Orthorexia.

In an effort to improve their health, to maintain it for many years in a normal state, some people go to extremes. Orthorexia, an unhealthy desire for a healthy diet, is considered one of these extremes. To date, there are no strictly defined criteria for the diagnosis of orthorexia, but nevertheless, how orthorexia nervosa is present in the descriptions of diseases associated with eating disorders.

Signs of orthorexia are manifested in excessive enthusiasm for healthy eating methods, when other kinds of interests fade into the background, and a person is constantly concerned about the extremely useful properties of food and does not take into account his taste preferences and does not receive elementary pleasure from eating. Every time a product is eaten, it is evaluated in terms of its usefulness, and foods that are accidentally eaten from the list of unhealthy or unhealthy causes nervous tension, a strong feeling of anxiety, and some people experience phobic fear at the moment when they could not resist and ate a product unhealthy. Compliance with a strict diet can lead a person suffering from orthorexia into a depressive state (life according to a dietary scheme loses its attractiveness).

In fact, a person's life begins to revolve exclusively around a healthy menu. Some people suffering from orthorexia think up punishments for broken dietary rules and engage in "self-flagellation": they experience genuine remorse, and set themselves even more rigid limits in their diet.

Symptoms of orthorexia can manifest themselves not only in the obsession with healthy foods, but also in the way of cooking. In these cases, a person pays a lot of attention to the quality and material of the dishes in which the food is prepared, cutting boards and other devices for cooking it.

Choosing a "healthy" diet, people suffering from nervous orthorexia can exclude from the diet the foods necessary for the body in certain quantities, but, in their opinion, are harmful and hazardous to health. So salty or sweet foods, meat and dairy products, bakery products can leave the diet.

Orthorexia is dangerous because at some point it can become an impetus to other diseases (anorexia, bulimia), which are quite difficult to treat. The risk group includes both women and men, that is, everyone who is fixated on a healthy lifestyle.

Orthorexia treatment requires consultation with a psychologist, a professional nutritionist. Only a person who is authoritative in the eyes of a person suffering from orthorexia can help him to abandon the chosen rigid framework in an effort to lead a healthy lifestyle and eat right.