By Matt Stone
Not too long ago a new type of eating disorder was added to the big 2, anorexia and bulimia. This new one is referred to as orthorexia, which is, in a nutshell, having an irrational infatuation with healthy eating.
Of course all the health authors and bloggers out there cried out as if this were some kind of conspiracy to keep people from making healthy food choices. Maybe that has something to do with it, maybe not. Alex Jones certainly whipped up a fuss over the new term, but then again, Alex Jones whips up a fuss over pretty much everything (which incidentally makes him pretty entertaining at times).
But at 180D, we know all too well that there is definitely a such thing as orthorexia, and it is not some mythical disorder. In fact, the worst health situations I’ve come across personally have been in those who tried too hard to be healthy vs. not hard enough. When you get a strong enough idea in your mind about how you should eat, live, exercise, etc. you will drown out obvious internal signals and biofeedback’that suggest that you are harming yourself – in some cases severely and irreparably. This of course, is the true danger of orthorexia, as ALL?dietary touted-as-panaceas in the modern world are at least partially, if not wholly, inaccurate.
To help us better understand and define orthorexic eating behavior, I’ve created several sub-categories of orthorexia. This is written in a joking tone, but overall not really a joke at all. Enjoy the new, creative, linguistically-incorrect but at times comical terms and their definitions. In the next post I hope to, instead of ridicule various types of eating, to line out and define in concise terms what I hope we can all agree is Eating Order, instead of Disorder.
Carnorexia
This sub-classification of orthorexia is marked by a pronounced fear of animal products, including eggs, milk, fish, and sometimes honey. This eating disorder is often accompanied by proclamations of moral superiority, false over-sensitized ecological fear mongering, and nonsensical claims of excessive longevity and ?immorbidity? (total protection from disease of all kinds) despite frequent acts of aggressive and intolerant behavior coupled with a litany of health problems, including but not limited to emaciation, infertility, hair loss, sexual dysfunction, loss of menstruation, depression, osteopenia, dental decay, and most of the common degenerative diseases it is touted to protect against.
Carborexia
This sub-classification of orthorexia is marked by a peculiar and nonsensical fear of carbohydrates. Sufferers often believe in unscientific and easily disprovable theories regarding the hormone insulin, such as the belief that insulin increases appetite (false), that carbohydrate consumption will raise your basal insulin levels (false), that spiking insulin causes insulin resistance (false), that insulin is the ?fat-storage hormone? (false) and many other scientific fairy tales. It’s as if carborexics live in a parallel universe in which carbohydrates, instead of increasing longevity, lowering appetite, lowering body fat levels, lowering basal insulin levels, reducing insulin resistance, and improving overall body composition like they do in the real world ? somehow perform the opposite function in all categories. Obsession with weight, condescending attitude toward mainstream nutritional beliefs, irrational fear of type 2 diabetes and advanced glycation end products, infatuation with the short-lived arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson and the prematurely-aging Eskimos he studied and reported on (as aging prematurely), and more are common facets of the disorder. Some are so out of touch with reality that they tell people who have round faces like Eskimos that they have “carbo faces.”?Perhaps the most frightening symptom of carborexia is over-reliance on a useless and misleading tool known as the Glycemic Index, which leads to the highly irrational equating of high-fructose corn syrup in Pepsi with the starch in potatoes, corn, and several whole grains. Repetition of the phrase ‘sugar is sugar is sugar? is a serious red flag that can almost be used single-handedly to diagnose the disease.
Liporexia
This sub-classification of orthorexia is marked by clutching to a half-century old, but repeatedly debunked belief that the consumption of fat, as well as cholesterol, will raise blood cholesterol levels and lead to clogged arteries, heart disease, and stroke despite overwhelming evidence that the consumption of dietary fat and cholesterol, in and of itself, is unrelated to the disease entirely. Liporexics often have a strong compulsion to eat products sold in Nabisco’s line of Snackwell food products, as well as eat incredible amounts of otherwise sugary foods. This is perhaps the most prevalent, but hard to diagnose form of orthorexia as the disorder has reached such large proportions as to blend in as part of social normalcy. Repetition of the phrase ?artery-clogging saturated fat? is one indicator of the disease, as is making repeated jokes about clogged arteries every time a slice of bacon or egg yolk is consumed followed by a chuckle of laughter.
Pyrorexia
This is a fortunately rare but particularly irrational form of orthorexia that is marked by fear of eating food that has been heated beyond roughly 140 degrees F, the temperature at which most food enzymes are destroyed, despite there being very little compelling evidence that consumption of raw foods is superior to cooked foods, or that food enzymes play a very important role in digestion, health, and so forth. Because food is so poorly digested and absorbed?when raw, emaciation is common.The disorder is often accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to do video blogs.
Paleorexia
This sub-classification of orthorexia is unfortunately growing in popularity, and is marked by peculiar fantasies involving a fictitious caveman-like character referred to as Grok. Paleorexics, in an act of great cognitive ignorance, manage to ignore the thousands of years of successful human civilization after the Paleolithic era, the well-identified health benefits of grain consumption, and the profound breakthrough in human civilization that harvested the milk of other mammals for the first time. The diet of the Paleorexic is based more on speculation of the health and longevity of people living hundreds of thousands of years ago and speculation and generalizations as to what he/she did and ate on any given day ? all concepts that are unknowable, and highly variable, and in no way proven. They ignore the distinct possibility that Grok ate and lived in the manner that he did, not because it was superior for human health and longevity, but that’s what he had to do to survive and that it came with many penalties. Paleorexics often suffer from multiple forms of orthorexia all at once, including carborexia, often very severe, and in some cases pyrorexia, which makes an otherwise mild eating disorder into something very extreme, debilitating, and completely socially isolating and crippling ? particularly amongst other family members who are made to feel very uncomfortable by these bizarre eating practices. Fasting is often another element accompanying this form of the disease. Fortunately, this disorder is very easy to identify, and can be done so based on the consumption of gluten-free beer that no rational person would drink, and the proud wearing of the most aesthetically-unpleasant footwear ever designed.
Gojirexia
This sub-classification of orthorexia typically accompanies pyrorexia and carnorexia, but it doesn’t have to by definition. This disease is marked by the unwarranted belief that certain foods contain magical, rejuvenating, and alchemic properties beyond what a rational person would ever buy into on a logical level.
