January is traditionally a time for many when we look at improving our diet. But In our current culture, to which cutting out entire food groups like sugar, fats, carbohydrates and dairy are encouraged and commended, we must stop to question where these recommendations and messages have come from. And should we believe them?

Although being aware of and concerned with the nutritional quality of the food we eat isn’t a problem in and of itself, people with orthorexia become so fixated on so-called ‘healthy eating’ or ‘clean eating’ that they actually damage their own well-being and experience health consequences such as malnutrition and/or impairment of psychosocial functioning as a result. Excessive exercise or exercise addiction is also extremely common in orthorexic's. 

The term orthorexia nervosa is used to describe the pathological fixation associated with consuming healthy food. In the first of two episodes dedicated to looking at when the obsession to eat healthily goes too far and has the opposite effect, host Gabby talks to Renee McGregor, a leading Sports and Eating disorder specialist dietitian and best selling author, with 20 years experience working in clinical and performance nutrition. 

Orthorexia nervosa was first proposed by Dr Stephen Bratman  in the late 1990s, perhaps not coincidentally around the same time as the first social media site was born. And although Orthorexia Nervosa is not currently a clinically recognised eating disorder, this unhealthy obsession with healthy eating is becoming a widespread problem. 

Part 1 of this conversation into the pitfalls of obsessive 'health eating', restriction diets and over exercising will help you to understand where orthorexia came from, why eliminating food groups without medical reason is not a healthy choice, and why so called 'wellness guru's', celebrities and influencers have a lot to be accountable for. 

For all things Renee McGregor:  https://reneemcgregor.com/