Coping With a Health Food Obsession

Strategies for Overcoming the Eating Disorder Orthorexia Nervosa

Oct 9, 2009

Some eating disorder experts classify orthorexia nervosa as a "healthy eating disorder." Here are four strategies for overcoming this obsession with eating health foods.

Treating orthorexia nervosa is new to some eating disorder experts because it’s not the same as a “traditional” eating disorder. Here is one doctor’s definition of orthorexia nervosa, plus four strategies for overcoming this eating disorder.

What is Orthorexia Nervosa?

Dr Stephen Bratman, author of Health Food Junkies, describes people struggling with orthorexia nervosa this way: “They take the concept of healthy eating to such an extreme that it becomes an obsession. I call this state of mind orthorexia nervosa: literally, ‘fixation on righteous eating.’”

People struggling with orthorexia nervosa are obsessed with eating the right foods. Their obsession with healthy eating impairs their relationships, activities, and even their own physical health.

Strategies for Overcoming Orthorexia Nervosa

Confide in someone trustworthy and share your problem. Overcoming any eating disorder, addiction or obsession requires support from other people – counselors, mentors, wise friends or family members (which is why the effective Alcoholics Anonymous program encourages supportive relationships with one other!). Treat orthorexia nervosa like a “real” disease, such as depression or heart disease, and ask for help.

Ask your confidante to keep you accountable as you try to overcome this eating disorder. What kind of support or help do you need? What steps or strategies will help you overcome this obsession with healthy foods? If calling an eating disorder expert is necessary, then ask the person you trust to help with that. If incorporating a normal amount of “unhealthy” food into your diet is your goal, then set up a plan in which you report the foods you eat to your confidante.

Remember that eating some “unhealthy food” isn’t damaging to overall health. People struggling with orthorexia nervosa may be afraid to eat foods they deem “unhealthy” for fear of gaining weight, losing the progress they’ve made, or feeling unnatural or impure. To overcome this eating disorder, remember that eating some unhealthy foods in moderation won’t damage health or lead to a life of bad eating habits! Everything in moderation is good for physical, mental, and emotional heath.

The last tip for overcoming orthorexia nervosa involves finding a healthy way to develop a strong mind-body connection. Eating healthy foods is one way of taking care, nurturing, and even loving oneself. But when it goes to far — such as orthorexia nervosa or obsessing with healthy eating — then, it becomes destructive. To overcome this eating disorder, find other ways to nurture and care for yourself. Try strengthening the mind-body connection through yoga, mediation, journaling, or art therapy. Or, try new things such as learning a new language, taking different types of exercise classes, or joining a scrapbooking or knitting group.

Like many eating disorders, orthorexia nervosa can be overcome! It takes time, dedication, and effort -- and, often, external support.

For a well-rounded perspective of different types of eating disorders – including body dysmorphic disorder – read Articles About Eating Disorders.

Resources for Emotional Healing lists several articles that offer help for different issues, ranging from stopping self-sabotage to overcoming perfectionism.

The copyright of the article Coping With a Health Food Obsession in Psychology is owned by Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen. Permission to republish Coping With a Health Food Obsession in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.