The FastDay Forum

I just read this very interesting article about how we can become so obsessed with so-called "healthy eating" that we end up with the exact opposite outcome. I had never heard of orthorexia. Hopefully, no-one on this forum has, or will, become this obsessive.

http://www.self.com/life/health/2015/03/care-too-much-about-healthy-eating/

She sounds more anorexic than orthorexic to me. You can eat totally healthily and not lose weight like that. But it seems like a lot of the stuff she and other obsess over are now thought to be healthy, or at least not unhealthy. Like red meat. And gluten for most people. Or full-fat yogurt.

'Moderation in all things'..and..'A little bit of what you fancy does you good ' are excellent adages IMHO..
These days we can get too obsessive..i remember well as a child how the grans,mums and aunts ( it was always the women! ) bought -or sent us to buy- what was in season and cooked and baked without fuss .
I can barely remember anyone adult or child being fat..as a child,i had no idea what ' fat' meant ( except on meat) and as for the word obese..if anyone had used it,i would have had no clue to what it referred.
The good thing about fasting i think is it definitely allows me to hear what my body craves, which nine times out of ten is the food that will provide protein,fats,vits and minerals, and the odd treat here and there too.
We're so lucky we have adequate food and clean drinking water..many people have neither..hard to believe In the 21 st century isnt it!

I agree with @MaryAnn that girl has anorexia. I also agree with Candy @Candicmarie in that a little of what you fancy does you good. Mindful eating is great and surprising. If you allow it, the body will tell YOU what foods it needs, not the other way round. That's what is so great about fast days. Don't you find sometimes that despite what you feel to be hunger you still don't know what you want? Interesting isn't it.

She was' t doing healthy eating or she would never have got so underweight.

The good thing about IF regimes is that they emphasise eating normally on feed days/eating Windows ie at TDEE or until feeling full.

I see nothing wrong with eliminating or cutting back on certain food types if you have health concerns.

The condition covered in the article reads like anorexia to me also.

Orthorexia is somewhat misunderstood and is not a recognised mental illness in the DSM-5 - The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders but, in my opinion, is a illness somewhat distinct from other eating disorders and often the precursor to anorexia and to a lesser degree bulimia.

https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org ... ia-nervosa

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/o ... -of-022415

[Tracieknits]

Orthoexia is something I saw a lot at the Waldorf school my son used to attend. The mothers would not allow any food that wasn't "pure" enough. It had to be organic or biodynamic. There was this weird ritual thing where they buried a cow horn in the garden and planted seeds by the stage of the moon - biodynamic is weird. At least half of the moms were gluten free, and the food was disgusting. Generally, they didn't allow sugar or corn syrup - only honey, maple syrup or organic agave. I swear the majority of those children are going to become addicted to McDonald's as a way to rebel. Forget going on a field trip and stopping to get food somewhere. At least half of the mothers wouldn't even allow their angels to eat at Panera. We had several vegan, gluten free parents who forced their children to eat that way. They couldn't even have honey!

I think that's what most people mean by orthoexia. This article is about anorexia.