Healthy Eating a Disease?

According to the Guardian in the UK, obsessing about healthy food is a sickness. This is not to say that if you are looking to make healthy changes to your eating plan, you are diseased. Rather, this article is saying that if you obsess about eating only “pure” food, and it takes up your entire life, it can become a sickness. If you are making your menu more important than your life, you may have what psychologists have termed, “Orthorexia Nervosa”–very similar to Anorexia Nervosa. In fact, if a person who obsesses so much about pure and healthy food, the argument is made that they will get to the point of being anorexic, because of limiting themselves to just one or two foods.

Social Lives Suffer

Someone who is obsessing about food may be be missing out on connecting with family and friends. I have heard of some people who would rather avoid all social situations rather than be faced with being around food that does not “fit” their ideas of healthy food. People with this mindset also will view someone with less pure eating standards as less moral than themselves. Of course this can contribute to a less than satisfying social life, because not many people want to be judged about their own eating habits.

Is it a Disease?

We all want to be healthy, have enough energy to get through the day, and be able to live a little. Eating food that is nutrient rich and free from chemicals can help you find better health. And eating foods that work for your body can help you achieve your results that much faster. However, when you obsess about the minute details of that food, it can be considered a sickness. When your eating plan consumes your entire life, and you become a walking menu, it’s time to back up just a little and re-focus your energy. It’s okay to focus on your eating plan when you are first getting started on a new path, because learning a new style of eating requires practice and work just like any other new skill. But once you have your eating plan learned, there is an entire world out there for you to experience. Eat to live, but don’t live to eat.