Orthorexia Nervosa: The Health Food Eating Disorder

[Guest guest]

I love this guy’s sense of humor!

Orthorexia Nervosa: The Health Food Eating Disorder

by Steven Bratman, M.D.

 

Because

I am a physician who practices alternative medicine, patients who come to me

often begin the conversation by asking whether they can be cured through diet.

" Regular medical doctors don't know anything about nutrition, " they

say, believing this will build rapport with me. I feel obligated to nod wisely.

I agree that conventional medicine has traditionally paid too little attention

to the effects of diet. However, I am no longer the true believer in nutritional

medicine I used to be. My attitude has grown cautious where once it was

enthusiastic and even evangelical.

I

have lost two beliefs that once encouraged me, and that are still widely

accepted by others who promote dietary methods of healing. One of these is an

assumption that there exists a comprehensive and consistent theory of healing

diseases through nutrition. The other is a faith that dietary therapy is a

uniformly wholesome, side effect free intervention.

My

attitude has not always been so lukewarm. Twenty years ago I was a

wholehearted, impassioned advocate of healing through food. My optimism was

unbounded as I set forth to cure myself and everyone else. This was long before

I became an alternative physician. In those days, I was a cook and organic

farmer at a large commune in upstate New

York. My experiences there formed the foundation of

my early interest in alternative medicine, and continue to give me insight into

the ideals, dreams and contradictions that underlie the natural health movement.

 

All

communes attract idealists. Ours attracted food idealists. As a staff cook I

was required to prepare several separate meals at once to satisfy the insistent

and conflicting demands of the members.

Read

the rest of the article at: http://drbenkim.com/articles-orthorexia.html