178: The Hidden Harm of Clean Eating - Understanding Orthorexia

Thrive Beyond Size

Welcome, friends, to another episode of Thrive Beyond Size! I just got back from a vacation, an eight-day cruise with my husband Rob, and it was wonderful. I didn’t use my phone once, I put it in my bag, I didn’t take it out, and it was an amazing real break. After the cruise, I attended a medical conference in Orlando, Florida, on lifestyle medicine. One of the pillars of lifestyle medicine is eating a plant-based or plant-forward diet. There’s a lot of evidence to support that such a diet is great for health but what I’m looking at is how choices like these can lead to a feeling of superiority about food choices. Sometimes our new clean eating obsession can get quite obsessive and can even lead to an overlooked eating disorder called orthorexia. And that’s what I want to talk about today.

Orthorexia literally means “correct appetite” and it describes an unhealthy obsession with eating foods that are considered clean or pure. Unlike other eating disorders, orthorexia is not about the amount of food eaten but is more about the quality and purity of the food. What I want to look at is this new movement about clean eating and how it can disguise what is essentially diet talk in a new format. I want to examine how an obsession with clean eating can lead to orthorexia, discuss signs for identifying orthorexia, and talk about how such an obsession can lead to feelings of superiority about food and a tendency to evangelize. I’ll also talk about how to step back from such an obsessive mindset and why it’s important to enjoy our food and not obsess over it to the point of restriction or health impacts. So join me as I share some insight on this overlooked eating disorder and talk about how to manage it.

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About Dr. Michelle Tubman:

Dr. Michelle Tubman is certified by the American Board of Obesity Medicine, which means she understands exactly what's happening in your body when you diet. Although she does not provide any medical advice in her coaching programs, this knowledge gives her an edge over most coaches.

She also holds Level 1 and Level 2 Precision Nutrition coaching certifications which make her skilled at coaching nutrition, dietary change, and habit change in general. Realizing that emotional eating and bingeing are complicated for most of us, she also did training in mind-body and intuitive eating. Peace around food is possible.

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Learn more about Dr. Michelle Tubman and Wayza Health:

• Website: www.wayzahealth.com
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• Email Michelle: [e-mail]