not come in the form of food choices. Perhaps there is space for more malleable behaviors in spending time with friends or family. Maybe your health routine has wiggle room. If a friend invites you to go for a walk but you usually take a fitness class at that time, can you pivot? Maybe you aren’t subbing walks for classes, instead, maybe you simply skip working out from time to time.
Orthorexia is, again, a slippery slope. One doesn’t just land in this disordered behavior by eliminating dairy because it contributes to your inflammation. When you notice a small buildup of restrictive practices, there might be the need to pump the brakes and reflect on what you might be missing out on that could bring better holistic health.