Orthorexia: When healthy eating becomes an unhealthy obsession

It’s National Eating Disorder Awareness week and health experts say there is such a thing as trying to eat too healthy.

Experts say they’re concerned about a growing number of cases where healthy eating, taken to the extreme, turns into an unhealthy obsession. It’s called orthorexia, and it can have dangerous consequences.

Jordan Younger’s career as a vegan food blogger took an unexpected turn when she realized she was suffering from a new kind of eating disorder. Known as orthorexia, it’s an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy.

“I would embark on these 10 to 30 day juice cleanses where I would only be drinking vegetable juice. That’s not veganism, that’s just not even eating,” said Younger.

Younger says she lost 25 pounds in two months. The 24-year-old says she took veganism to an extreme, cutting out more than just meat and animal byproducts.

“I would never eat white bread, refined flour, I didn’t eat any flour — there were a lot of things. You should rather ask what I did eat.”

Nutritionist Sondra Kronberg says patients with traditional eating disorders like anorexia are now increasingly showing signs of orthorexia.

“What they start out doing to feel better, begins to control them because of other traits, perhaps they are OCD, or their anxiety, and it becomes more and more compulsive,” said Kronberg.

Younger turned to a therapist and nutritionist, and says she is getting better. In addition to vegetables, she now eats more protein, including meat and fish.

“I’m not vegan anymore. I don’t believe in labels anymore,” said Younger.

The American Psychiatric Association doesn’t officially recognize orthorexia, but those in the medical community say they are seeing a rise in the number of people showing signs of the disorder.