How To Distinguish Between Healthy Eating And An Eating Disorder
In recent years there have been many changes in eating habits. Globalization has made not only new recipes popular, but new eating styles, diets and philosophies around food have also emerged.
Added to this, beauty standards encourage a body type for men and women and, if we add to this the obsession with eating “healthy”, we have the perfect cocktail for a multitude of eating disorders to occur.
Establish differences between healthy eating and an eating disorder It is not easy, since it depends a lot on what is meant by healthy eating and what idea one has of disordered eating, with or without textbook disorder. Next we will try to see what these differences are.
Distinguishing between a healthy diet and an eating disorder
Human beings need to eat to live, as we well know. If we do not eat, we do not obtain the necessary nutrients for our body to carry out its vital functions and, consequently, we die. Based on this, it could be considered that a healthy diet would be one that provides us with the nutritional contribution necessary for our body to continue functioning correctly. This is considered taking a balanced diet, with foods from all groups.
However, “healthy” does not have to refer only to nutritional intake. Although there is no debate that for a diet to be healthy it must give us all the nutrients we need, we should not ignore the type of relationship we have with food. This psychological aspect also influences our way of understanding what it means to eat healthy, which is combined with how nutritional our diet is.
In recent years there have been all kinds of cultural changes that have had an impact on what is meant by healthy eating. New eating habits, alternative eating styles (e.g. vegetarianism, veganism, keto…) and new recipes have disrupted the concept of what it means to eat healthy. However, fundamentally the idea is the same: a diet is nutritionally healthy when it provides us with all the nutrients we need, regardless of what is eaten. It doesn’t matter if you are vegetarian, omnivorous, or vegan: it covers all the nutrients, you have a healthy diet.
The problem is that, Sometimes, people understand limiting themselves to eating a certain group of foods, not eating “forbidden” foods, or obsessively counting the calories they eat.. These behaviors are typical of eating disorders, whose effects are not only organic, but also psychological and emotional. The relationship established with food becomes pathological and dysfunctional.
These disorders have been increasing in recent years due to the viralization of eating styles and diets through social networks, but the main factor behind them is the constant bombardment of what is understood by an aesthetic body. Women are required to be thin and men to be muscular, beauty standards that modify the diet of those who wish to achieve them. Many women restrict what they eat to lose weight, while men take protein supplements to gain muscle mass, and avoid eating foods that “ruin” the progress made.
The opposite extreme is not healthy either. Although healthy eating does not imply psychological discomfort, Not worrying in the slightest about what you eat or taking care of your diet is also an indication that something is not right.. Eating huge amounts of food, neglecting the health of our body, is also a sign of a bad relationship with food. There may be a food addiction or binge eating disorder, conditions that damage health by causing obesity, diabetes and hypertension.
How is a healthy diet different from an eating disorder?
The most famous eating disorders (ED) are those that have to do with weight and physical appearance: bulimia and anorexia nervosa. However, there are other disorders such as pica and binge eating disorder in which physical appearance is not as important, but food is.
Eating disorders involve both excessive consumption of food and not eating it at all.and they all share that food causes psychological, emotional and physical discomfort in one way or another.
The symptoms of altered eating, with or without eating disorder per se, are various. All of them can be considered as indicators that differentiate the diet of the affected person from that of a person with healthy habits and relationship with food.
1. Purgative behaviors
In the case of bulimia nervosa, there are various purgative behaviors that show a poor relationship with food. The patient tries to compensate for binge eating through purges such as self-induced vomiting or excessive exercise and use of laxatives.
A person who has a healthy relationship with food does not carry out this type of behavior. If she exercises, it will not be done with the purpose of compensating for a binge, but rather to stay healthy and active. Regarding the use of laxatives, these would only be taken when necessary.
2. Self-esteem dependent on food
People with eating disorders usually show very low self-esteem. This largely depends on the shape and weight of the body. The individual has deeply internalized the idea that his shape and weight will depend on what he eats.so you restrict or modify your diet extremely to achieve your desired body goals.
In the case of people with a healthy diet, what they eat has very little influence on their self-esteem. By having a relationship with healthy food, seen as simply the means to get the nutrients you need, your self-esteem will hardly be affected if you leave the healthy diet.
3. Obsessive calorie counting
Counting calories is not a pathological behavior in itself, but rather a way to control caloric intake and avoid overdoing it. Nevertheless, If this counting becomes obsessivecounting absolutely every calorie in every context (for example, a candy, a piece of gum, a family dinner) and feeling discomfort for not having counted how many calories a food had, may be indicative of an eating disorder.
A person with a healthy relationship with food may count calories, but they will not do so obsessively. You will understand that there are contexts in which counting them is not of much use, and you will also understand that if you go a little overboard on calories one day, being at a social event such as a family dinner or simply because you want to indulge yourself, nothing happens.
