Orthorexia

"A doc named Bratman made this word up a few years ago after he found himself obsessing about healthy food. His ice cream eating guru apparently helped cure him of this obsession, after which he wrote a Yoga Journal article about it, and then a book. I guess "discovering" this "disease" is his claim to fame. Certainly there are people who obsess about eating healthy food, just as there are people who obsess about exercise, politics, sex, Elvis, UFOs or whatever. And there are also doctors who are obsessed with finding diseases all over the place. Maybe this guy just substituted one "rexia" for another one."

This was posted on vegsource recently by Mark H. in response to questions about orthorexia. I also posted this comment regarding Wikipedia's definition of orthorexia:

"Anybody can contribute to Wikipedia and often the people are not even recognized specialists in the field. I don't fully trust it, especially because just last year someone asked me to look up this word and the definition was extremely different to the one you quote.

That being said, there is no way, no how that 811rv fits even this new definition. Read the book, try it, live it and you'll quickly see that 811rv lets you live life to the fullest, especially because it proves there's no need to obsess about food and nutrients etc. It allows you to see that there is so much more to life and gives you the freedom and ability to enjoy it.

That being said, it is easy to see how many people, who are so addicted to their stimulants and frankenfoods, would find 811rv to be limiting. Personally, I wouldn't trade my new found health, athletic abilities and joy of living and especially joy of eating a lot of delicious fruits and veggies for their "food", even if I'm still far from a perfect practitioner of 811rv. I still occasionally eat cooked stuff, but it is definitely becoming less and less of a treat since my body lets me know pretty quickly that it has not been treated well. If feeling healthy and not abusing my body qualifies me for some psychological label, then how do you psychologically qualify the sickness addicts prevalent today?"

Sometimes I wonder if being sick is preferable to many people. Perhaps it's the attention one gets when one is sick. I know that as a child, I would see some friends with chickenpox or other "disease" and they would get extra-special treatment during that time by their parents and I thought to myself "I wish I could get the chickenpox too". I certainly loved all the extra care I got from my parents when I was ill. Perhaps, on some level, people love this attention and this is why people don't change their diet and lifestyle habits. What do you think?