We all know of the two infamous eating disorders, Bulimia and Anorexia, however a third has been proposed, Orthorexia. Orthorexia is the unhealthy obsession of eating healthy. It sounds ridiculous, and some of the arguments do too, even one of its many traits was a tad comical, “moral judgment of others based on dietary choices” (Dunn, T.M & Bratman, S. 2016). This is that same as most fit-minded people or people who try to eat healthy. In fact, most people would judge a person who order 3 Big Macs at McDonalds for themselves. The way orthorexia is described by some puts it more in the light of just someone who’s stuck up about their strict diet:

They become consumed with what and how much to eat, and how to deal with                          “slip-ups.”  An iron-clad will is needed to maintain this rigid eating style. Every                     day is a chance to eat right, be “good,” rise above others in dietary prowess, and                     self-punish if temptation wins (usually through stricter eating, fasts and                                   exercise). Self-esteem becomes wrapped up in the purity of orthorexics’ diet                            and they sometimes feel superior to others, especially in regard to food intake.                        (Karin Kratina, PhD, RD, LD/N, n.d.)

To me this all sounds like the usual stuck up fitness nut or dieter. Descriptions like this make it look like doctors are just trying to label everything in life as some sort of disease or disorder. It’s the same as carcinogens, today it seems like everything will give you cancer, from a plastic water bottle to coffee. So really, orthorexia just looks like a bunch of crap produce by doctors trying to figure out everything about everything, for the most part

A lot of the diagnostic criterion look like they could lead to misdiagnosis, either that out they would only be able to diagnose severe cases. This is the other part, where the idea of orthorexia seems to hold some weight, orthorexia is the unhealthy obsession of “eating healthy”, meaning that a person would obsess over the food they eat, when they eat, how much, where it’s from, etc. and then having severe self-punishment or shame or worries when they go off diet. Other descriptions of orthorexia sound much more like a disorder than just a run-of-the-mill health nut who thinks they’re above everyone else, “Most of their life is spent planning and preparing meals and resisting temptation to the exclusion of other activities. They may even go to the extreme of avoiding certain people who do not share in their dietary beliefs or carry their own supply of food wherever they go” (Stefanie Lein, 2016). This describes an actual problem while the others sound more like people we could see in everyday life. The problem is that this source, an article posted on Eating Disorders Online, seems to have been written in response to other more credible articles, this one was more likely intended to explain what orthorexia is to curious people. The first two sources are much more credible. There were no ads on their websites, written by medical professionals, and give better and more details about the “disorder”, but like I said before, they just don’t sound right. Of course this could be a real thing that some people have, but I feel like most people who might be diagnosed with this (if it becomes an accepted medical disorder) wouldn’t actually have it but simply be picky eaters who are focused on eating healthy.

 Motivation has always been something that I feel I have managed fairly well. Growing up, my mom gave me a lot of freedom and let me make a lot of my own decisions at a young age. At age sixteen, I got a job, then a car, and it seemed like I was on my own at this point. My mom says my motivation to achieve the next level in whatever I was doing has been the reason why she felt there wasn’t much need for her to help me at most times. My current restaurant job at home is probably a good example of this. I started at California Pizza Kitchen as a part time host and I hated hosting because it didn’t pay much, but I knew upgrading to the server position and making my own “real” tips would be worth it. I used extrinsic motivation, like we talked about in class, to get me through a full year of hosting without just giving up and quitting. I knew the how to save the bit of money I was making and once I finally became a server it seemed like I had more money than I knew what to do with. 

Coming to Austin College was a very big decision for me, considering that my dream was always to go to the University of Oklahoma, like my mom and older brother. Coming from a huge high school and hoping for a larger public University, Austin College definitely wasn’t a school at the top of my list, at first. There were, however a few different motivation factors at work that led to my decision to become a kangaroo. The incentive theory was probably the biggest theory working on me in this decision. By coming to Austin College, I was going to get to play four more years of my favorite hobby in existence, football. Coach Dawson, head football coach of Austin College, called me and introduced me to the idea of playing for him and told me about this private school that I had no knowledge of. He told me how I could come in and actually get to play, no practice dummy scam or sideline soldier trick involved. That fact alone, put Austin College at the top of my list, in the number one spot. Another motivation I give credit to for my decision to attend Austin College is the arousal theory. I realized in class, when we went over the Yerkes-Dodson Law that I knew Austin College was going to be a challenge for me academically, but that was a big reason why I chose it. My job at California Pizza Kitchen has shown me that I perform much better when I am keeping myself busy and running around doing something than when I’m not very busy or being lazy. Without even realizing it, I knew that I would most likely do better at a school that challenged me and stressed me out a little bit compared to a school were I could get lazy and get by easily.