Gojirexics will often pay totally irrational sums for these foods, and often throw them all together in a strange and peculiar modern-day invention known as a ‘smoothie. Frequent purchase and consumption of Reishi mushrooms, Goji berries, Acai juice, Cacao, Maca powder, spirulina, mangosteen, chlorella, wheat grass juice, various types of algae, or the especially vile Noni juice are just a few examples of what can be found in the pantries and refrigerators of a typical Gojirexic. Dreadlocks, wooden jewelry, unkempt appearance, odd body odor, David Wolfe materials, and trust fund accounts are common ways to diagnose the disorder, but are not to be used solely to diagnose the disorder without thorough inspection of health food grocer receipts, personal food storage areas, or ease of accessibility of blender or juicers in the home kitchen.
Supplorexia
Similar to Gojirexia, this sub-classification of orthorexia is marked by manic over-reliance on dietary supplements instead of real food itself. This is a difficult disorder to diagnose unless you have access to the sufferer’s wallet ? which will be characteristically filled with discount cards to various health food establishments. Shaker cups in gym bags and vehicle floorboards, as well as pill cases is another red flag. One sure diagnosis can be made by sifting through the cupboard in which supplements are kept. If more than one shelf is filled with supplements, it is a sure diagnosis. If the supplements stay on the kitchen counter for easy access, this is a sure diagnosis. But most of all, if all of the supplements have sales stickers ? a sign that the Supplorexic has purchased a variety of supplements not for some premeditated or logical reason, but purely because the supplements were on clearance and happened to be in powder and pill form, you can be sure that you have a hardcore Supplorexic on your hands in need of treatment. If all else fails, check the breath for fishy odors.
Shiiiit man, Paleorexia, you went there… I commend you, ballsy.
Funny! I'm naturexic – if I couldn't hunt it, grow it or gather it and then prepare it for consumption with crude tools and fire, I won't eat it!
83 is "short-lived"?
So flippin' funny and spot on! I loved it!!
I'm glad gojirexia didn't include bee pollen. Because they are the most ultra-awsum, life saving, magical super-food and will make you fly, just like a bee!
All kidding aside, I think foods like bee pollen or spirulina probably do have some value, even if I do not consume them and even though they are over-hyped as shit.
Sisson just did a blog post the same time this one came out on how dairy, because it raises insulin, will increase your waistline. LOL!!!
MountainD-
Stefansson claimed that the Eskimos looked a lot older than their age and typically died of old age in their 60's and 70's and very occasionally 80's. Guess you had to be there.
The sad thing is I've been thru many of these 'rexias in the last few years, including WAPforexia – the fear of eating anything that hasn't been sprouted and soaked for 5 days, and then covered with a pound of butter and followed by a chaser of FCLO.
I was so tempted to include WAPForexia too, but all in all I don't think they cross the line. But next week we'll get 'er all lined out. The last line in Supplorexia about checking the breath for fishy odors was about as close as I came to taking a jab.
I was totally a naturexic too for many years, starving myself out in the wilderness in what I once referred to as "a Paleo mindset."
Great Matt, but I must point out the problem with your taxonomy. The first three use the fear of one of the macro nutrients and the last set use faith in a type of food for the first syllable.
As usual I have a few more:
Allergorexia: the allergerorexic is someone who has an ever increasing number of allergies or "sensitivities" and an ever decreasing list of foods they can actually eat. Diagnosis can be made by checking to see whether the patient has visited a naturopath or if they have a preponderance of products in their pantry with the word "free" as a suffix in the title, i.e., "gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, taste-free," etc. The problem with the allergorexic is that they may actually have a food allergy and that avoiding certain foods may have helped them enjoy better health. This leads to the irrational belief that all their health problems are related to a food sensitivity and that by simply restricting their diet further they will finally enjoy perfect health.
RRARForexic or HEDimia (either term is technically appropriate,though old school HEDonists secretly look down on the new term as they liked the simplicity of the old acronym even if it wasn't as helpful or accurate in describing the protocol.) Diagnosis can made by checking the patient's index finger for the tell-tale indentation from holding a potato peeler. This sometimes fails as certain HEDemics believe that the peel should be left on the potato. This set of patients should simply be asked how he or she feels about Ray Peat. If they even know who Ray Peat is, chances are they are afflicted. Treatment is difficult since most RRARForexics have been through every other eating disorder and come to the Costanza-like conclusion that when all else has failed, just do the opposite. Some success has been made by megadoses of a still experimental drug called fukitol.
RRARForexic! Fukitol!! Brilliant!!! ROFLMAO
I have to admit I've suffered from some of these and you made me laugh. But you left out the best one:
"Stonerexia" – Smoking enough cannabis to find fault in healthy eating then rambling incessantly about the benefits of overeating, potatoes, wheat, and metabolism.
Oh the WAPForexics should not be immune, Matt. They are among the worst of the thowers out of the baby with the bath water. I love them, though, find many WAPF bloggers to be an excellent source of inspiration and recipes but always I take them with a big grain of hand-harvested with a wooden rake sea salt.
You can’t mention WAPForexics without also mentioning Mercolarexics. You just can’t.
Food Alienation: The sufferer hears voices which claim to be from other Planitz. Symptoms include eating rotting meat and faeces.
BTW, I think that for the Gojirexia section, you should have just linked to the Wolfe video and left it at that. No need to belabour the point, ya know?
OMG LAUGHING TOO HARD TO BREATHE!!!!!!!!!!
Jenny: Perfection in your HEDorexica.. esp the Ray Peat part :)
Keep it up and there will be Stoneorexica, the inablity to keep up with 180 degree thinking/ideology.
LOVE IT!
Da Hag
While I never believe everything internet throws around I wonder if this rapid aging of Eskimos be caused by the highest metabolisms found on earth?In order to maintain a stable body temp when you live in a harsh climate your body runs at full steam all the time.Then again look at this post on a man who lives with Eskimos in modern times.They do not look rapidly aged to me.
http://www.dphoto.us/forum/showthread.php's=e5d043c3e678bf94e6630bf89c7d79ad&t=7674
Matt,
That was awesome man. These are the types of posts where your talents really shine! I agree with Jenny you should have included the WAPFers az well.
ha! loved this. i suffered from most of these and now my motto is to eat whatever i feel like eating regardless of any 'rules.' i actually had to make a mind shift last night as i was eating another Trader Joe mini cinnamon roll and thinking "omg, this is way too many carbs since i just ate a boatload at dinner!"
i also think the WAPF could have been included. though their overall message is great, the emphasis on making sure everything that passes your lips is made to be digestible is ridic. and the insistence on cultured/fermented stuff on your plate at every meal and even in between gets out of control. i used to calculate in my head how much i would need to spend a week on store bought, raw, organic, fermented the old world way-only came in an 8oz jar- sauerkraut if i ate a certain amount of it everyday. sickness i tell ya.
Anonymous,
Do you avoid carbs?
Damn you Jenny! You always upstage me with your clearly superior analogy-creating capabilities! I agree that knowledge of Ray Peat as a sign of affliction was the funniest part.
