The term ‘Orthorexia’ was
first coined in 1997 by Dr. Steven Bratman. The combination of the Greek words
‘orthos’ meaning correct or right and ‘orexis’ meaning appetite gives the lose
definition of correct eating; prior to coining the term Bratman previously
referred to Orthorexia as “righteous eating”. Predominantly, the primary focus
is eating healthy food. In addition to healthy eating, it is purported that
orthorexics “obsess” over the quality of the food they eat more than the
quantity.
Not uncommon to many ‘diet
plans’, the orthorexic places high importance on large quantities of fruit and
vegetables in his eating plan, but often will fixate on eliminating what he
deems ‘bad’ foods; with some sufferers trying to completely eliminate fat,
sodium and carbohydrates from their diet. Dr Bratman affectionately refers to
orthorexics as ‘health food junkies’, unfortunately this rather tongue-in-cheek
term does little to relay the seriousness and potentially life-threatening
nature of the disorder.