 These next three remaining years of undergraduate school and then three years of physical therapy school after that will be the toughest years of my academic life. I plan to use the motivation of the future I’ve pictured for my family and I to get through it all. I know that failing a class, not getting all my prerequisites done in time, dropping out, having kids early, or simply losing focus will all result in me not being able to achieve the future I have pictured in my head right now. It really is a “work now, play later” type of mentality but much more long term than that phrase is usually used for. I guess I just understand that it will all be worth it in the end and that’s all I’m going to need to push me through these next several years.

Right off the bat, it seems orthorexia is a cop-out for diagnosing someone with anorexia. Anorexia shares many symptoms with this eating disorder, but there is a key element for someone to be diagnosed with anorexia: the person’s body mass index (BMI) is highly suggested to be at least 15% below a normal BMI for someone their age and height to be diagnosed with anorexia. Orthorexia doesn’t have to have a BMI measurement at all. Orthorexia seems to be an incredibly specific type of anorexia, and aimed at a specific group that gets their identity from what they eat. Both disorders seem to stem from self-image and confidence issues. That should be what the focus on, not how “obsessed” someone is with eating healthy. If it makes them happy, let them be. If it doesn’t make them happy so to speak, causes physical harm, and fuels their body issue problems and self-identity crises, then there is a problem that needs to be addressed. If the problem is there, it should be diagnosed as anorexia since it meets the criteria.

The orthorexia essay written by Dr. Bratman seems to be more of a cautionary tale than a mental disorder. He became obsessed with how organic, pure, and clean his food was and eventually overcame this and it affected him physically. The physical aspect, the self-identity crisis, and the obsessive control over what he wanted to eat are grounds for an eating disorder. It can be diagnosed as anorexia though, especially if the BMI measurement is lifted from the diagnosis criteria. When eating healthily results in negative symptoms in a person, mentally and physically, there should be concern, but if the person enjoys eating like that, and is not displaying poor physical health, then there is no need to necessarily be concerned.

Reading Dr. Bratman “What is Orthorexia?“, he claims there are differences between anorexia and orthorexia. Orthorexia, he says, is much more apart of a person’s identity, and the controlling aspect of each disorder. Orthorexia focuses on where the food came from, how was it prepared, etc. while anorexia is just about losing weight. On the contrary, it doesn’t matter how the food is controlled; the part that should be concerning is to what degree the food is being controlled. There should not be controlling classifications for eating disorders, especially two that are very much alike. With the identity argument, frankly, if I was someone with anorexia, I would be deeply insulted by his comment on identity. Anorexia is a terrible, consuming disorder with high mortality rates, and it takes years to overcome if someone can actually do it. Anorexia and bulimia  become intricate parts of someone’s identity that constantly must be battled on different levels of complexity. Bratman sounds a little entitled in finding a new eating disorder to describe his. Honestly, this orthorexia disorder is actually starting to reek of a little bit of sexism. Teenage girls are the main demographic of anorexia, and a new name on the same disorder can open the door for more men to be diagnosed with an eating disorder. This isn’t the first time the psychology community has done this (see Borderline Personality Disorder versus Narcissistic Personality Disorder). 

Not surprisingly, the vegan and vegetarian community has scoffed at this disorder, and offered most of the backlash against this possible eating disorder. Freelee the Banana Girl, a prolific vegan Youtuber with very colorful language who people say is orthorexic, makes sure her viewers know she is absolutely against this disorder. While I don’t exactly agree with every video she posts or even everything she says in this video, she does state she’s only obsessed with healthy eating because it makes her feel good, and she is making a conscious effort to put good things in her body. She posts pictures and suggests different kinds of “junk” food to eat while you are eating vegan/vegetarian. She claims people just “want to give a fuck about what they eat”, and to a certain level, I agree with that, but there are people out there who become distressed and suffer physically from consuming too much of a vegan diet or exercising too much without eating enough calories in their preferred diet. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t have a doctorate or anything like that, but she offers interesting insight to the more passionate side of the vegan community, and she brings up a great point about the access of junk food in the vegan world.

On YouTube, there’s also videos saying orthorexia is a real disorder, one such video coming from a Youtuber called The Balanced Blonde. She says she suffered from orthorexia, and she lists several symptoms of the disorder. Note she gives special thanks to Dr. Bartman in the video description. While I support her getting help for her eating disorder, there are too many overlapping symptoms with anorexia. I don’t know if it would have been better for her to be diagnosed with anorexia since I don’t know her personally, but she’s making a difficult case for orthorexia to stand on its own. I do agree with the video’s message of one diet doesn’t fit everyone, however.

I think it’s going to be incredibly difficult for the overall public to back up this disorder, and for this disorder not to clash with anorexia. Overall, I don’t believe this is a valid way to define a boundary between an eating disorder and healthy eating.