People can become obsessed with almost anything, why not healthy eating? Dr. Steven Bratman makes an argument for a new type of psychological disorder based on his own problems and those of his patients in this regard. The book contains a quiz to help you identify if you or someone you know has this issue, along with helpful suggestions for taking it easier in your food habits without abandoning good health practices. The author also outlines the usual causes of the disorder, in order to help those who have it recognize how they might best change.
"Obsession with healthy diet is an illusion, an eating disorder." I didn't take that statement too seriously, until I got to Dr. Bratman's vivid description of the time he left a great conversation at a party to go savor an avocado he had been ripening and day dreaming about. Then I remembered that I have known people who spent 8-10 hours a day shopping for, preparing, and eating very special diets. Aha!
The disorder is a problem when it causes someone to eat a too restrictive diet. The book considers the most popular ones, and generally advises that it is all right to follow it if you just loosen up.
More serious, the food focus can cut off contact with others. They don't "smell" right because they don't eat what you do. Or they eat offensive foods that you cannot stand to be around. Increasingly, you spend time by yourself instead of with other people. This is often a strategy for dealing with a fear of being with other people.
The most common psychological causes are a desire to have total healthy safety, compulsion for complete control, wanting to conform to the "thinness" social ethic, searching for spirituality through food, food puritanism, and using food to create an identity. That last one is pretty scary. "You are what you eat" is being taken literally.
I was surprised when I took the test to find that I seemed to have this obsession, even though I spend little time thinking about food, eating food, or being rigid about what I eat. This made me wonder how well thought through this disorder really is. But I plan to watch myself in the future, and try to understand if I am overdoing it.
Dr. Bratman argues that food diets have little science behind them. The diets work for some people because of "suggestion" and for others because they have an undiagnosed food allergy or deficiency. As a result, he suggests that you experiment with eating different diets and see if you feel better or worse.
He is particularly negative about the "Eat Right for Your Type" diet, and states that he expects to get slammed for his opposition. Well, I graded him down one star for this, even though he said you could you use if you loosen up on the regimen a bit. The new book "Live Right for Your Type" is full of scientific studies that show predilections for certain diseases and conditions with certain blood types. These studies are also linked to nutrition in various ways. My reaction was that Dr. Bratman should have addressed these studies, unless he was unaware of them. If he was unaware of them, how good are the rest of his conclusions?
In fairness, I would have graded him down one star anyway, because I did not see a scientific basis in the statements for his conclusions. Much of what he was describing could simply be related to something else. His approach seems very qualitative to me. As someone who struggles with this issue himself, he may just be seeing everyone else in the same way. After all carpenters often see all problems as something that can be solved with a hammer.
Whether this condition exists or not, his advice is probably all right. Admit you have a problem. Identify what has caused you to be obsessed in this way (in my case, it was being leaned on by my doctor with dire threats of future ill health). Normally eat a plate or a bowl of a balanced diet, and get seconds on one food only. Go easy on the guilt when you "slip." Eat graciously with your Mother and others you care about, regardless of what is served to you. Relax when you need to make exceptions to your normal diet. Keep your mind off of food. Watch out for hidden agendas sneaking into your eating.
As a physician, friend, or parent, he suggests that you intervene when you see someone dieting past the point of safety, the diet is making the person miserable, the person would like to quit the diet and cannot, a third party is involved creating a diet "cult" experience, or the diet seems to have become an emotional ilness. Use tact, humor and gentleness rather than strong arm tactics because people are touchy about these issues.
May you have all the health, happiness, peace, and prosperity that you would like!