I like the Stoneorexia too. Hilarious.
Tezza-
Good advice. The main thing is that people watch the David Wolfe video. It is incredible.
JT-
Thanks man. You know I had you in mind the whole time I was writing this bad boy. I think the only reason I stopped was a got kinda tired after 7 disorders. Obviously I could taken it much further. In fact I've already been attacked by a GAPSorexic via email! And I didn't even make fun of GAPS!!!
Team Smith,
You are really missing out if you have never had a smoothie of raw milk, fermented cabbage, and cod liver oil. Yum! When I want to make it really healthy I will add a few sticks of raw grassfed butter and a dozen yolks from free range biodynamic eggs.
The WAPFers all seem much nicer and more sane than the others.
Matt,
They may get angry with you, but you are doing them a huge favor. You may even be saving a few lives! Seriously.
Aloha Matt!
Please note all these difficulties with dealing with the reality of food and nourishing the body have been considered health concerns for a long time (it has only recently become popular to talk and blog about them as if they were religions) they are usually diagnosed as Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS). I have been seeing clients with these very real issues for years.
Currently Anorexia and Bulimia are the only other EDs listed in the DSMIV but in 2013 the DSMV will include Binge Eating as its own diagnosis.
While I love your ways of making a point I also hope people will not throw out the baby with the bath water.
Many of the type 2 diabetics I work with do control their disease fully by controlling their carbohydrate intake…and the amounts of carbs and types limited are all very very individual. These people should not be considered anything but brilliant for deciding to use foods vs meds to control their disease.
Now on to those who take foods to the edge of control whether it be carbs or fat or meat or beans or exercise for that matter. It *is* a coping skill they have developed and could perhaps had decided on sex,drugs, alcohol or shopping if they were wired differently.
It is my belief (perhaps because i work so closely with this population who has choosen food for their control) that they need our compassion. Yes it is obnoxious to see the endless blogs and videos telling us they know the way…but believe me when i tell you those who shout the loudest are perhaps in the most pain.
Still loving you Matt and will have to deal with the fallout of this post as I recently gave a number of clients the site to read up on…well it will make for interesting sessions.
Be well and Aloha!
Funny post. However if being a WAPForexic is wrong, I don't wanna be right!
Gina-
Thanks for your input. That's what I hope to delve into in the next post on what constitutes EATING ORDER, and tuning into your own biofeedback and making well-calculated alterations in your diet is not something that should be looked at as disordered eating, although some clearly toe the line.
EDNOS sounds about right.
Great post as so many times before. It’s good to have a road map to food fanatics ;)
BTW the explorer’s name was Vilhj?lmur Stef?nsson (lh not hl)
Very funny. You managed to step on every groups toes. I don't identify with any of those particular groups, but have definitely been influenced by many of them over the years. I guess going to extremes is more fun and exciting than using common sense and moderation. Great post.
Gina,
Regarding type 2 diabetics controlling their symptoms with a low carb diet. It's probably better than having to use medication but It seems similar to the medications in that they are managing symptoms. Have you used a high carb low fat diet on any of them? Mcdougall claims to have completely cured many people of type 2 with this diet. He says that every population without exception, that has go e from a starch based diet to a higher fat diet gets type 2 rapidly. Like what happened to the Pima.
Just curious what your experience with this is?
I take exception to the food allergy comment. You sound like you have no friggin' idea how hard it is to be gluten intolerant, and to also be allergic to dairy and soy, among other things. Gluten sensitivity is autoimmune, not an allergy, and it actually IS possible to develop more allergies in adulthood, especially when your choices are limited and you wind up eating the same things repeatedly because that's what you can eat. I hope you never have to know what it's like to have to eliminate entire food groups just to be able to breathe!!!! Suggesting that people would avoid a bunch of foods they love and call it a mental illness is just really insensitive and uneducated. This started as a funny post, but some facts seem to be missing, and I wish Matt would not allow this negative stereotype of people with food allergy and gluten intolerance to be perpetuated. It's just plain mean.
JT-
Agreed it's probably better to eat high carb and take insulin if you are a type 1, and eat carbs and cure the disease if you are type 2. But the real reason I dropped in to leave another comment was that my evil twin "independent health researcher" brother wrote a post today that was pretty much right on the same wavelength as this one…
http://anthonycolpo.com/?p=932
JT will find that particularly amusing. Paleophiles and Carborexics will not.
Well put Tom!
And I fixed the Stefansson spelling error, a pretty excusable spelling error I might add.
Most people who suffer from severe allergies, autoimmune disease, food allergy, and gluten intolerance do so because of their parents' self-destructive eating and lifestyle patterns, some of which is summarized above, but calorexia and unprocessedfoodophobia are the most common root causes.
"Anonymous said…
I take exception to the food allergy comment. You sound like you have no friggin' idea how hard it is to be gluten intolerant, and to also be allergic to dairy and soy, among other things. Gluten sensitivity is autoimmune, not an allergy, and it actually IS possible to develop more allergies in adulthood, especially when your choices are limited and you wind up eating the same things repeatedly because that's what you can eat. I hope you never have to know what it's like to have to eliminate entire food groups just to be able to breathe!!!! Suggesting that people would avoid a bunch of foods they love and call it a mental illness is just really insensitive and uneducated. This started as a funny post, but some facts seem to be missing, and I wish Matt would not allow this negative stereotype of people with food allergy and gluten intolerance to be perpetuated. It's just plain mean."
Humor people. It's a thing. You might have heard of it. Mostly, I'm making fun of myself with that comment. Really, I have food sensitivities and found it helpful to eliminate certain things. I also found myself going down the road of adding more and more "sensitivites" to my list to try to fix every health issue. Like I said, a person may genuinely have an allergy to something and therefore begin to think that whenever some new health problem pops up it must be allergy or sensitivity. I also know someone I genuinely think is anorexic who covers her disorder by claiming to be allergic to almost everything which gets her out of eating all the time. I've never seen her eat more than a cup of any kind of food, even salad in one sitting and I spend a lot of time with her.
Haha! Awesome post. But I have to disagree with you on the footwear!
Oh yeah, the footwear was one of my favorite parts. It's all down to the fact that I'm jealous because I can't fit my fat, stubby toes into those things and even if I could they make my legs look astonishingly ugly. I was trying to think of what the vibes reminded me of when all of a sudden it occured to me:
http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/Clangers/Clangers%20Pictures/SarahCooperClanger%20Thumb.jpg
Some Brits on this list might get the reference.
