Orthorexia | eating disorder

Hi @Beanbag and welcome to the forums ..... 👋

So glad you have found us here and reached out. I have been here four years now, and I joined as a carer around major disordered eating issues in my now-estranged spouse, and how this is affecting our family.

I am really pleased to hear that you understand the nature of orthorexia and can identify with it, because that is the first step towards recovery, or at least healthy management of it as a condition ..... clearly full recovery is the ideal. My estranged one (I refer to as WH) has orthorexia as a part of his really complicated mix, and is unable to recognise it as a problem.

Something that may help you is signing up for a meal-delivery program (hopefully it is available in your area, and affordable) that sends you a set of recipes - as many days a week as suits you so perhaps you could trial it and see. The recipes come with individual bags of ingredients for each recipe, so you actually prepare the food yourself, from the measured ingredients. It's a do-it-yourself kit for each meal. One of my daughters and I are cooking together using this system, and it has crossed my mind that it would be a good recovery pathway for orthorexia.

i don't know that I can advertise the actual name of the program here, but if you search online using "home delivery, pre-packaged, meal kits, fresh" you will likely find it, or something very similar.

I will be around and looking for your response .... sorry it has taken a little while to get an answer to your first post ..... we are friendly here and keen to support you.

🌷F&H

Hello and thank you for your response.

As much as I would never wish an eating disorder on someone else, it's still comforting to hear others do face it. One of my issues is that it often feels fake or illegitimate. Not a real issue to be addressed.

Over the past 12 months I have been able to work with a psych team and my family, who I still live with, to increase my intake so I have gained a small amount of weight and am maintaining at a less than ideal but stable physical health. Access to food has never really been a problem as my whole family and myself enjoy cooking for one another.

I have been trying to do research to find organisations who acknowledge orthorexia as a problem but have been unsuccessful. I believe the current treatment I'm receiving for anorexia is missing the core of the disorder and therefore not very helpful.

Would love some advice on how I could improve my environment of professional and family support.

I would also love to hear your perspective as a support for WH.

Sanes factsheet on eating disorders can be found through link Here

Butterfly foundation can be found Here

@Beanbag you can do this.

Morning @The-red-centaur 👋 ..... as @Beanbag said, it's not something you would wish on anybody, but there is comfort in knowing you're not alone in the experiences you're facing. I am glad you have an action plan and support around your recovery @The-red-centaur.

Hi @Beanbag .... sorry I missed your reply for a couple of days (using @ inmediately in front of someone's user name sends them an alert that you have responded).

I am glad you and your family enjoy cooking together. As @The-red-centaur said, under the effects of Orthorexia a sense of fear becomes associated with some foods, which gradually spreads to lots of foods ..... but the key word here is "gradually". As the condition came on gradually, it needs to be reduced gradually too, because the self-talk That has set in around what a food is, and what it means to you, has to be altered to free you from the power you have given that food over you, according to the Orthorexic mindset. The recovery path is to gently re-immerse yourself into what are known as normal eating patterns.

It might help to tackle "fear foods" in tiny increments at first .... like taking a single taste with a teaspoon, and sitting with the struggle for a bit ..... letting the understanding in that nothing bad is going to happen as a result.

As @The-red-centaur @has asked, are you working with a psychologist and doctor ? It is important to have a medical support team involved.

I have been unable to help WH in any way. He does not recognise / admit that there is a problem, in fact her considers what he is doing to be a superior lifestyle. Unfortunately there are exercise addiction, and a bulimic-like behaviour involves as well, and major issues around interpersonal control across the family (we have adult children still livjng at home, and while he is not now, we have the new mess of a second family involved).

I am so pleased for both of you that you are able to recognise that you are battling an eating disorder. It's the only pathway to recovery, and WH is nowhere near it. By leaving me, especially with another person involved, and now working tirelessly to invalidate our 30 + years of marriage, has planted his eating and exercise behaviours into a "not my problem" basket as I am up to my ears in legal issues to access my rightful finances etc, but it is so sad to have lost the person I had loved so deeply this way.

Go you, and you ..... ❣️
@Beanbag there are eating disorder support services in every state. I joined Sane through one as a Carer. Go searching ...., there might be support groups in your areas that you can attend, along with being here in the forums.

Feeling for you so much @Faith-and-Hope

hugs 🤗❤️💐

hi @The-red-centaur @Beanbag