Yogarexia, Orthorexia and Stressorexia: Three Emerging Types of Eating Disorders

It used to be that when people spoke of eating disorders, they were talking about either anorexia nervosa or bulimia. There was little talk about people on the other end of the spectrum -- the binge eaters or the compulsive overeaters -- as having an eating disorder. Those people, who are usually noticeably overweight, were usually dismissed as simply lacking in willpower. Over the past ten years, the spectrum of eating disorders has evolved to include a number of new behaviors. Other eating disorders have been recognized and named.

People with eating disorders can engage in a full range of bizarre and destructive habits that can compromise their health and well being. A person with an eating disorder can take on a wide range of appearances, from pale and gaunt to obese and ruddy. A person with an eating disorder can even look completely normal. Nowadays, when health professionals speak about eating disorders, they include anorexics, bulimics, binge eaters, and compulsive overeaters, as well as people who engage in other types of eating disorders. It seems like every year, a new eating disorder is discovered and coined. Just recently, I learned about three new disordered eating and exercise behaviors that are becoming more trendy.

Yogarexia

When I think of yoga, I think of relaxation and calm. Peaceful music plays while a person, either alone or in a group, stretches and contorts as a means of reaching a new level of consciousness. Yoga is very popular among celebrities, so naturally, a lot of regular folks are doing it too. Most people enjoy yoga in moderation and get more positive benefits from it than consequences. Still, as with anything else, a person can get too much of a good thing when practicing yoga.

Yogarexia is defined as an obsession with practicing yoga as a means of getting and staying thin. Rachel Shabi, who in 2005 reported on yogarexia for the British online publication The Guardian, writes that "Madonna got her jaw-dropping muscles by [practicing ashtanga], a particularly physical and strenuous style of yoga..." From that point on, yoga became very popular among fitness enthusiasts.

According to Ashtanga.com, the ashtanga style of yoga "involves synchronizing the breath with a progressive series of postures-- a process producing intense internal heat and a profuse, purifying sweat that detoxifies muscles and organs. The result is improved circulation, a light and strong body, and a calm mind." In her article for The Guardian, Rachel Shabi writes that ashtanga is particularly attractive to those who might be vulnerable to eating disorders, mainly because it offers an intense workout and a focus on maintaining control and perfection, some of the very same qualities often found in those who suffer from anorexia nervosa.

Ashtanga supposedly increases one's metabolism and offers a comforting ritual that may be very appealing to those who long for routine and control. Ashtanga also focuses on the idea of being light and empty. People who practice yoga are often encouraged to do so a couple of hours after they've eaten. If they have eaten a large or heavy meal, it's recommended that they wait even longer. So, a person who becomes very enthusiastic about yoga may soon start to plan meals according to their yoga schedule. If they have a busy lifestyle, that need to plan may make it easy for the yoga enthusiast to skip meals. Before long, he or she might start to lose a lot of weight, which makes yoga easier to do. After all, yoga poses often require participants to be able to move into complicated poses that are much easier to do with a thin body.

The ashtanga style is just one type of yoga that may appeal too much to those who have body issues. However, Shabi writes that while yoga may be harmful for some people with body issues, it's more often helpful. Some devotees find that practicing yoga encourages them to love and take care of their bodies more. Clearly, the key to success is moderation and maintaining a proper perspective, focusing on the health benefits of yoga rather than the potential to lose weight.

Orthorexia

Everybody knows that eating healthy foods is one of the keys to enjoying good health. People who suffer from orthorexia take that idea to the extreme. Orthorexia is defined as a healthy diet taken to unhealthy levels of obsession.

A 2008 article written by John Stossel and Miguel Sancho for ABC news explains that the term orthorexia was "coined by Dr. Steve Bratman, author of the book Health Food Junkies." For someone with orthorexia, eating becomes a painstaking ritual, as the person works very hard to eat nothing but the very healthiest foods. That obsession can overtake a person's thinking to the point at which all they ever think about is food and what their next meal will be.