Yo Matt, sort of a side-topic here, but something I hope maybe you'll address in your upcoming "Eating Order" post or other…
I remember when way back when your Plower vs Force/revisited posts came out and there was the repeated theme between yours and Dr. Swartzbein's suggestions about eating 'three meals per day, whether you are hungry at meal time or not' and 'food is your friend, so gag it down.'
Are these still your suggestions? Are they you own personal practice? Where and how do these philosophies fit in with getting in touch with intuitive eating and finding out what and how much food the body truly needs/craves, etc?
P.S. Love the post. I think I've been a hypochondrorexic for a good long while now (after phasing through many of the other listed disorders) paralyzed by knowledge and fear of what evil things lurk in all the different foods I might eat. I spent 20 minutes in the cracker aisle the other day trying to find some Saltines that didn't have HFCS or soybean oil – and still struck out because of my unwillingness to bend my strict rules. Seriously need to chillax.
There's a big difference between WAPF simply recommending "traditional" foods and someone stalking a jogger in the park like a "Paleo hunter."
I eat a very restricted diet by most people's standards, yet I don't feel deprived or stressed about food choices at all. On what anonymous said above about crackers with soybean oil, I don't see the problem with avoiding them–this means I'm -rexic? I avoid certain foods because they're unhealthy, and I spend no time wishing I could eat donuts or Reeses. I'm sure there are many others who follow restricted diets and feel the same.
HA HA HA HA HA!
i LOVE the Gojirexia and the video you added with it:
"Ginseng opens Squicky little valves -EEEEEK!"
"There is a little lid on it, but it can get rusty -Ginseng lubercates it so it goes EEEEEEK!"
OMG is this guy for real! Damn he made my day! LOL!
OMG, I grew up on those Snackwell Devil's Food fat free things.
They were so nasty!
I've been every one of the -rexics on this list.
Every time I hit an new one I'd feel great for a little while, usually lost a bunch of weight, got vehement and flame-baity online over it and eventually couldn't keep up with it and became a blame-myself-o-rexic.
One of the symptoms of being any of these on the list is getting defensive and humorless when someone pokes you in your particular -rexic.
John and Orange Sarah and others-
I think you'll find some things coming together in the upcoming post. In fact, when you know something has a negative effect on your body, and you continue to eat it anyway, is not a healthy relationship with food any more than avoiding a food that is perfectly healthy for you because Grok didn't eat it, or durianrider said it would make you fat.
There are also instances in which you might want to pursue a specific strategy with a specific endpoint in mind, such as RRARF, which is not an everyday way of living, but a short-term strategy used as medicine.
Intuitive eating is more of an end destination, but isn't always the best indicator. For example, if someone is sensitive to wheat, they might avoid it. However, there might be a way to overcome that sensitivity as several 180 nerds have experienced. I experienced all kinds of negative symptoms from fruit. Then I overcame them and now I eat fruit all the time. So variables can change dramatically.
Eating in a certain manner for verifiable reasons can very much indeed be a healthy relationship with food and your body. It can also turn on you and turn you into a hardcore orthorexic depending on the nature of that relationship.
Can't wait to line this all out and bring clarity to it all. Like I said, it will be something that hopefully all of us can agreee upon.
Blame-myself-orexic!!! I love it.
And yes, one way to diagnose an eating disorder is taking offense to this blog post. If you did, fire your Groktor immediately and order some fukitol in suppository form.
And yes Sheila, that dude is very much for real. That video was my retaliation for the Snickers diet video you linked to the other day.
Matt,
You stated:
"RRARF, which is not an everyday way of living, but a short-term strategy used as medicine."
I hope your followers don't ignore you when you write this.
"There's a big difference between WAPF simply recommending "traditional" foods and someone stalking a jogger in the park like a "Paleo hunter." "
HAHAHA I died laughing when I read this. I read that post by Mark Sisson and I just thought, Seriously??? I looked through the comments– but not a single person admitted how creepy it sounded. PrimalCult.
Ha Yes Matt exactly…ED is sly cunning and baffling. He hides in all kinds of places. The tip off is the ridged attitude and the righteousness.
It is not always pleasant when a new client arrives…they of course already know everything about nutrition why do they have to sit with a nutritionist every week!!
Because they no little if anything about nourishing themselves.
Looking fwd to your next post!!
I guess one never recognises a -rexia until it wrecks ya ! !
I definitely have phytic-acidorexia at the moment. I can't eat any whole grain that hasn't been sprouted and/or fermented (preferably both!) without feeling like I'm eating poison. I'd love to be cured of this one, Matt!
truly hilarious matt…the whole thing even though i run barefoot and don't drink milk i still laughed at it all
"The disorder is often accompanied by an uncontrollable urge to do video blogs" haaaa those fuckers live on youtube
the video was a bonus as well, i would have never known chocolate lines up planetarily with the sun.
and yay for me i eat deer so i get to chill in the stars :) wonder what level of consciousness eating a jogger would be ?
I have to agree with John though as long as it is not getting in the way of living or mental sanity and it's for a pretty logical reason outside of planetary alignments or because Lord Grok said so then why not have a few little reasons for your friends to laugh at you. I don't think anyone out there eats everything out there.
"and the proud wearing of the most aesthetically-unpleasant footwear ever designed."
Hater! My vibrams are the shit, and your atrophied foot muscles are just jealous!
Srsly, yo. For 30 years I over-pronated so badly I wore the outer edge of shoe heals down to the sole before the inside edge even got dirty. One month in Vibrams totally fixed it, and one day a week now keeps it at bay. They're totally legit.
holy shitzo!!! so funny!!… i was laughing so hard i think my whole apartment complex is wondering whats goin on in my place!!!
Anthony Colpo blew Robb out of the water with his new article…!!!!
troy
oh… yah… i still wear the vibrams, or just go fully barefoot, but i am ditching the vibrams for the New Balance Minimus's soon!!!
troy
Just a side note (i apologize if I missed a post that already mentioned this)I read in bits and pieces today.
Othorexia is NOT a mental disorder listed in the DSMIV and will not be included in the 2013 DSMV (binge eating just now making the cut)BUT we do use the term in treatment settings.
I like Bratmans original questions as well as Davis' on webmd:
The following from Wiki…"Bratman proposes an initial self-test composed of two direct questions:
"Do you care more about the virtue of what you eat than the pleasure you receive from eating it?…
Does your diet socially isolate you?"
Other questions concerning those who may be suffering from orthorexia provided by Davis on the WebMD (2000) website are:
Do they spend more than 3 hours a day thinking about healthy foods?
When they eat the way they're supposed to, do they feel in total control?
Are they planning tomorrow's menu today?
Has the quality of their life decreased as the quality of their diet increased?
Have they become stricter with themselves?
Does their self-esteem get a boost from eating healthy?
