A Healthy Eating Habit Shouldn't Turn into an Obsessive Behavior

Today, the habits that emerge with the popularity of healthy eating issues can lead to an obsessive eating habit in people.

According to the information compiled by the Sabri Ülker Foundation, the obsession with healthy eating known as “Orthorexia Nervosa” can cause serious physical and mental problems.

Unusual increase or decrease in food consumption, feelings of satisfaction with appearance, excessive anxiety about eating behavior and body weight can cause eating disorders in physical and psychosocial dimensions over time. While eating is one of the normal biological activities of humans, individuals may consume more food than necessary in situations such as pressure, distress, depression, sadness, joy or anger. It is thought that this situation is caused by the psychological state of the individual, not the biological need. The wrong but internalized perception of beauty triggers the habit of eating much less than necessary. Wrong eating habits, which are known to be correct in societies, can lead to many health problems in the long run. Today, "Orthorexia Nervosa" (ON), known as a healthy eating obsession, appears as a result of this situation.

What is Healthy Eating Obsession (Orthorexia Nervosa)?

Orthorexia Nervosa was first described in 1997 by Dr. It is a term coined by Steven Bratman to convey his own experience of food and nutrition. The term orthorexia comes from the Latin words 'orthos' (right) and 'orexsis' (hunger). Steven Bratman uses the term Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) to describe the pathological obsession with healthy food consumption.

Is Orthorexia Nervosa An Eating Disorder?

Orthorexia Nervosa, which is not yet in the category of eating disorders, is strikingly similar to other eating disorders. Today, one of the most important concepts when considering the problems to improve health is healthy nutrition. In recent years, Orthorexia Nervosa or eating behavior disorders with high sensitivity at the level of obsession have also increased among individuals in the society. While the obsession in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa is related to the energy (calories) and body weight we take in with our diet, in Orthorexic obsession, the obsession with healthy eating is prominent instead of weakness and weight loss. Orthorexia Nervosa is at the forefront of obsession with the amount of food consumed by the individual and being able to consume healthy and unprocessed, pure foods instead of a weak body image.

It is stated that because orthorexic individuals, like patients with obsessive compulsive disorder, spend a large part of their time with strict rules that they individually create, their social relations may decrease for this reason. A healthy diet of the individual is not a pathological condition under normal conditions. However, it is a fact that this situation can be considered as a personality and behavioral disorder when it becomes an obsession and becomes the center of an individual's life and begins to manage diet.

Obsession with healthy eating can lead to eating an unhealthy diet!

Orthorexic individuals may start to experience deficiencies in terms of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, causing a decrease in the nutritional diversity of the diet over time due to a healthy diet and the nutrients they eliminate from their diets in order to achieve perfection.