It is a reality that there are foods that are more recommended than others. Having a healthy diet involves eating all food groups, covering nutritional and caloric needs. Nevertheless, It is also healthy not to be anxious about certain types of foods perceived as less healthy.. As long as our diet is healthy, eating pizza or hamburgers from time to time is not unhealthy.
However, there are people who take it to the extreme. They cannot see at all what types of foods are perceived as extremely unhealthy. This obsession can go to the point where people not only avoid eating dishes like fast food or sweets, but also completely prohibit certain food groups that dietary fads have demonized or said are unhealthy.
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5. Thinking about food affects our lives
Healthy eating means not becoming obsessed with food, not thinking all the time about what you eat and what you don’t eat. It is eating when you feel like it, being aware that there are foods that are healthier than others.. And not be worried about whether you have taken something that is not entirely healthy, as long as it is only once in a while.
People with eating problems have thoughts focused on food that cause them to lose concentration. This manifests itself in the form of problems at work and studies.
6. Restriction of social life
People who have eating disorders, especially in the case of anorexia and bulimia nervosa, They become so obsessed with avoiding eating certain things that they end up sacrificing their social life. in order to avoid falling into the “temptation” of eating things that are not allowed.
Healthy eating does not affect our social life. If we meet with our friends and family for dinner, we understand that it is a special occasion and eating something that is outside our concept of healthy is allowed.
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7. Food used as coping
People with eating disorders use food as a way of coping. This is especially the case in binge eating disorder and bulimia.where large amounts of food are eaten, often to calm the nerves or as a way to manage high levels of stress and anxiety.
On the other hand, people with a relationship with healthy food do not use it to suppress their feelings or face their daily lives. They have other methods to deal with the problems that life may throw at them, while food fulfills the main function of nutrition.
8. Consequences on the body
Healthy eating results in having a healthy body, with all the nutrients and calories it requires. Eating disorders induce multiple negative consequences for the body, physical illnesses that would not appear with a healthy diet, except in special cases such as intolerances and allergies.
Physical consequences vary depending on the disorder. For example, obesity, hypertension and diabetes are common in binge eating disorder. On the other hand, in anorexia and bulimia we find alterations such as changes in the skin and hair, anemia, malnutrition due to vitamin and electrolyte deficiency, some of which can lead to arrhythmias and alterations in cardiac contractility.
Both in binge eating disorder and in anorexia and bulimia, hormonal disorders such as sexual dysfunction and absence of menstrual periods can occur.
Orthorexia: the obsession with eating healthy
There is a condition in which the obsession with eating healthy becomes an eating disorder in itself: orthorexia. It is a paradoxical condition, since becoming obsessed with healthy eating is, in itself, unhealthy, and although it is not one of the DSM-V eating disorders, it could be considered one.
Although it could be confused with anorexia, In orthorexia there need not be concerns with physical appearance or body size. The person is more concerned about eating “healthy,” avoiding certain food groups that they believe are harmful to their health. Exaggerated concern with the quality of food causes the orthorexic person to establish obsessive rules about healthy eating and limit food varieties.
For example, these patients may decide to exclude food groups such as carbohydrates, fats, dairy products, and meats, simply because they have been “documented” and They have understood that they are not good foods for their health. It can also occur in the form of excessive restriction towards some food or substance that is interpreted as unhealthy: salt, dyes, gluten, preservatives…
It may also be the case that the orthorexic person eats a single type of food, such as apples, brown rice, eggs, salad… It does not matter what the food in question is, what identifies this type of patient is their obsession with eat healthy foods causes your diet to lose variety and nutritional richness. Because their behavior is not based on the advice of a doctor or nutritionist, orthorexic people often present serious nutritional deficiencies.
Characteristics of orthorexia
Thus, orthorexia is the obsession with eating healthy, something that is not a healthy behavior. From this altered eating behavior we can highlight the following featureswhich in themselves are differentiators of what healthy eating is.
Fixation with healthy eating.
Eating becomes a duty, not something pleasurable.
Excessive need to take care of food.
Going off the diet leads to guilt.
Practice of fasting in the absence of a “healthy option.”
Food dominates daily life.
Disdain for other eating habits and lifestyles.
Social isolation due to the habits of others.
Exaggeration and radicalism when preparing food.
A healthy diet is characterized by covering all nutritional and caloric requirements, in addition to providing psychological, physical, emotional and social well-being for the people who have it. Eat a balanced diet, which contains all food groups and provides carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals to the individual at recommended levels, is a healthy diet. If the person suffers from following a diet, becoming obsessed with losing weight or being healthy, or eats excessively, this would be an eating behavior problem.
