Posted by Racer on November 1, 2006, at 2:16:23
In reply to Re: Whoops. I got distracted from the point... » Racer, posted by Meri-Tuuli on November 1, 2006, at 1:52:46
> > > Have you heard about orthorexia?
>
> Kind regards
>
> Merilol! The nurse practioner at the fertility clinic was talking with us in one of the doctors' offices, and mentioned that the box of cookies on the console was from some holiday long past, and that the doctor never ate anything like cookies -- only healthy food. I didn't even think, just said, "that's called orthorexia..."
Yeah, if you really want to get down into it, there are a ton of flavors for eating disorders. One very common one that I don't know the name for is refusing to eat any food one hasn't prepared oneself. One woman from my group used to come over sometimes for dinner -- bulimic, not AN -- and she'd bring her own food. (She missed out. I'm an excellent cook.) (Of course, that was when I was still seeing the dietitian.)
I don't know. I do think the criteria as it now stands is too strict. Full syndrome anorexia affects about .5% of American women, full syndrome bulimia about 1.5 - 2%, but I've heard numbers ranging up to 14% for disordered eating. That means that something's probably wrong with the criteria, that so many women fall into the miscellaneous category.
I don't quite like the idea of the "anorexia spectrum disorder," though, partly because that's basically been tried. The old criteria was closer to what you're describing. I can't put my finger on it, but I think the catastrophic weight loss really is pretty key in AN, maybe because it is a big part of the cause of some of the worst mental aspects of AN. Someone who's not eating enough, and loses weight, and is afraid of becoming fat does have a problem. But within normal weight ranges, the other parts don't seem to be there: the severe obsessionality, the weird hyperactivity, some of the chemical changes like paradoxical high cholesterol. A lot of those things really don't show up until past a critical point in weight loss.
Then again, what the heck do I know? That's just my opinion...
OH! I know this one thing for sure: it's past my bedtime, and I'm not making much sense anymore... 'Night, all!
poster:Racer
thread:699085
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/eating/20060628/msgs/699502.html