When pleasure is no longer on the menu
In collaboration with Betty Bossi
Sara stands at the buffet in the canteen. The menu of the day - breaded fish with boiled potatoes and spinach - is out of the question for her. The breadcrumbs on the fish and the potatoes glistening with butter are too greasy for her. That leaves the salad buffet. After much deliberation, the teenager finally decides in favour of lots of green salad with some beetroot, sprouts, seeds and a little oil and vinegar. He also has a wholemeal roll and a drink of water.
Sara suffers from orthorexia, a disorder in which sufferers focus on healthy eating practically around the clock and avoid unhealthy foods whenever possible. Their own rules usually become increasingly strict. Any products that have ever been associated with «unhealthy» are no longer consumed. As almost all foods can be perceived as unhealthy in certain quantities or variations, the choice of foods that come into question becomes ever smaller. However, it is not only the unbalanced diet that becomes a problem, but also the uninterrupted preoccupation with food. Those affected are less able to maintain social contacts, restaurant visits are cancelled or meticulously planned in advance without any flexibility.
Orthorexia is not officially an eating disorder, it also varies greatly in severity and it is difficult to say at what point a behaviour is no longer considered normal. In a Swiss study, scientists found that almost a third of respondents were overly concerned with healthy eating. The Swiss population is highly sensitised to this issue. The presence of supposedly healthy foods in the media, when shopping or in restaurants is very high. The problem is that orthorexia can favour an eating disorder. Constant abstinence and bans can lead to binge eating attacks, known in the trade as bing-eating disorder, or bulimia.
The balance between conscious and intuitive eating
Time and again, one food is labelled as healthy by some experts, while others claim the exact opposite. This confusion of recommendations and warnings can be unsettling.
The desire to eat fresh, seasonal and, if possible, organic products is absolutely understandable. Finding the balance between a healthy, balanced diet and pleasurable, intuitive eating can be quite challenging.
It is important to distinguish why certain foods are favoured and others are rejected. If the focus is always solely on the health aspect, the diet may become one-sided and certain foods may be banned over time. For example, some people decide to avoid foods containing gluten for supposed health reasons. People who suffer from a diagnosed allergy or intolerance can find such eating trends annoying, as for them giving up certain foods is a must, while others do so voluntarily.
As with so many things, it's up to you as a parent. If your approach to food is natural and relaxed, this role model will have a positive effect on your children. A tip: Try to describe certain foods not just as healthy or unhealthy, but with other adjectives such as: Tomatoes are seasonal and therefore rich in vitamins, broccoli tastes crunchy and fresh, chocolate is sweet and meant for special moments of indulgence. In this way, the food is rated less and described more.
Cooking together can also play an important role. Which dishes do you remember from your childhood? For me, it's the pizza Sundays with the whole family. Everyone was allowed to make their own pizza - that was the highlight of the week. We had apple spritzer with it, so good! Make sure that your children rave about their homemade spaetzli for a long time to come or that they melt over their dad's crumble cake. This way, meals are experienced consciously and food is associated with positive feelings.
How healthy is my attitude to food?
The US doctor Steven Bratmann has formulated the following statements in order to be able to recognise possible orthorexia:
1. i spend so much of my life thinking about, choosing and preparing healthy food that it interferes with other dimensions of my life such as love, creativity, family, friendship, work and school.
2. when I eat any food that I consider unhealthy, I feel anxious, guilty and unclean. Even being around such foods bothers me and I judge others who eat them.
3. my personal sense of peace, happiness, joy, security and self-worth is overly dependent on the purity and rightness of what I eat.
4. sometimes I would like to relax my self-imposed rules of «good eating» for a special occasion like a wedding or a meal with family or friends, but I find that I can't.
5. over time, I have eliminated more and more foods and expanded my list of dietary rules to maintain or increase health benefits; sometimes I take an existing food theory and supplement it with my own beliefs.
6. following my healthy eating theory has resulted in me losing more weight than most people think is good for me, or has caused other signs of malnutrition such as hair loss, menstrual loss or skin problems.
If one or more of these statements apply to you, this may be a sign of orthorexia. However, it is always up to each individual to decide when a behaviour is perceived as a restriction in everyday life and whether a specialist should be consulted.
