How have I not made a post on orthorexia yet?

Sometimes I just assume that everybody already knows all the things I know. Not helpful, Caroline.

So let’s talk about orthorexia.

I had orthorexia, and if you’re stressy with food, there is a high chance you do too.

Orthorexia is the obsession with purity of food.

An obsession with righteous eating. Or an unhealthy obsession with healthy eating

It’s clean eating gone rogue.

It’s obsession masked by ‘health’.

Fixating on the kinds of oils your food is cooked in at a restaurant? Orthorexia.

Obsession with the toxins that might be in your food? Orthorexia.

Only being able to eat ONE BRAND because they have the least ‘bad ingredients’? Orthorexia.

Thinking almost everything is bad for you? Orthorexia.

Having a very small list of acceptable foods you’re allowed to eat? Orthorexia.

Unable to eat food other people cook for you? Orthorexia.

The biggest thing that categorizes orthorexia is the level of stress and fixation that accompanies it. It is possible to do many of the things above without any fixation, fear, or obsession and I would call that fine. The issue with orthorexia is the dogma and the black and white thinking.

It’ll take over your life.

And it IS an eating disorder.

So start eating things that scare you. I fully believe that the only way to move past orthorexia is the willingness to look at your beliefs, exposure therapy, and a willingness to not be the healthiest person that exists.

*

Full disclosure, these days I sometimes look at ingredients in the food I’m buying and think “huh, there’s a lot of fake shit in this.” But depending on lots of factors, I sometimes buy or eat it anyway. It’s just not the biggest deal now.

And during the beginning of my own Fuck It Diet, I purposely ate LOTS of things that scared me because, hello it’s just food. Even if health nuts would call it “sub-optimal”. Eating less than perfect health food is better for you than obsessing over it. You can quote me on that.

You’re allowed to care what you put in your body. But you do not want to let it take over your life. Eating is supposed to enhance your life, not define it.

Beliefs are everything. They literally shape our lives.

What you believe about food, money, love, life, happiness, and health… is affecting you right now. It is affecting you practically, subconsciously, and energetically, and your beliefs are being mirrored back to you through your reality.

That’s why it’s so easy to continue believing your beliefs, they are constantly being affirmed through your experiences. That isn’t because the beliefs are unequivocally true, but instead because they are your beliefs, and that’s how beliefs work.

We experience what we believe. Our beliefs shade, color, and create a lens through that we experience the world through.

So if your beliefs are negative, they are literally limiting you. It’s no small thing.

For instance, if you think that “sleep is hard to come by”, it will continue to be, through both your actions, your body’s reactions, and lots of other tinier energetic happenings.

If you believe “love is easy to find”, it will be… and probably already is. If you believe it is not easy to find, it won’t be, and it will continue to be hard to find through your own actions, your subconscious responses, and lots of other tinier energetic happenings.

This applies to everything, but if we’re gonna talk about your relationship to food… You most certainly have limiting beliefs about food, eating, and weight.

And those beliefs are affecting your life and your happiness.

Some examples?

I can’t trust my body

Nobody will take me seriously if I gain weight

Most food is bad for me

I gain weight easily

I’m a food addict

I should limit carbs

I can’t eat a lot

Being fat means __________

Being skinny will make me happy

All of those are limiting beliefs that lots of dieter pick up over time.

Here is a big reminder:

If you believe that skinny will make you happy, your entire life will begin to revolve around this belief. In fact, it probably already does. But because the belief is fundamentally untrue, (because NOTHING external makes us truly happy) chasing that high will not actually yield what you are looking for: happiness.

The negative beliefs you have about weight, fat, eating, and health are keeping you stuck in the “never good enough” cycle, and keeping you anxious around eating. Which biologically keeps you in the binge and repent cycle, and no amount of slow chewing and bath-time is going to snap you out of it.

So what to do? Start with awareness. Sit down and write out a list of all the negative, limiting beliefs about food and weight you can think of. The list will probably be really really long.

When the beliefs lurk in the dark corners of our subconscious, they can control you without you realizing it. Shine a light on them. Look them square in the eye. Say: I see you, you little fucker.

Awareness awareness awareness awareness. You are not your thoughts – but they sure as hell will try to control you.

But for now… awareness.

I also wrote an ebook about this.

And fuck it.