Do they look down on others who don't eat this way?
Do they skip foods they once enjoyed in order to eat the "right" foods? Does their diet make it difficult for them to eat anywhere but at home, distancing them from family and friends?
Do they feel guilt or self-loathing when they stray from their diet?
If yes was answered to two or more questions, the person may have a mild case of orthorexia."
Awesome man ! You managed to debunk every major nutritional phase in my life.
This is the kind of article I wouldn't show my relatives and ex-girlfriends LOL.
(fortunately, most would not understand it anyway !)
I am actually in the middle of a deep supplorexia healing. I have already gotten rid of most supplements I owned at home and I will do the same at my student room. I was so ashamed of the contents of my desks that I told my girlfriend that it was forbidden to help me clean my room !
Martin V.
Oh and I think all those disorders (though not always) are part of a much deeper problem: internetorexia. The disease of having to read something about food online. This is how it all starts for most people.
I'm no way near healed. Maybe once I am, you won't hear about me anymore !!
MATT-
Ha ha! You beat me, hands down! GAME IS ON! ;-P
JT-
Your right, RRARF is only a short term solution. As for me, what I do now, I just call it RRARFing. I guess it's not exactly the right term for that. In the beginning, I followed Matt's guidelines like a slave. Now I just really focus on listening to my body. Sometimes I can skip meal, sometimes I stay up too late and so on.. I just live my life, listen to my body and give it what it needs and wants ;-)
Yes, RRARF is more like a recharge, and a stepping stone into intuitive eating.
Pamela P. –
Pretty much everyone but the Paleo and WAPF crowd agrees wholeheartedly that phytic acid is a beneficial nutrient with anticancer, antidiabetic, and antihypercholesterolemic properties just to name a few.
http://www.phytochemicals.info/phytochemicals/phytic-acid.php
The mineral binding phobia surrounding it is taken out of context. Perhaps this is worthy of a post someday to slap the silliness out of people over this totally paltry and insignificant matter that isn't the least bit important in the grand scheme of healthy diet and lifestyle.
There, is that better? It's a start I suppose.
Gina-
That questionnaire is outstanding. "Do they look down on other who don't eat this way?" is just about the most telling question of them all.
Martin-
Internetorexia indeed. Glad to see you stopped by, sort of, lol!
Does this mean I can stop doing all this damned soaking and buying insanely priced sprouted flours??? Hallelujah!
Yes.
Oh, and for the record, I own a pair of Vibrams too. They are pretty cool. It was Half Navajo's fault. I would wear them more often if I wasn't so damn afraid to be mistaken for a Grok Strap. Seriously, I'd be less embarrassed to walk around with a shirt that says "VEGAN" on it.
I just remember reading a few articles on the daily apple for recipes. Whenever there was one involving an apple or a banana, the same guy would be the first comment:
"This is the greatest recipe ever. Too bad it will spike my blood sugar so I can't eat it."
I can't imagine living like that.
I am kinda ion the fence about the food intolerance deal. I have seen many people in real life who have gone on elimination diets, then re-introduced foods slowly. Those that gave them reactions they cut out for about 6 months or so, essentially allowing the gut to heal and any inflammation that food was causing to subside. After 6 months or so these people could eat the foods with no prob.
How did you overcome your deal with fruit? Did you avoid it for a while or was it through another method?
Awesome post Matt.
I just want to mention something about potato skins (since someone brought it up). I was coming home from a business trip this summer and as I was driving in the car flicking through the radio stations, I came across a talk show from Michael Savage who is a political commentator. I normally don't listen to talk shows for very long but he said that he was going to do a show that was completely different from what he normally does. It turns out that he has a doctorate in nutrition or something like that and he used to have an actual practice, like a naturopath, and he has actually written a book(s) on the subject. I found 2 things very interesting. He said that potatoes were very healthy and that the skins were great BUT, unless you are getting organic, they spray the potatoes with a chemical to prevent them from sprouting so in that case it would be best NOT to eat the skins.
Secondly, he told a story about a lady who came to him for help. She was a vegetarian, eating "all the right things" but she felt horrible. She told him that she didn't understand it…her husband eats red meat, drinks wine, etc., etc. and he doesn't have any of her problems. He told her to go home and eat like her husband, LOL! He talked about the problems of vegetarian diets and it was tricky to be healthy on one. I wasn't expecting to hear that type of view on the radio.
As far as the gluten-free stuff, my 7 y.o. son has health problems, food allergies, slightly autistic, etc., etc. He was having stomach and knee pain to the point where he was coming home early from school everyday…I mean EVERY day. We had him tested for all kinds of things. His IGG and IGE levels for gluten were all normal. They even diagnosed him with something called RND as a cause for his joint pain. But his developmental pediatrician asked us to remove gluten from his diet and voila, his stomach pains are about 90% gone (except when we let him have something that he shouldn't) and his joint pains are better. He still goes to physical therapy for his joint pains but he is 1000x better than he was. Not to take a stance on either side of this fence…just sayin'.
@ The Real Will,
Not to feed the gluten paranoia (which I admit that I have), there is talk about how the tests don't tell the full story:
http://drknews.com/what-type-of-gluten-intolerance-do-you-have/
I think around here we like to think we care cure "broken" metabolisms to the point where we can tolerate things we weren't able to tolerate before. I think this is Natasha Campbell-McBride's (GAPS diet) position as well. I've definitely experienced this, but I'm still afraid of gluten because supposedly it can hurt you even if you don't feel symptoms (especially with thyroid stuff).
Oh also wanted to add that Gluten-Free is the fad of the year. Has anyone else noticed that? I was consulting for a major baking mix company recently and it appears to be an exploding market right now.
The shelves are full products with the "gluten-free" health halo on them now.
"Fat-free" water will soon be labeled "gluten-free" water.
i’ve seen gluten-free, fat-free water! Gerolsteiner has that on their bottle.
I'll try to offer some alternate perspectives here-
Obsessive behavior and anxiety are hypothyroid symptoms and not always character defects.
Some people are obsessive about diet because they're unhealthy.
Some are sick because they're wrong and obsessive, not simply because they're obsessive.
Matt: Since you're into intuitive eating right now, I've got 2 book recommendations for ya. "The Don't Go Hungry Diet" this is by an austrailan molecular biologist, I've been wanting to read this one but it's not available in my library system. "Am I Hungry" this is another one I've been unable to borrow. Several years ago, before I found Schawarzbein I stumbled across intuitive eating but was so completely malnourished I wasn't successful at all! Now that I've been adequately fed, I think my body signals are much clearer!
Lisa Sargese said,
"One of the symptoms of being any of these on the list is getting defensive and humorless when someone pokes you in your particular -rexic."
