The Conversation: obsessing over healthy eating can lead to orthorexia

The desire to completely avoid processed (industrial) foods can lead to poor physical health and the development of orthorexia. This was told to The Conversation by researchers from the Department of Sport and Exercise Psychology at York St. John's University (UK).Psychologists explained that orthorexia is a type of mental disorder in which a person is obsessed with the desire to eat only environmentally friendly products. In this case, the category of "harmful" often includes both ultra-processed products (fast food, bread, confectionery) and minimally processed (canned food, canned fruits and vegetables, dried fruit).According to experts at York St. John University, the main difference between orthorexia and anorexia is the irrational fear of unhealthy foods and the potential consequences of eating them, rather than all food in principle. Even a slight deviation from a strict diet causes guilt and anxiety in a person with orthorexia, which damages the psyche.Physical health also suffers, as orthorexia is often accompanied by a desire to constantly exercise and limit the intake of nutrients such as fats and carbohydrates. For this reason, an excessive preoccupation with proper nutrition leads to poor sleep quality, low mood, decreased energy levels, apathy and impaired brain function.