Episode 108: Signs You Might Be Struggling With Orthorexia-Interview with Emma Manns (Body Positivity Series)

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Have you ever heard of orthorexia? I know I hadn’t before I started researching for this series and I know even a lot of health professionals aren’t familiar with this ever growing, oh so common type of disordered eating.  My guest today had no idea she was struggling with a disorder until she she was encouraged by a friend to seek professional help.  It is a sneaky disorder that flies under the radar because it is very culturally accepted and even applauded.  The more I learned about orthorexia the more I became certain of one thing. We need to talk about orthorexia more! 

When does one cross the line from living a thriving life with a healthy connection to food over to struggling with orthorexia?! 

What is orthorexia? Simply put, it is the obsession with eating foods one considers to be healthy and someone who suffers from orthorexia goes to extremes to avoid specific foods they deem as harmful and bad.   You do not have to check every box to be “sick” enough to seek help and when you seek professional help look for people who understand this disorder.
Here is a link for one such online organization called Nourishing Minds Nutrition.

10 signs you might be struggling:

1. A fixation over the quality of food.
2. Inflexible eating patterns.
3. Severe emotional turmoil if “rules” are broken. 
4. Cutting out entire food groups.
5. Constant worry about sickness or disease.
6. Anxiety simply being around certain foods. 
7. This condition isn’t typically driven by poor body image.
8. Loss of weight.
9. Exercise is used as a punishment or seen as a necessity to being healthy. 
10. A person with orthorexia spends an excessive amount of time thinking about food.  Tracking it, when to eat it, who will prepare it, avoiding social circumstances if you can't control what food will be there...etc

How orthorexia affected Emma:

1. Hard time falling asleep.
2. Got dizzy when she stood up.
3. Lost a lot of weight quickly.
4. Had a hard time concentrating.
5. Lost her period.
6. Didn't feel like herself.
7. Spent copious amounts of time planning food, tracking food, weighing food and avoided going out with friends to social gatherings. 

What helped Emma in her journey to overcome orthorexia:

1. Talking to trusted individuals and eventually a professional.
2. Unfollowing all the social media accounts that were triggering.
3. Finding exercise that you enjoy doing.
4. Knowing its OK to indulge; to eat foods that you like; to enjoy a holiday!
5. Remembering that food is memories and that the connections you make with people are more important than the food you eat.
6. Focus on yourself.  Do the things that help your confidence and what feels good to you.
7.  Let go of comparison.