Ortoreksiya - causes, symptoms, treatment

Did you know that the right nutrition can be diagnosed, if it suddenly begins to take a morbid mania? This is possible if we are talking about orthorexia. Nervous orthorexia — an eating disorder characterized by an obsessive desire for healthy and proper nutrition, which is often accompanied by significant limitation in the choice of food.



Maniacal adherence to the rules of healthy food realised for the first time (and put the term "orthorexia) doctor Stephen Bratman, who lived in the 70s of the last century in the commune, the members of which ate only organic food. About the eating disorder Bratman began to wonder when I noticed that he became obsessed with the idea of proper nutrition. Today, a healthy lifestyle and PP (proper nutrition) is actively promoted in society, so the study doctor Stephen Bratman growing interest among specialists, because man is prone to extremes. However, at the moment ortoreksiya not included in the international classifications of diseases, so the diagnosis cannot be made officially.



What is dangerous ortoreksiya?

Due to the fact that information about the usefulness and harm of food is often taken ortoreksiki from unverified sources, it can lead to misinformation, which can have not a beneficial effect on human health. Strict regulations on nutrition can result in unconscious protest, in which the person starts to eat "forbidden foods" that can lead to bulimia. And even if people can handle her, it will hurt the feeling of guilt and General depression after the collapse, and this leads to increased psychological distress.



In some severe cases, the strict exclusion from the diet of any group of products can lead to depletion. Strict dietary restrictions can lead to social blockade: ortoreksiki restrict social contacts, bad find a common language with family and friends who do not share their dietary beliefs. The most famous orthorexia can be called Adolf Hitler. The führer used the vegetables that were grown on special plots of land: it is fumigated to kill bacteria, especially pure fertilized with manure from a particularly clean animals. While Hitler was a vegetarian, not Smoking and alcohol only occasionally could afford wine.



Causes orthorexia. Risk group:

1. The first thing to say about young girls and women. As a rule, because of the desire to change their figure women are beginning to experiment with food. Under the influence of fashionable slogans about nutrition, woman, unsure of her appearance and prone to psychological self-flagellation begins to reconsider their diet, read articles about the products and their properties, to communicate with people, "preaching" the right diet. At first it was good, but in situation orthorexia people can't understand when a proper diet turns into an obsession: excluded many of the products that seem to be controversial for health, there is frequent refusal to friendly gatherings in cafes with friends, because there is no wholesome food, there are problems in communicating with others (not everyone wants to listen to a meticulous lecture on the PP).

2. At risk can log in and quite successful, Mature people, those who very strongly attracts the adjective "right": proper nutrition, proper lifestyle and thoughts, the correct approach to everything, what a person faces during the day. People of this temperament subconsciously seek approval. Because the right cannot be evaluated negatively: neither himself nor others.

3. Ortoreksiya can occur in those who are called perfectionists, people doing in their lives all in the top five, striving for excellence, contributing to itself high demands. For example, American actress Gwyneth Paltrow once turned his attention to the figure, which, I must say, she's always in order. The fear of gaining weight Gwyneth radically changed her diet, giving up coffee, sugar, flour products, potatoes, tomatoes, milk, meat, stopped going to restaurants, and if left a long time from home, make sure you take the "right food". Needless to say that the lectures on healthy nutrition listened to all of her surroundings?! By the way, this actress did not stop there and released a book dedicated to the proper useful food with original recipes. It would be admirable if we had a measure and if the number of media oskaronosnoy the name of the actress began to appear in the same row with the word "ortoreksiya".



Symptoms ortoreksii

• Categorical food choices, not based on personal taste preferences, and quality characteristics.
• Key product selection — health benefits.
• Falling under the ban salty, sweet, fatty, and foods containing starch, gluten (gluten), alcohol, yeast, caffeine, chemical preservatives, non-biological or genetically modified foods.
• Overly active fad diets and "useful" power supply systems — for example, a raw food diet.
• Fear of the "harmful" products, reaching the extent of a phobia (an irrational uncontrollable fear).
• A system of punishment in case of the use of prohibited product.
• Abstraction of the important role even the method of preparation of certain food products.
• Thorough planning the menu for the next day.
• A rigid division of people into their (those who eat right, and therefore worthy of respect) and others (those who eat junk food), in which is seen a clear sense of superiority over those who are included in the second group.

How to treat orthorexia?

If you have symptoms of orthorexia it is very important to realize that the desire for proper nutrition becomes unhealthy and turns to the stage of obsession. This is the first and crucial step on the road to recovery. At the initial stage with orthorexia can cope on their own through self-control: odergivala yourself from thinking about food, do not pass up meetings with friends in public places (cafes, restaurants) or away from them, pay less attention to product labels, to listen to the body, his taste desires, not only to the tenets of the PP. In the case that their own to cope fails, you need to refer to a dietitian and psychologist: first constitute restoring a healthy diet, and the second will help to treat eating sensibly and find the meaning of life not only in what you eat.







How to avoid orthorexia?

• Never not categorically refuse any products.
• Allow yourself sometimes something good, though inappropriate to you by your current supply system.
• Listen to your body: if you do not like there are a number of useful products, do not torture yourself. Search for analogues, maybe not so environmentally friendly, but pleasant to the taste.
• Don't focus on the breakdown during dieting. No need to come up with a punishment and for a long time to survive the situation. Accept it and move on.
• Don't forget to enjoy the taste of food during consumption.
• Be sure to do something that has nothing to do with a healthy lifestyle and diet. Your PP should not be a hobby or the meaning of life, is just one of the physiological needs and the time to spend on interesting activities: courses, trips to museums and theaters, animal care, etc., etc.
• Learn to filter and verify the information: the use of any product can be postulated for commercial purposes, as well as harm. Better consult with experts.

Source: www.gastronom.ru