helping you live healthy clean eating is
very popular these days but this type of
eating could become an eating disorder
called orthorexia it's an obsession with
eating foods that are considered healthy
and avoiding foods that are believed to
be harmful joining me now is Lorie Oh
Sachi she's the owner of the body image
Counseling Center to explain the
difference between eating healthy and
orthorexia I mean it's you know it's
crazy I know a lot of people that do eat
clean but this can become a problem
it sure can if there's a there's a very
fine line between just trying to follow
a certain type of diet and then becoming
obsessive alright how do you know that
you're becoming obsessive with it or
maybe someone in your family maybe even
a teenager is becoming obsessive with
eating this way well basically if you're
spending more than a few hours a day
thinking about what you're going to
prepare and eat is a sign if you're
avoiding cutting out certain food groups
altogether like sugar or carbohydrates
or you're avoiding restaurants because
they don't serve foods that that are
clean or pure then it could become a
problem and also if you start to drop
weight because of it too what's the
definition of clean eating I mean when
we're talking about it I mean I know
it's you're eating fruits and vegetables
what are you eliminating well it's
really that's the problem I I believe
there are a lot of different companies
trying to prove what clean eating is and
profit off it so there's really no one
particular definition of pure clean
eating one company can say it's cutting
out all sugar others can say it's
non-gmo foods it's become a way to sell
you products in my opinion are a lot of
parents I feel like they try to eat this
way or prepare foods this way for their
kids you know because we hear so much
about the preservatives and foods and
maybe they think they're doing the right
thing but you're saying really it needs
to be a healthy balance of foods I agree
and and I I don't blame the parents
we're bombarded with advertisements
every day that says we need to eat these
things and videos and I'm seeing a lot
more teenagers come in watching YouTube
videos talking about how to become vegan
or vegetarian which is not necessarily a
bad thing but then how to eat pure how
to eat clean it gets much more obsessive
to the point where they're watching
these videos all the time where they're
cutting out food groups dropping tons of
weight and getting very anxious inside
that's another sign - it's not just the
physical health it's your emotional
health when you're obsessing over these
things all day and don't you don't go
out with friends because of it or yeah
and that's when it becomes a problem I
mean it's great to be healthy but when
it becomes an issue then you have to
take some steps so what can you do if
you feel like this has become an issue
and you're you know developing
orthorexia well the problem is usually
people who are exhibiting or thoracic
tendencies don't feel don't feel like
they have a problem they think everyone
should be eating like they are because
there's a moral component - with the
pure and clean eating there's an
implication in these videos and
advertisements that if you don't eat
clean there's something wrong with you
you're lazier you're you know so a lot
of people have these tendencies feel
that they're doing it the right way it's
almost cult-like honestly so really it
has to come from a parent or a friend or
a teacher and if you're a parent
following this kind of diet I would
suggest you try to get off it and get
some advice about handling your own
anxiety about not following this kind of
regimen and usually it requires a
therapist or nutritionist to really get
help with this it really does I you know
because if you dropped weight on top of
being obsessed it's very hard the
thinner you get it can turn into
anorexia so the thinner you get the
fatter you feel the more worried you get
so sometimes it takes a team of people
to help pull you out of it sometimes
medication - if it's very severe it's
like compounding really I mean it's
quite scary when you think about it down
the road it is and that's why I wanted
to talk about it here because we're
seeing more and more teenagers coming in
with signs of orthorexia and being very
ill so we wanted to you know Nick this
and turn it around
Laurel Thank You Lauri thank you so much
for coming in to talk about this you
know you can get a free 15-minute phone
consult with Lori at the body-image
Counseling Center if this is something
myths may be happening to your teenager
if it's sounding familiar you want to go
ahead and give them a call nine oh four
seven three seven thirty two thirty two
or if you want to learn more about the
body image Counseling Center we'll post
this interview along with a link on our
website news for Jax comm just look on
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