Kathy’s Window: The eating disorder not many people know about

An over-50 Generation Xer sees life through a new lens: Kathy’s Window is where Kathy shares her thoughts on the world through a new lens. From growing up in the 70s and 80s to having three Generation-Z kids, and going through certain experiences in her life, she now sees the world in a different way. Ideas that were considered the norm in the 70s, 80s and 90s are now no longer socially relevant or acceptable. Kathy explores the new ideas through the lens of someone who has been on both sides of the ‘glass’.

DIET culture has been around for decades. In fact, while I was researching for articles for the Newseum series, I found the 70s and 80s Highway Mail newspapers full of pictures of slender, scantily clad bikini women. There were often more pictures of these women than the women who were doing great things for their communities. Growing up, I remember being petrified of being fat. It was on TV, the media, everywhere. Diet culture was huge and a capitalist monster preying on the insecurities of young women and women whose bodies change as they get older.

In recent years, since the Health at Every Size movement and Intuitive Eating have become more well-known, people have begun questioning restricting their eating just to be thin. Believe me, it’s still huge, but there is a movement spreading that’s dispelling some of the lies about obesity being a disease and fat necessarily equalling a death sentence. Good news? Yes. But the capitalist monster is still greedy for your money. Now, they’re coming in through the avenue of wellness culture. It’s insidious as it’s masked as ‘for your health’. It not only appeals to those wanting to be thin (and therefore ‘healthy’) but to those who are struggling with health issues.

Also read: Kathy’s Window: My fasting story

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be healthy or strive to be healthy. Of course, that is an act of self-care, but when ‘healthy behaviours’ becomes an obsession, it enters into dangerous territory and can cause disordered eating and even a full-blown eating disorder. (Remember, eating disorders are not size-dependent and are actually more prevalent among bigger-sized individuals.) The eating disorder that is an unhealthy obsession with ‘healthy eating’ is called orthorexia. The word orthorexia was coined by a doctor from California, Steven Bratman, in 1996. He said it was a ‘fixation on righteous eating’. It is not always considered an official eating disorder – it is not part of the DSM-5 in mental-health disorders – but most practitioners agree it is a disorder and needs treatment.

It touched me, too

I haven’t been untouched by orthorexia. When I was on the low-carb Paleo diet (similar to the Banting diet), about nine months in, I started to feel low energy and other symptoms that progressively got worse, plus I was ‘plateauing’ with my weight loss. In hindsight, I believe the weight plateauing wasn’t an issue and was the normal result of a slowed metabolism due to the body preserving my energy due to not getting enough calories. I was eating large platefuls of food and was obsessed with food, but never satisfied. Yet, it would still get worse.

Because of my low energy and not feeling great, I assumed I wasn’t following the diet strictly enough. I’d read about Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) on some of the Paleo forums so I decided to try this stricter offshoot of the Paleo Diet. It was for people who had or suspected they had autoimmune diseases where you eliminate several foods and only introduce them after a couple of months and one at a time to see if your problem flares. We weren’t allowed any grains, any white potatoes or tomatoes or peppers (nightshades), even curry powder as it’s made from nightshades, any dairy, any sugar (although you could have honey or maple syrup), or any eggs. No grains pretty much mean no carbs! I was hungry and unsatisfied all the time and would make these elaborate meals to try to fulfil my craving for something. I always had to cook separately from the family. It was tiring and expensive. I was so strict when going out or visiting people and would never eat anything unless it was allowed by the AIP protocol.

Also read: Kathy’s Window: How about intermittent fasting?

Now, I pretty much had orthorexia – it was brought on by following the AIP Diet although I think orthorexia had triggered me to think I needed to go on it in the first place – so a mix of both. Orthorexia is a disorder when a person is obsessed with eating ‘healthy’ to the point where it affects their nourishment, health and mental well-being.

Now, later on, once I’d gotten out of diet land, I did realise that I can’t eat gluten and dairy – it took me years to give up dairy. But that was done differently – I cut out one thing at a time and made sure I was still eating lots of delicious foods while doing it. And my carb intake was good! I don’t think cutting out multiple foods at a time is a good idea and can lead to orthorexia.

Wellness is not always well

In the wellness world, it’s become common for ‘influencers’ (who are often not qualified) to suggest different diets for different ailments. Cutting out a certain food or foods seems to be the magic bullet to healing. But it’s never that simple. Healing comes from multiple factors, and before cutting out important foods or whole food groups, you should always check with a qualified dietitian/nutritionist. An example of such a diet is the Candida Diet – which I actually did at one time – which is quite strict and doesn’t allow a single spoon of sugar, and you have to cut out starchy vegetables like potatoes and peas, plus gluten and dairy. It purports that many people suffer from a systematic overgrowth of candida albicans (a fungus) in their bodies. In fact, this is medically incorrect as Christy Harrison explains in her book, The Wellness Trap. A severe version of this disease can occur in a very small percentage of people and would be diagnosed by a medical doctor, not by yourself when reading stuff on the internet.

Another restrictive wellness diet is the Whole 30 Diet which is supposed to cure many ailments but is actually severely restrictive, and if followed, will cause malnourishment and vitamin and mineral deficiencies. In fact, any strict diet will cause those. Yes, there are some instances when people have no choice but to follow a prescribed-by-a-medical-professional strict diet due to officially diagnosed medical issues, but a lot of these wellness gurus are promoting things that aren’t even scientifically backed just to make millions out of desperate people – they make money by selling products and supplements or getting clicks. Most people who are unwell should be making sure they have a varied and balanced diet.

Also read: Kathy’s Window: Why the Body Mass Index (BMI) is bull and racist

Signs of the disorder

How do you know if you have orthorexia? Here are some signs:

1. You worry a lot about the quality of your food and read labels and nutritional information all or most of the time. You may spend hours meal planning or thinking about food. Because of this, you don’t have much energy or time for other interests in life.

2. You may avoid going out to eat or eating anything prepared by someone else for fear of ‘bad’ ingredients they may have put in the food, for example, they used seed oils instead of coconut or olive oil. (There is nothing wrong with wanting to follow certain nutrition guidelines at home, but there should be flexibility when you go out or when you are cash-strapped unless you have an allergy or intolerance, of course.)

3. You suffer from health anxiety and worry about the food you eat making you sick or exacerbating some ailments you may have. You feel deep anxiety if you eat something deemed ‘unhealthy’ and can also experience strong feelings of shame after eating the food.

4. You feel tired and rundown and may have other symptoms you never had before. You also could be losing weight, but that is not always the case – it depends on how an individual’s body responds to malnourishment.

5. You cut out whole food groups or a large variation of foods.

6. You may be overly critical of what others eat.

7. Your restriction usually spirals, and you cut out more and more foods progressively.

If you are struggling with a few or a lot of these problems, maybe it’s time to see a therapist or counsellor or weight-neutral dietitian.

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