Is Your Teenager Suffering from Orthorexia Nervosa?

When 19-year-old Kate came home for spring break, her mother gasped. Kate had not only lost the "freshman 15" the family had teased her about gaining at Christmas vacation. Her clothes hung on her 5'9" frame. The first thing she brought in from her car was a huge bag of fresh vegetables from the local specialty grocery. It took another six months for her parents to realize that their teenage daughter suffered from orthorexia nervosa.

What is Orthorexia Nervosa?

Like many problems related to food, orthorexia nervosa is an obsession. According to the Mayo Clinic, the condition is a fixation on eating foods that cause you to feel healthy and even pure. Experts sometimes refer to this as righteous eating.

Individuals who suffer from the disorder also obsess about food preparation techniques. The individual responsible for describing and naming orthorexia nervosa is Steven Bratman, M.D. While the condition is not an officially recognized eating disorder, most physicians agree that its end results can be extremely unhealthy.

Patients avoid many foods that used to be a significant part of their diet. They tend to view as unhealthy any foods made with artificial coloring, preservatives or flavoring. They often steer clear of anything that contains pesticides or has components linked to genetic modification. Food they perceive as having unhealthy fat, salt or sugar seldom makes it to their plates.

In addition, some obsess over how food is prepared. Many individuals go through elaborate rituals to sterilize cooking utensils or wash their food repeatedly.

Symptoms

The Palo Alto Medical Foundation indicates that patients who have an obsession with eating healthy foods exhibit certain distinct signs of the disorder, as identified by Dr. Bratman.

You should suspect your teenager has orthorexia nervosa if it appears that he or she is spending more than three hours each day thinking about so-called healthy food. Another sign is planning the next day's menu a day in advance.

Individuals who suffer from this disorder typically show signs that they feel virtuous about what they consume but don't appear to really enjoy the food they eat. They tend to think incessantly about the number of foods they eat every day.

Eventually, even teenagers become socially isolated because of the condition. What they eat is so restricted that it's difficult or even impossible for them to eat anywhere except where they live. Your teenager could end up giving up sports or other group activities in which he or she was once heavily involved.

Sufferers often feel critical of others who don't eat as "purely" as they do and sometimes express this. Those around them notice that they no longer eat meals they once loved in favor of what they perceive to be healthier food.

Two other signs of orthorexia nervosa are experiencing feelings of self-loathing when the individual falls off the wagon as far as the "healthy" diet is concerned. The opposite-perceiving a sense of being in totally in control when eating very restrictive food choices-is also true.

Unhealthy weight loss and digestive problems can plague a teenager with the disorder.

Treatment

This condition has many of the same components as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The treatment varies greatly for teenagers, as it does for eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.

Parents who suspect that their teenager suffers from orthorexia nervosa should make sure the teen is examined by a physician, who will likely refer him or her to an eating disorders specialist. Depending on the patient's circumstances, treatment might be managed on either an inpatient or an outpatient basis, in a hospital or at an eating disorders clinic. While many teenagers are treated using group therapy, others undergo one-on-one counseling while living at home.

Sources:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/orthorexia/MY00768

http://www.orthorexia.com/

http://www.pamf.org/teen/life/bodyimage/orthorexia.html