An Eating Disorder by Any Other Name

I recently received an interesting comment about my post Two New Eating Disorders. The commenter suggested that orthorexia should be considered a disorder because it deviates from a mere concern with healthy eating. It is not a healthy, beneficial way to relate to food.After considering what she said, I now feel very conflicted about the issue. On one hand, like I said in my previous post, the term disorder is merely a label and a somewhat arbitrary one. A persons style of eating simply is what it is. There is not one universal norm when it comes to our relationship with food. If ones relationship with food is not optimal or deviates from what we typically think of as an emotionally balanced way of relating to food, it simply means that the person is at a point in his or her spiritual, emotional, and psychological path where his or her way of thinking about eating may not be the healthiest. To label that a disorder only creates a stigma, which leads to feelings of guilt and low self-esteem for the supposedly disordered person.On the other hand, there are similarities among people who suffer from anorexia, bulimia, and orthorexia. They tend to have similar personalities (i.e. driven to excel), and often similar backgrounds. And the feelings they experience while suffering from the disorder a fear of losing control, a fear of not being accepted are common to most. So maybe there is value in using a label. If we can recognize that there are similarities among sufferers, hopefully that will make it easier for therapists, nutritionists, and coaches to help them overcome their struggles. And just maybe, looking at those similarities the symptoms and causes of eating disorders will help us as a society to understand what we need to do to help women feel more empowered.Similarly, a friend of mine was recently diagnosed with adrenal fatigue. She said that having a name for what she had been experiencing for years, and knowing that she wasnt imagining her symptoms helped her to make peace wit! h her co ndition and to be able to take proactive steps toward healing. It could be the same with those suffering from eating disorders. If we dont recognize it as an actual condition, perhaps those experiencing it will actually be more inclined to think theres something inherently wrong with them, not less. Whereas naming the thing theyre suffering from might help them wrap their heads around it and, like my friend, take charge of their lives. Perhaps my problem isnt with labeling the disorders per se, but with using the term disorder. A more compassionate term, like chronic under-eating, or something similar, may be more appropriate.Related:
Two New Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders and Recovery

Sarah Cooke is a writer living in California. She is interested inorganic food and green living. Sarah holds an M.F.A. in CreativeWriting from Naropa University, an M.A. in Humanities from NYU, and aB.A. in Political Science from Loyola Marymount University. She haswritten for a number of publications, and she studied Pastry Arts atthe Institute for Culinary Education. Her interests include running,yoga, baking, and poetry. Read more on her blog.