Very good point Lisa! Actually, it's true for any aspect of life.
Matt this post is hilarious ! awesome :) I cant get enough of the D Wolfe video, esp the shake (full of his supplements) that 'will make you feel good indefinitely'
Check out this video that makes a funny crack on veganism, this is funny Im sure some people here will appreciate:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/11/stuff-white-people-like-g_n_807600.html
The MDA piece on dairy has a lot more nuance than that – c'mon. He points out that full fat dairy appears to be protective against diseases like diabetes, says that chronically elevated insulin is the problem rather than managed spikes, and that its place in your diet comes down to how it affects you.
Do you disagree with any of that?
Hilarious! Totally busted for guilty of most of those, at various points in my life.
I think something needs to be added to Jenny's RRARForexic description to include that symptoms often include having a thermometer by one's bedside and raw and painful fingertips from frequent blood glucose testing.
Gazelle, I for one am actually thankful for the gluten-free explosion. My son is on a prescription "drink" that provides him about 75% of his nutrition, partly because he has so many allergies and partly because of food texture issues, etc.
He can now have have chocolate chip cookies and brownies (thanks to Betty Crocker) and bread (thanks to Rudi's). The cookies are "OK" (I personally don't like them much, but heated up a tad, he loves them). The Rudi's bread toasted is actually pretty good. He eats toast several times a day, every day. I know this stuff isn't good for him, but it allows him to be a little bit like the other kids. A lot of the other gluten-free stuff out there is just awful, so if we can give him a little bit of pleasurable eating, it's worth it.
We got pizza the other day from a local pizza shop because he loves pizza. We let him have one slice (with the cheese removed of course because of his dairy allergy) and the next day he was doubled over holding his stomach and had trouble walking because his knees hurt so bad. Time to find a good gluten-free pizza crust for him.
Gotta go run him to physical therapy now…just another typical day.
Wow Matt, just wow, I mean you pretty much missed the biggest "rexia" of the bunch, the one that grips the entire nation– (drumroll) the CALOREXIA. People are so afraid of eating too many calories today that it is kinda like we're advocating anorexia. Symptons of this fear include frantically looking at nutrition labels at the calorie count, writing down everything you eat and making sure you do not exceed your daily amount, and chugging on coke zero as if it were medicine. When it comes to health for these people, all that matters is that you don't eat "too much". Special K anyone?
@TRW,
Poor guy! I'm sorry to hear the pizza hurt him. I've noticed a lot of pizza places advertising gluten-free crusts, so it's definitely out there.
Hope he's feeling better.
G
Caroline that is Anorexia…sufferers usually don't need to look as they have memorized every possible calorie count known to man. And when in doubt will overestimate the number of calories just to be on the "safe" side.
Yes the nation fell into an obsession for sure with counting….something….anything. Its all about control and what better to control than ones weight?
With lean being seen a a virtue and heavy seen as sloth (which is all off base anyway) people are rewarded when they lose weight. No matter how they did it…that to me is the bigger problem!
Something completely, completely different:
I have noticed that I have retained more of my tan throughout this winter that pretty much anyone else. Also, I have never been sick this whole winter which I attribute partially to RRARF, but mostly to drinking cat's claw tea on a regular basis, which really kicks your immune system into gear.
So is there a connection? Would seem likely, as tanning also indicates an adequate vitamin d status. Due to not being sick, my vitamin stores probably haven't been depleted as much, so there would be no reason for my body to un-tan and seek new vitamin d.
Does that make sense? Anyone else ever experienced anything like that?
Greensmu said…
I'll try to offer some alternate perspectives here-
Obsessive behavior and anxiety are hypothyroid symptoms and not always character defects.
Some people are obsessive about diet because they're unhealthy.
Some are sick because they're wrong and obsessive, not simply because they're obsessive.
A great example of this is Emma of Autoimmune Thyroid Disease. She used to be "obsessive" about her health but her obsessive behavior is caused by her unhealthy body and her hypothyroidism.
Most of the people who are labeled "obsessive" about their health are not really "obsessive" in the sense that they keep thinking about it all day long. They just sound that they do because it's the only thing that they talk about on their blog.
LOL! Grok Strap! Enough said.
I've already been using Paleorexia. I think I started last October. :D
I *love* pyrorexia – hilarious!
Woah madMUHHH,
That's really interesting. At first I thought you were going to play into the -rexia jokes.
I have a friend who's very pasty-white and doesn't tan well. She had her vitamin D tested and is borderline low.
I've noticed things myself. I haven't been relying on the chapstick as heavily and I haven't used hand lotion, much less Eucerin, in ages.
MADMUHH-
Does that mean black peole always have adequate vitamin D stores? Because I am certain I have read the exact opposite.
You forgot to mention 180/rexia … folks still resisting the facts :D
Awesome post Matt!!
Sarahk-
Thanks for the heads up. I've got lots of books in that category coming up this year. Intuitive eating has lots of limitations. RRARF kind of does the trick without people realizing they are re-establishing their relationship with food completely.
Erik-
I did not read the MDA post. Just saw the title having to do with dairy and insulin and had to chuckle. Why does he call it Mark's Daily Apple anyway? Doesn't he know that apples are post-Paleolithic era foods (most modern hybrids are 20th century foods) and that apples contribute greatly to the 150grams of carbohydrates that if one exceeds will cause "insidious weight gain?" Someone should notify him of this. Someone should also notify him of the 4 Billion exceptions to the 150grams of carbs causes insidious weight gain proclamation.
Flowerdew-
You can have full credit for it. Sorry I stole it. The term Paleophile is my new favorite though.
Caroline-
Yes, exactly. That's anorexia. If you aren't emaciated, then it's referred to as "mental anorexia."
Another title for the post:
Ah-no-rexia
Ha ha. Leon funny. Betta chexia yoself befo you rexia yoself fool.
And Antonio, thanks for the video. Christian Lander is one of my favorite comedic genuises, without question.
Ok but would you eat this?
http://www.foodrenegade.com/would-you-eat-this/
Or perhaps you have roadkillphobia?
Ok so this probably isn't the post to add this comment to, but I've recently given up sugar. And I haven't really had any difficulty doing so because I've been eating enough for once!
onto the question; has anyone else stopped eating sugar and experienced a heightened craving for salt? I don't use a ton but I'd say I use a little pinch at every meal. I'm eating all whole foods so I'm not getting any elsewhere, so maybe it doesn't have to do with the no sugar thing?
Thanks for any feedback!
The Real Will,
I heard Pizza Fusion has a pretty good gluten free, dairy free pizza… for your little dude. I don't know where you live but they have quite a few locations around the U.S.
troy
Thanks Gazelle…we are watching what he eats more closely and he is doing much better already…thanks for asking!
