Choosing healthy foods now called a mental disorder

[Barefoot]

You really could not make this stuff up. They seem determined to make anyone who questions anything or who who rejects corporate junk science or who makes sensible and healthy life options as having a mental disorder, I bet they have a pill for that.


see http://www.naturalnews.com/029098_orthorexia_mental_disorder.html

[bbrandonsmom]

Lol, that is absolutely nuts.

[MinorityView]

Anybody who enjoys Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series about Kinsey Milhone?

So, I'm reading "U" is for Undertow and Sue sticks in this precursor to the hippies who is a really nasty character, borderline mentally ill. Among other things, she won't let her child watch TV, she is a vegetarian and she wants to have a natural childbirth and breastfeed.

Of course the author makes everything go wrong, the character ends up have a c-section and then fails breastfeeding and finally deserts her baby.

Fair portrayal of people who choose alternatives? Nah, doesn't make a good story.

[Sarah]

Sadly, it is not just the medical profession that thinks that people who question what they are eating, are mentally unbalanced. Going to kids parties fills me with dread. I am often seen hovering over my child, politely declining the offer, on her behalf, of the glass of Fanta, piles of lollies and junk food that I would probably have a coronary over if I read the ingredients list! I am often met with a blank stare if I say "I would rather she didn't have that... or I don't let her eat that" You can see the confusion written all over their faces. What is my problem? I get strange stares from people in the supermarket as it can take me 10 minutes to choose a new food, as I scour the ingredients lists of all the possible options, instead of just going for what ever is either on special or has the best looking packaging. Sometimes I think it must be easier, and a lot less stressful, if I just didn't care. But that ain't ever going to happen - some instincts just run too deep !

[Momtezuma Tuatara]

We used to arrive at birthday parties with at least five plates of food I knew my kids would know. Our kids knew not to eat anything else. Funny thing was, if our kids didn't get in first, all the food we took would go first. Used to really embarrass the hosts :lol:

[Sarah]

It's funny you say that MT. At school my girls are always being asked to share their healthy lunches - their friends don't want to eat their own packets of chips/fruit sticks and daily jam sammies - just shows sometimes the kids have more sense than the parents!

[Seaweed]

I didn't read all the article but I have read stuff about orthorexia nervosa before. I have to say I am pretty mental about what the kids eat BUT I try not to let it control our lives. Thankfully we are GF which knocks out stacks of it. Anything slightly dubious, I just say no. Just in case. No one has been brave enuf to either argue with me about it or suggest I am depriving the kids yet. My general rule of thumb is stick to basic real foods. Minus grains and sugar. Now I do know ppl who I would say their version of healthy eating is a mental health issue but it is more part of the overall picture than that being the only symptom. Characteristically, they are all neurotic and unhealthy and have sickly or stressed out kids. These would be the type of people the article is refering too. Obviously that is a broad generalisation but they are way more visible than the rest of us. Plus me and my kids are healthy and fit so no one has a leg to stand on when it comes to accusing me of having mental health issues about food. lol!

[bbrandonsmom]

I get the odd looks too. It's frustrating if it's a family event we go to. Everyone's like "we grew up eating this and we're fine". My response-"No, look at all the health problems you all have." I still get the blank stare back though, like one had nothing to do with the other. For some reason, as infants, it was ok to limit, but not now. They think I'm only talking about sugar. Most of our friends eat similar to how we do, but it seems at parties it all goes out the door. I think it's a bit hard for me because I only learned about a lot of this stuff the past 5yrs-what's really in food (and everything else), so for them, they think I've gone crazy.
Lol-food shopping. I sometimes wonder if I'm the only one reading the ingredients to a food I don't know. My oldest is picking up on it. He says "Mommy, is there high fructose corn syrup in it? Is that food healthy to eat?" etc. You should see the looks we get :)
Yet, when you surround yourself, or talk to other people who do eat healthy, it's just a normal part of life. When did eating healthy and living healthy become crazy?

I wonder what these people call environmentalists?

[Barefoot]

My fellow Orthorexians always remember that Psychiatry has zero science, zero biochemical testing to prove theories (when they say you have a chemical imbalance in the brain for example) and zero cures but is 100% pure quackery.

[bbrandonsmom]

Lol-you sound like an anthropologist :)
I do have to wonder about them though. My sis for ex has some major problems, and though diet has helped her, I'm not sure that she would be ok w/o medicine. That's another story all together.

Ha, there is a tinfoil hat thingy-:tinfoil: I get told I need to go put on my tin hat like my other friends :)

[MinorityView]

tinfoil hats are handy. You can whip it off and use it to cover left-overs, too!

[Barefoot]

The key here is that they are trying to conditioned the public into thinking that "independent thinking" is a mental illness.
This healthy eating malarkey is just the thin of wedge.

They even pretend to celebrate "diversity" as long we all think the same. what a joke.