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Fans of star diets can deny themselves vital nutrients

 Eating Disorders
Posted on Feb 06 2011
Blog/ News / Articles >> Eating Disorders

Those who develop the disorder are worrying so much about the purity of what they eat that they are denying themselves entire food groups.

Nutritionists highlight celebrity fads such as the blood group diet, which is favoured by Cheryl Cole, and the Maple Syrup detox diet, used by Beyonce and Naomi Campbell.
 

Orthorexia tends to affect middle-class women in their 30s.
 

While those with anorexia restrict the quantity of what they eat, those with orthorexia are obsessed with quality and can end up eliminating items such as salt, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, wheat, gluten, yeast, soya and dairy products from their diet entirely.
 

Foods that may contain artificial additives such as MSG or pesticide residues are also rejected.
 

Adherence to such rigid rules can also mean those with the condition will refuse to eat out at restaurants or at friends’ homes, putting a strain on relationships.
 

Cutting out entire food groups is likely to lead to serious illness, warn nutritionists – but they point out how an ‘onslaught’ of advice from celebrities, particularly in the New Year, frightens women into going down the path to orthorexia.

 

Lucy Jones of the British Dietetic Association said: ‘Every day there are new pieces of advice on how to eat healthier.
 

‘Orthorexia is most in line with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. The aim may not to be thin – it’s about the quality of food.’ She said ‘no food should be written off completely’ and it was OK to eat an ‘occasional piece of crap food’.
 

‘What we are bombarded with is the idea of good and bad food. People need an education in normal eating.’

Weight Loss using Hypnotherapy at the Woodland Practice is about creating a better and healthier relationship with food, but its also about creating a healthy balance between food and exercise/activity levels. Hypnotherapy may also help those who are experiencing eating disorders already.
 

Last changed: Feb 06 2011 at 10:38 PM

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