Troy…oh so close…I live just south of Pittsburgh and there is a Pizza Fusion just north of the city. It would be about a 45 minute drive each way so it would probably be cold by the time I got it home, LOL! :-)
But if we are out and in the north hills, we gots a place to eat. Thanks Troy!
Wheezy-
That's perfectly acceptable to post here. One of the elements behind the subtle design of RRARF is to re-calibrate people's appetite to be less sweet-obsessive. Eating nutritious food and lots of it instead of nutrient-free white powder is certainly not an eating disorder. Not sure about the salt thing. Both salt and sugar exert action on pleasure centers in the brain, so I imagine it's just your brain craving a little stimulation up there. A little extra fat can go a long way in that category as well.
@Sheila: That's something different. When I talked about tanning, I probably should have been more specific and said something like "more tanned that you naturally would be".
What a fun post–and I love the idea that you're going to be looking at 'ordered eating:' sounds like a great approach.
As a logophile of the etymologic stripe, I have to fuss a little about your taxonomies: '-orexia' means 'appetite,' so Carnorexia and Carborexia should really be reversed (or called 'Carnophobia' and 'Carbophobia'). The Paleorexia, Gojirexia, ones, are right on etymologically. Have to say, I love smoothies, love spirulina, maca, etc–and have cheffed for David Wolfe (although not since I've been up in AK, been out of that loop three years now)! Probably good for me to see some sending-up of that whole little cohort. Maybe that's one of my 'rexia's!
I have personally known at least three girls and one guy who got emaciated from 'orthorexia,' from being so obsessed with what, when, how they ate, also to a socially crippling level. Last I checked, the girls have come out of it, the guy's still stuck.
It's not the same as anorexia: however, my quintessentially anorexic brain definitely has some 'orthorexic' tendencies, and I'd agree with the other commenters who pointed out the 'chicken and egg' that some people get obsessive about food because they're messed up and not digesting stuff to begin with. On the other hand, some folks have digestive problems but apparently no willpower or interest in adjusting their diet (some family members of mine come to mind). I cannot relate to this at all, but is it actually the 'normal/healthy' response? Their 'problems' are definitely less acute than mine–could that be because they refuse to obsess about it?
Goodness me, just looked into Dr Amanda's don't go hungry diet, brilliant stuff there get onto that one! For sure.
And quite relevantly, has anyone seen Mark's Daily Apples recent post… OMG… Paleoland is seriously losing it!
"Why Can Some People Eat Anything They Want and Never Gain a Pound?"
Maybe he should ask Dr Amanda!!! Hint hint, many people do this all over the world without being absorbed in diet/exercise cults…
Letting all you John Gabriel fans know that he was on coast to coast last night. It didn't seem mystical at all like some of you think. He said he was stressed out and that caused him to binge eat. He got rid of the stress and his hunger went down so he lost weight.
Wheezy, I definitely cook with more salt than I used to. However, since I'm not eating processed foods, I think my overall sodium intake has dropped. Lately though I've reduced the amount of salt a bit, by using what Matt calls his money spice. It's a mix of salt and hot flavors (like cayenne or paprika) with a savory herb like thyme. I make mine with both hot and sweet paprika and fresh thyme. It goes really well on just about everything.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha. This post, the comments. Hahahaha. Thanks, everybody. So funny.
One of the weirdest internet experiences I've had was on this Christian raw vegan message board. I was politely trying to help these moms who were frustrated because their kid's teeth were rotting. Everyone was just telling them, "it's genetics, diet has nothing to do with it, after all, we are following the perfect diet." I probably recommended Rami Nagel, and raw milk, blah, blah. In response, I was told "eating animals isn't a sin, but God didn't create us to need them." And I just thought, "what? Even the resurrected Jesus ate fish…" My posts were deleted as soon as the moderator returned from vacation or something.
But hey, I've acted just crazily, partly due to mental illness, and partly because I wanted some diet to make my life perfect.
"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." H.L. Mencken
"The mineral binding phobia surrounding [phytic acid] is taken out of context. Perhaps this is worthy of a post someday…"
Yes, it is. Please do write it sometime.
JT in his book and audio tapes he goes a lot more in depth into the various emotional components of his stress and what he believes are common triggers. I think what makes him seem mystical is belief that doing daily meditation focused on certain common stressors can reduce stress and as he says "turn the fat programs off." I like that he has a very common sense approach to this, though. I'm not very New Agey and I tend to get just as annoyed with most of it, even yoga, because it reminds me too much of the Christianity I had shoved down my neck in my youth.
Jenny,
Yeah he talked about that stuff too and I don't have a problem with it if it works. I was thinkin that it would be focused all on the mind and not about diet. But, he eats VERY strict diet and definitely doesn't just eat whatever. I think he is right about stress and emotions and how it can cause certain people to binge on junk.
Ela, I definitely think it's weird that certain health problems are considered "minor" like seasonal allergies or poor digestion because they are imminently life threatening and people are happy enough to just try to paper over the symptoms with drugs and get through life without making any changes. The problem is the more you treat the symptoms with medications, the more the drugs interact with your body in weird and negative ways, the more symptoms you end up with. Eventually you are 60 and you have a suitcase full of medication, vitamins and supplements when you could have just changed your diet and lifestyle.
Yes, JT, he does eat a strict diet, but he got there by not restricting and slowly adding in things that were healthy. Instead of eating less junkfood he forced himself to eat more vegetables, etc. I think that is why Matt gravitated to him and why he speaks to a lot of us. The idea is to get to a place where you are doing what you ultimately want to without having to force yourself to stay there. He also claims that he came to exercise slowly by not forcing it but by finding fun things that he enjoyed doing. This is exactly what Matt talked about in his last post. Gabriel claims that he is able to remain lean because his body wants to be thin. But then this gets tricky because he also describes techniques that he uses to avoid foods that he knows are bad for him, like refined flour and sugar. So he must be very vigilant about eating clean. He claims that he can do this easily and naturally because he has reprogrammed himself mentally.
I'm also interested in a phytic acid post. I've seen lots of evidence that eating grains seem to affect mineral absorption negatively. For instance, the contents of this post seem to indicate that grain consumption affects mineralization of teeth negatively:
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/03/reversing-tooth-decay.html
Third that, Samuel.
Seems like Anthony Colpo is anti phystic acid too, but high carb paleo in approach.
Enjoyed the post Matt. And want to second some of the commenters above suggestion that sometimes the obsessive behavior stems from distress and doesn't simply generate it. Looking forward to the intuitive eating post.
