As part of Her Campus Exeter’s Mental & Physical Health Awareness Campaign we will be exploring the dangers of Orthorexia. This campaign hopes to raise awareness of mental & physical illnesses within the student population and break the misconception that if you can’t see it then it’s not there.
So what is Orthorexia?
Orthorexia is a lesser known eating disorder and is about an individual’s obsession with eating only ‘clean’ and ‘health’ and ‘safe’ foods. What these foods consist of can differ for each individual. Some will eat only fruit and vegetables as they deem everything else unclean and unhealthy, whist others will live on nuts, seeds, berries and grains and will run away from anything that comes packaged and labelled. For the sufferer it is not about restricting calories, and doesn’t always have to be about body image, although it can be and for me it definitely is.
One of the main dangers of orthorexia is that it can hide a mask of other mental illnesses, such as OCD or anorexia and can mask it by seemingly ‘clean’ and ‘healthy’ eating. Many orthorexia sufferers- myself included– also exercise compulsively in the belief they will be unhealthy and fat if they do not. Doing star jumps at 2am and not being able to concentrate until you have worked out isn’t healthy or rewarding, it’s humiliating and exhausting.
But surely eating ‘clean’ is not an eating disorder, it is a good thing?
In our society, eating healthily and clean is seen increasingly as a sign of strength and power. However, orthorexia suffers aren’t healthy or happy. Every day you feel disgusting merely looking at foods you deem unclean. You have to say no to countless nights out with friends and meals with friends as you know you won’t be able to eat anything on the menu. The thought of cheesy chips after a night out makes you want to curl up in a ball and scream. When it is bad, even being around people stuffing their faces with cookies makes you feel disgusting and fat. Your entire self-worth is based on how nutritious, ‘clean’ and ‘healthy’ you can get your diet. You even end up refusing slices of your own birthday cake as you fear half of the ingredients. Yes, everyone should aim to eat a balanced and healthy diet but most orthorexia sufferers live such restricted lives that their mental and physical wellbeing suffers greatly.
What is it like suffering with orthorexia at University?
For most people, their time at University is a time of dominos pizzas at 2am, curly fries, kebabs and way too much alcohol. But for orthorexia sufferers University can be a very challenging time. I feel as if I have to say no to any of the greasy chips when they are passed around, I struggle to play drinking games as often vodka is the only alcohol I can allow myself to drink. Even if I am up to 6am dancing and partying, I force myself to reach for an apple instead of following the crowd- and my stomach- and reaching for the toaster.
Orthorexia can be socially challenging. I am often praised for my healthy salads and super foods, whilst some mock me for choosing a chia seed smoothie over pancakes for breakfast. I wish I could loosen the part of my brain that restricts me from fully embracing the social side of University because I am scared of the unhealthy and dangerous foods I may be forced to eat at socials. The disorder makes me feel isolated, restricted and means I can often never fully engage with others.
Orthorexia may not have the high body count of anorexia or receive the media’s attention that bulimia or binge-eating disorder do, but it is a real eating disorder that affects countless men and women.
Personally, my orthorexia began whilst in recovering from anorexia and has led to prolonged years of fighting with my body, my food and my brain. Orthorexia sufferers are not people who eat well and exercise moderately. They are people living in a dark hole, isolated and alone and petrified of sugar and fat.
So whilst healthy eating and eating ‘clean’ are all applauded in western society, they should also be talked about with caution as people can become trapped in a prison of health and nutrition that quickly becomes a dangerous obsession. And if you are worried that any friend is becoming isolated by their food or exercise obsessions or is developing a compulsive need to be ‘healthier’ then do try and get them to seek help as it can soon spiral into a destructive eating disorder.
Everyone should be able to have their cake, and eat it!
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