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Orthorexia- Social Media’s Eating Disorder
by Jaydeep P. Digital Marketing | SEO The perfectly curated smoothie bowls with drizzled almond butter, frozen raspberries, and chia seeds.The bright green avocado toast sprinkled with pumpkin seeds and fresh alfalfa sprouts, with an over medium egg on the side.
The salad bowl with every color of the rainbow; beets, carrots, chickpeas, brussel sprouts and tomatoes.
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There is something very aesthetically pleasing about a pretty plate of food from your favorite health blogger/influencer. We get inspired, we find great recipes with new, healthy foods, and we start to develop underlying eating disorders.
Bulimia, anorexia, binge eating; The three most common, and most talked about eating disorders.
Bulimia, anorexia, binge eating; The three most common, and most talked about eating disorders.
But, why are we not talking about orthorexia?
When I looked up Orthorexia on the national eating disorder website, it plainly states that this is not an eating disorder that is recognized, yet the term was coined back in 1998… So what are we missing?
When I looked up Orthorexia on the national eating disorder website, it plainly states that this is not an eating disorder that is recognized, yet the term was coined back in 1998… So what are we missing?
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The first time I heard about orthorexia- it was actually from a random follower on Instagram, who I am now deeply grateful for (but at the time was definitely pissed at.)
I had just started eating healthy again in 2013, got a gym membership and decided to start posting about my *new* found health journey on the photo sharing social media site.
The photo of me was in a grey sports bra and small black running shorts, looking thin… and very tired.
The caption said something along the lines of:
“I am so excited to be working out again and after cutting out carbs and being in the gym daily, I am officially 10 pounds down. Never felt better!”
But what it should have said was:
“Since I have obsessively started following a whole foods diet, weighed myself every day since I started going to the gym again, I am the thinnest I have ever been without being told I look sick, and I do feel “better”, better about how I look.”
I checked the notifications and saw I had a comment from an account I didn’t know. I had accumulated about a thousand new followers in a matter of a couple weeks so this wasn't unusual to see a new name. But when I saw what she commented, my heart dropped.
“Sounds like you have orthorexia. Losing that much weight with your body type probably isn’t healthy. I highly suggest talking to someone about it.”
I had just started eating healthy again in 2013, got a gym membership and decided to start posting about my *new* found health journey on the photo sharing social media site.
The photo of me was in a grey sports bra and small black running shorts, looking thin… and very tired.
The caption said something along the lines of:
“I am so excited to be working out again and after cutting out carbs and being in the gym daily, I am officially 10 pounds down. Never felt better!”
But what it should have said was:
“Since I have obsessively started following a whole foods diet, weighed myself every day since I started going to the gym again, I am the thinnest I have ever been without being told I look sick, and I do feel “better”, better about how I look.”
I checked the notifications and saw I had a comment from an account I didn’t know. I had accumulated about a thousand new followers in a matter of a couple weeks so this wasn't unusual to see a new name. But when I saw what she commented, my heart dropped.
“Sounds like you have orthorexia. Losing that much weight with your body type probably isn’t healthy. I highly suggest talking to someone about it.”
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My first response was anger.
How could this stranger on the internet tell me that I have ANOTHER eating disorder when I have already faced my issues with bulimia?
How could this stranger on the internet tell me that I have ANOTHER eating disorder when I have already faced my issues with bulimia?
Then it was sadness.
How could someone choose to say that on a completely public form? The shame that came from possibly doing this whole “healthy” thing wrong again was unbearable…
This was back before you could delete comments on Instagram (remember the old days?) so I deleted the whole post, and reposted it after blocking her.
But that moment stuck with me since. Because she was dead right. And 7 years later, I am finally doing something about it.
I found myself stuck in the cycle of obsessively checking every label of everything that went into my body. I cut out coffee, sugar, carbs that weren't from whole foods, all food dyes, dairy, and essentially anything that was processed/in a box.
My ex would have to look up the menu before we went out on dates, often to just be disappointed that I wouldn't have anything to eat in my strict diet criteria at the restaurant we wanted to eat at. So, I would cook before we went out, or cancel the plans all together.
I obsessively followed influencers and bloggers who talked about paleo, whole food diets, and intuitive eating. I loved seeing their food, their love for their bodies, and how they lived this holistic, embodied life. It was totally real and totally attainable….right?
The way my jeans fit were always a huge telltale for me. A little tight? Time for an 18 hour fast. A little loose? Perfect, it’s working.
How could someone choose to say that on a completely public form? The shame that came from possibly doing this whole “healthy” thing wrong again was unbearable…
This was back before you could delete comments on Instagram (remember the old days?) so I deleted the whole post, and reposted it after blocking her.
But that moment stuck with me since. Because she was dead right. And 7 years later, I am finally doing something about it.
I found myself stuck in the cycle of obsessively checking every label of everything that went into my body. I cut out coffee, sugar, carbs that weren't from whole foods, all food dyes, dairy, and essentially anything that was processed/in a box.
My ex would have to look up the menu before we went out on dates, often to just be disappointed that I wouldn't have anything to eat in my strict diet criteria at the restaurant we wanted to eat at. So, I would cook before we went out, or cancel the plans all together.
I obsessively followed influencers and bloggers who talked about paleo, whole food diets, and intuitive eating. I loved seeing their food, their love for their bodies, and how they lived this holistic, embodied life. It was totally real and totally attainable….right?
The way my jeans fit were always a huge telltale for me. A little tight? Time for an 18 hour fast. A little loose? Perfect, it’s working.
It wasn’t about health. It was about thinness.
It wasn’t about how I felt. It was about how I looked on social media.
It wasn’t about me at all. It was about what I wanted people to perceive me as.
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Sometimes we trade one obsession for another, and just call it by another name.
Our brains are really good at hiding the truth, even when we know it, because the guilt alone is too much to bare.
I am not saying that eating whole foods, checking labels, or following influencers is a bad thing- at all. Where we are going wrong is when we are obsessively doing this with toxic/unhealthy reasoning.
When we are looking for external validation.
When we are making up the story that once we are healthy enough, we will finally love our bodies.
But all of this comes from self love and mindfulness; not thinness, not doing another 18 hour fast, not having the “perfect” curated Instagram page filled with smoothie bowls and body shots.
There is no shame in seeing there is a problem, and wanting to do better because you know you deserve better.
Tell someone you love. Create new boundaries around comparison, social media, and diet talk. Get support. Love yourself fiercely, and know that you are enough at every single version of yourself.
Our brains are really good at hiding the truth, even when we know it, because the guilt alone is too much to bare.
I am not saying that eating whole foods, checking labels, or following influencers is a bad thing- at all. Where we are going wrong is when we are obsessively doing this with toxic/unhealthy reasoning.
When we are looking for external validation.
When we are making up the story that once we are healthy enough, we will finally love our bodies.
But all of this comes from self love and mindfulness; not thinness, not doing another 18 hour fast, not having the “perfect” curated Instagram page filled with smoothie bowls and body shots.
There is no shame in seeing there is a problem, and wanting to do better because you know you deserve better.
Tell someone you love. Create new boundaries around comparison, social media, and diet talk. Get support. Love yourself fiercely, and know that you are enough at every single version of yourself.
You deserve to be healthy. You deserve to be happy.
And you absolutely can have both.
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Hannah Parker is a Transformational Coach and writer from Florida, USA. Inspiring and creating holistic, connected ways to go about life, business and spirituality is her life’s work. When she’s not writing, coaching, or creating, Hannah is probably at the coffee shop drinking an almond milk latte and reading, probably wishing it was raining.
You can find more about her HERE.
You can find more about her HERE.
Originally Posted on: Medium.com
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About Jaydeep P. 
Digital Marketing | SEO
3,508 connections, 110 recommendations, 7,983 honor points.Joined APSense since, August 12th, 2016, From Ahmedabad, India.
Created on Nov 5th 2019 06:35. Viewed 346 times.
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