Eating well can become a dangerous obsession

Psychologists are seeing a rise in the number of people suffering orthorexia, a condition where healthy eating becomes an obsessive disorder.

DUBAI // Doctors and fitness experts say eating well makes a person feel well, leading many to take the decision to lead a healthier lifestyle. But that can create its own, often deep-seated, problems.

Psychologists are seeing a rise in the number of people suffering from orthorexia, a condition where healthy eating becomes as debilitating and obsessive as more well-known eating disorders.

“As we see with most obsessive behaviour, the focus of this person’s life turns to a single behaviour. In this case it is their food habits,” said Devika Singh, a psychologist at Dubai Herbal Treatment Centre.

“There is an increasing awareness of healthy food habits in schools and in the wider community but orthorexics suffer from a preoccupation with planning and acquiring specific quantities of food which affects their functioning or their relationships in some way,” she said.

Ms Singh said extravagant claims in the media about health foods are sometimes unfounded.

“It could also be due to rising stress levels in general which can trigger various psychological conditions. This can include environmental, social, occupational and health stressors.

“A person suffering from orthorexia may have a distorted body image or may feel compelled to control a particular area of their life because other things feel out of control.”

The most at-risk age group is ages 15 and above. Red flags include extreme beliefs and rigid thinking related to food and lifestyle.

“Without therapeutic help this can spiral out of control and become detrimental to one’s mental and physical health,” Ms Singh said. “Their reactions are usually extreme. They usually experience some form of disruption in their lives because of their eating patterns which can affect their work, family and social life.”

As food is often a major part of most cultures these individuals feel that they cannot participate and tend to feel very isolated.

“A common response from family and friends is to just ‘get over it’, but for a person with orthorexia, their cognitive patterns and behaviours are stuck. Family treatment combined with individual treatment is usually recommended to reduce the anxiety and behavioural outcomes.”

Richard Palfrey, a sports performance coach in Dubai, said the health and fitness industry must be more aware of the example it sets.

“There is a growing weighing and measuring [of food] mindset here, of eating well but not eating enough. It always comes down to ‘eat less’,” he said.

“This isn’t a healthy mentality. It’s not productive to deprive yourself of any nutrition especially not when you’re turning the process of eating into something so sterile.”

Due to the relative immaturity of the fitness industry in the Emirates, there is a tendency to embrace trends that would normally be a fad in the West, Mr Palfrey said.

Dr Shereen Habib, a Dubai physician specialising in women’s health, said orthorexia is about control, like any other eating disorder.

“I have seen people who are very obsessed about what they eat - carefully choosing where food is sourced, eating organic, reducing saturated fats and sugar - but it becomes a compulsion rather than a guideline.

“If you spend a disproportionate amount of time worrying about what you eat and reading labels ... it disrupts your life. This is similar to the routines and rituals seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder.”

There is a lot of misinformation and conflicting information available, especially on the internet, as well as some scaremongering from peers and the media, Dr Habib said.

“This is an affluent society where simply having enough food is not an issue. People can afford to be fussy in every way. It is also a young population which is both health and appearance conscious.”