I Won't Eat

A lesser known eating disorder.

- Mehak Siddiqui

You've probably heard of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, the two most common eating disorders, but do you know about orthorexia nervosa, another eating disorder that stems from an obsession with health food?

Eating disorders begin early, usually during the teenage years, and can develop at a young age as 12, although the average age is 17. Almost 90 per cent of sufferers are women. But in the case of orthorexia, it affects more men than women. Moreover, it has been found to afflict mostly those over 30 years of age, who belong to the middle class and are well educated.

For a long time, there has been growing awareness about the importance of eating right so as to stay fit. But this awareness can grow into an obsession that can take over your life and actually worsen your health rather than improving it.

According to Steven Bratman, a specialist in alternative medicine who first coined the term 'orthorexia' in 1997, the disorder may appear similar to anorexia nervosa, where the person avoids eating as much as possible. However, the significant difference is that orthorexics are fixated on eating only healthy foods, which may lead to a restriction of required calories merely because the available food may not be perceived by them as 'good enough to eat.

Orthorexia is not officially recognised as a disorder yet, but definitely has some features of the psychological ailment of obsessive compulsive behaviour.

That is, sufferers take actions that are “aimed at preventing or reducing distress or preventing some dreaded event or situation”.

The dreaded event could be any negative effect that stems from unhealthy food habits such as a heart attack or obesity.

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Characteristic symptoms of orthorexia are: