Community | April 27, 2011 | 5 comments

New Eating Disorders or propaganda?

Image
MotherForTruth
Adult picky eaters: Food preferences tend to be bland, white or pale colored - plain pasta or cheese pizza are said to be common foods along with French fries and chicken fingers. Some picky eaters stick to foods with a common texture or taste.
Orthorexics: Those affected may start by eliminating processed foods, anything with artificial colorings or flavorings as well as foods that have come into contact with pesticides. Beyond that, orthorexics may also shun caffeine, alcohol, sugar, salt, wheat and dairy foods. Some limit themselves to raw foods.
Check out this mobile phone app that guides healthy food choices.

What are the risks?

Health consequences: Limiting your diet to only a few foods - because you’re a picky eater or have a long list of foods you deem unhealthy - can lead to potentially dangerous nutritional deficiencies. At its most extreme, a diet limited to only a few foods perceived to be healthy is described as orthorexia nervosa and can lead to the same emaciation and health risks seen with anorexia nervosa.
Social Isolation: Being an adult picky eater can take an enormous social toll. Out of embarrassment, these folks avoid dining with friends or co-workers. Heather Hill tries to hide her eating habits from her children for fear that they will pick them up. Going to extremes in an effort to eat only healthy foods can also be socially isolating and can undermine personal relationships.
How are these disorders treated?

Adult Selective Eating: Techniques that have proven successful in treating kids who are picky eaters - learning assertiveness skills and systematically trying new foods - are being used on adults, but it’s still too soon to know whether they work.
Orthorexia: Cognitive behavior therapy designed to change obsessive thought patterns regarding food is usually recommended.
http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/new-eating-disorders-are-they-real
  1. groups:
    Community,   Current Cultural Issues,   Psychology
  2. tags:
    Culture,  Health,  Diet,  Mental Health,  2 more
  3.     
    |

5 comments // New Eating Disorders or propaganda?

  • Jake_Leonard
    • +1
      Jake_Leonard  

    • This is sort of related, but what do you guys think of treatments of ADD/ADHD? I kind of have this impression that it's more of a parental diagnosis of not being able to handle what is more or less just a free spirited child. Admittedly, I haven't looked into it with any depth, but if my child turned out to be this, I would try to guide them along this path rather than force them to contain themselves.

      Parents want their kids to drop their curiosity and energy, and to behave like good little robots--only to find in their later years they either take a full turnaround and "explode" so to speak, or are lackluster with life.

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
  • KSirys
    • +1
      KSirys  

    • As long as there are pills to "maintain" these new "disorders"... the FDA is only going to look at the money end of it...

    • 1 year ago
  • DavidYates
    • +1
      DavidYates  

    • More and more of the food available is unfit to eat. Fruits and vegetables have fewer vitamins, less flavor and meats have genetic risks, hormones, antibiotics and are generally of much poorer quality than 40 or more years ago. Milk is laced with chemicals and most everything else is packed with sugar or chemical substitutes. Unfortunately, most people aren't old enough to remember the difference or they've been propagandized to believe this isn't so. Much of the world is malnourished from lack of food. We're malnourished in spite of food.

      So, tell me, is being a picky eater a disorder or just self defense? Orthorexia. That certainly sounds scary! Perhaps you caught it from your vegetarian aunt or your garandpa who's an organic farmer. Surely, it's not good for America. After all if it's not good for Monsanto or Kellogg or Coca Cola, it should be avoided like...well, like poison!

    • 1 year ago
  • MotherForTruth
more from Community:
from the community

top videos