Orthorexia: Healthy eating gone bad?

Now that I am half way through the semester and a little more relaxed, I feel like writing. This is my fourth blog in two days! Wow. After this one I should break for a bit and focus on my other projects. I just love writing though. It's very therapeutic. I'm not even writing to anyone, but I really enjoy the time I spend on my blog. I want to thank you, Janet, for encouraging us to get involved in the community and write about it.
Janet, I watched the video you suggested I view for my looking project on society's obsession with "healthy" eating. According to Leslie Goldman, a writer for ivillage, some people are becoming so extremely obsessed with eating in a "healthy" way that a new term, orthorexia, has been developed to diagnose these individuals. I had never even heard of this word before, but perhaps it is one I should know.
Othorexic individuals are obsessed with the quality of their foods, not the quantity like bulimics or anorexics. Othorexics desire dietary purity, and in those with the disease, a slip up creates psychological distress. Some orthorexics will isolate themselves from the world for fear that they may consume or even encounter impure foods. They often categorize foods into two categories: good and bad. Eating good foods allows the individual to feel good or virtuous. There is a sort of moralistic quality to food. I find this extremely unhealthy. What a paradox!
It's no wonder people are developing this condition. I mean, we are bombarded with "healthy" eating information all the time. It's just thrown at us, and it changes constantly. I mean, if I wasn't in nutrition, I might become scared of eating certain foods and cut them out of my diet as well. The media does a great job of scaring people, and this has got to change. Orthorexic individuals can actually experience under-nutrition and become nutrition deficient because they are too fearful to eat food from certain food groups. It's like we're trying to help, but we're making it worse. How can I, as a future dietitian, stop this process? Where has the enjoyment of eating gone? Where is the balance?? This is a topic that Rahaf and I will be exploring in more detail for our Looking Project! So, stay tuned for an update from our presentation in a blog to come...