According to Bratman, orthorexia is different from anorexia nervosa in that the focus is different. Anorexics want to be thin and will resort to all sorts of extreme practices and bizarre eating rituals to become thin. Orthorexics know they are thin, but have the desire to be pure. Their obsession, which on the outside appears to be very virtuous and desirable, causes them to avoid foods that they deem impure and unhealthy.

You would never catch an orthorexic eating processed food from a box, filled with chemicals, additives, and preservatives and it seems natural and even healthy that a self-respecting person would feel that way. However, an orthorexic might also avoid something as innocuous as a piece of fruit bought at a mainstream grocery store, because they fear that it might have been treated with toxic chemicals. An orthorexic might even cut out certain foods that would otherwise be healthy because of their nutritional make up. Some types of fruit might be unacceptable because they have too much natural sugar. Certain types of vegetables might be off the diet because of their carbohydrate content. Next, the orthorexic might avoid cooked food, because they might think of the process of cooking as harmful to their bodies. Before too long, the orthorexic won't be able to dine in restaurants or eat at a friend's house because of their obsession with healthy food.

While most of us would do well to eat healthier and pay more attention to the foods we put in our bodies, people who suffer from orthorexia take that idea too far. Orthorexia takes over a person's life so that it constantly revolves around thoughts of food, preventing them from dealing with the other important aspects of their existence such as relationships with other people, working, and learning new things. It really can be a debilitating problem. Orthorexia is now recognized as a legitimate eating disorder, just as anorexia nervosa and bulimia are.

Stressorexia

Stress is an unavoidable fact of life. For some people, too much stress, coupled with the desire to look good and achieve, can be a one way ticket to an eating disorder called stressorexia. Stressorexia often affects women between their 20s and 40s who lead very busy and stressful lifestyles. The excessive activity of working and taking care of a family can leave some women too busy to eat properly, which can lead to weight loss. The weight loss leads to compliments, silent admiration, and approval from other people, which can cause the stressorexic to feel better about herself.

According to London's Daily Mail, stressorexia is different than anorexia nervosa in that it tends to affect older women who are high achievers. Anorexics are motivated by a desire to control their bodies by controlling what they eat, while women with stressorexia typically fall into the eating disorder as a result of living a hectic lifestyle. If it goes on for too long, the stressorexic may find herself becoming very anxious as she tries to maintain order in a chaotically busy life.

The Daily Mail consulted Dr. Adrian Lord, a psychiatrist who, at the time the article was written, worked with Cygnet Hospital, a private psychiatric clinic in Britain. Dr. Lord explained that today's women are affected by more complicated gender roles. Fifty years ago, women were expected to take care of the home and family. Today, many women also work full time as they raise their families. These blurred gender roles can lead to stress, confusion, uncertainty, and perfectionism, which can cause women to enter a different mind state. Biochemical changes within the body can actually lead to a loss of appetite.

Dr. Lord explained that stressorexia might not be an official term a doctor would use to diagnose someone, at least not at this point in time, but it is a problem that is on the rise.

Eating disorders...

The subject of eating disorders is not just about starving, bingeing, and purging anymore. Today, health care professionals are learning all about new ways people can harm themselves with unhealthy eating habits and exercise rituals. While some people might think that these new trends are more like fads than actual disorders, per se, enough people have dealt with them that they've merited attention from health care professionals worldwide.

Sources:

Bowman, Grace (2006). Thin London: Penguin Books

Lerche Davis, Jeanie. "Orthorexia: Good Diets Gone Bad" Web MD. November 17, 2000. http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/anorexia-nervosa/news/20001117/orthorexia-good-diets-gone-bad

Rees, Gwyneth. "Too busy to eat: The working mothers with 'stressorexia'" Daily Mail Online. February 2, 2008 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-511848/Too-busy-eat-working-mothers-stressorexia.html

Shabi, Rachel. "Omming on empty" The Guardian. February 25, 2005. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/feb/26/health.shopping

Stossel, John and Sancho, Miguel. "Orthorexia: Obsessing over health food." ABC News. September 5, 2008. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Stossel/story?id=5735592&page=1