Too too funny Matt! I imagine one day a carborexic will pen a tome entitled "When Veggies Kill" (or make you fat, or something like that).
Signed,
Recovered Carborexic
Hey Matt,
Really enjoying all your posts..have read them over and over.
I have been following your guidelines.Trying to get stress down and keep eating good food.
I have gained about 20 pounds originally but over the break I gained some more.Now I just want to get the weight off!
A lot of health issues have improved but I still do have aches in pains in my back and legs.
I do eat some sugar, should I cut that down?
Help please. I have purchased the entire 180 collection but the more I read the more confused I'm getting.
Jenny and Ela – totally agree with people thinking all those little things are not really bad health. When the in-laws came this last month, they were a mess. Pills for this and that – cholesterol, allergies, asthma, etc. I explained again how I had freed myself of allergies and many other "little" problems with diet (and the only real difference now, despite past 'rexias, is avoiding processed food… in other words, I hardly buy anything at the grocery store!). My MIL always listens but never does anything… and then after eating like them for a week, I got really ill. But they didn't see it that way of course, they saw it as proof that my way of life was silly.
Hubby, despite being a paragon of health, is starting to have a lot of "little" health issues… but still mocks me for not eating SAD – even though he hasn't healed from a severe cold sore outbreak in almost a month now. I can't tell you the last time I had a cold sore.
So yeah, I still have issues – ones that seem "big" to me, but I only notice them now that I'm not distracted by daily headaches, cold sores, allergies, etc. I had poor adrenal health before, but who has time for that when you have about 20 different big pharma pills to pop a day.
And hey, Jenny, it gets cold here :). The temps have been down in the 50's at night. I sleep with 3 heavy blankets. We've been freezing! Of course, I sleep with heavy blankets even when it's hot out. I hate being cold… hence moving here… But I still have more sun than you, that's very true.
I liked Ela's comment!
So an-orexia (bad appetite) is a disease
And orth-orexia (correct appetite) is a syndrome
Then mes-orexia (middle appetite) is a nutritionist's disease resulting in the constantly muttering: balanced diet … balanced diet … balanced diet – until collapsing into gibbering hysteria
Hawaii Girl it was the image of my mother, who is relatively decent health for someone her age, and her gigantic case of pills that she takes every day, that inspired me to try to find a dietary way to fix my allergies. When I tell people this they still act like I made up the fact, or that my allergies weren't that bad. So mostly I just try to keep quiet about it because talking about food is becoming just as much of a minefield as religion and politics.
I'm switching back to my lighter quilt. I woke up for the fourth night in a row last night and had trouble getting back to sleep. Honestly, I think the blanket thing does make sense.
In case just Watching obese people get pummeled is not enough fun for you, you can also follow their "diet". I stopped reading at "low fat cheese" Blashphemy!
http://www.lhj.com/health/weight-loss/getting-started/the-biggest-loser-7-day-diet-plan/
OMG, that diet makes me want to scream, cry and eat some full-fat yogurt all at once. My stomach panged with hunger just reading it.
Have we had Peatorexia yet? Irrational fear of fatty fish and consuming most of one's calories in the form of orange juice are sure signs of it.
@ madMUHHH
Yeah, same here, I'm still darker than my friends from a supposedly tropical place haha… and haven't caught a cold yet, even without the cat claw tea ;)
Recently I'm thinking I have a severe fructose intolerance. That would explain why I could never gain weight while eating a 'normal' diet plus like 1,000 kcal of sugary sweets a day. At the same time I had soft stools all the time and gas frequently. Last week I found this cheap Swiss chocolate and ate like 600g in two days, which gave me the worst gas ever. Now anything containing a bit of fructose or inulin and that kind of shit makes me fart again.
Any way to fix this? I've tried the all-banana diet when Matt posted about it, it helped much to reduce insulin-resistance, but it ended up becoming a fart-fest so I stopped.
LOL, that was awesome.
Chris
This is definitely how the future will look back on all these "-orexic" types:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yCeFmn_e2c
RRARFwillfixyourmetabolismandyoullneverbesickagaineverexia – The belief that RRARF will fix your metabolism and you'll never be sick again, ever.
I contracted this after having my temps stabilize. About a week ago I sent this text to a couple friends:
"Everyone I know has been sick with some sort of "cold" or "sinus infection" in the last couple months. If I get sick is that the person's fault that was sick or mine because of my faulty immunity? Should I blame it on little kids or should I be healthy enough that it doesn't matter? I'm in contact with these people, why didn't I get "sick"? I think it all comes down to a proper functioning body. I used to be like everyone else and get a "cold" or two every year……"
I'm layin in the bed with great temps now, 100.6 this morning and an ego that looks like Nikoley's wife's face after catchin' her eating grains.
Johnny Lawrence: So I assume your meals all consist of 'crow' for now? It's the same with all the 'rexias', we think we become the new special Superman and that kryptonite does not work on us anymore. That is, untill a simple cold puts us in bed for days :(
Hans: Watch your fiber, esp. your raw fruit and veg. Digesting that stuff is not for the faint of intestine. I would suggest making sure to eat some good fats, like coconut oil, grassfed butter, olive oil and get some good broth into yourself. If you are not dairyrexic get some good yogurt too. Your gut needs some help my friend before you can do a Durian Riderathon with fruit. IMO, as a former fart filled raw vegan, I know a thing or two about gas.
It was probably the fiber in the chocolate not the fructose that made you farty, Hans. Chocolate is actually really high in fiber.
Love, love, love this! I've been known to attach myself to most of these belief systems/disorders and THEN push it onto my friends. Yikes! No wonder they avoid me ;)
I'm normally a lurker, but had to comment on this post!
Jamie
Funny article,… but you totally raped the language there. Rexia comes from orexia, which means appetite. In many of those, like in carborexia, carbophobia would have been the right word.
@Hans
I had severe acne from "fructose malabsorption" for years but taking hydrochloric acid allows me to eat 5-6 serving of fruit a day with only a little acne. Some say fructose malabsorption is a problem with the gut itself but I'm not so sure. I think it might just be low HCL. If loose stools are a problem HCL almost always helps.
Hans,
Could be the fat because there is a ton in real chocolate. Also, many people are allergic to chocolate. You will have to isolate the variables to find out what the problem is. Otherwise you will just be speculating with no real answer.
@ grass fed momma
Hans: "Watch your fiber, esp. your raw fruit and veg."
hehe, I don't eat any raw fruit these days and certainly no raw vegetables
"I would suggest making sure to eat some good fats, like coconut oil, grassfed butter, olive oil and get some good broth into yourself."
Doing that every day (ghee and coconut oil). I'm tired of making broth though and don't have the time. Never seemed to do anything for me anyway.
"If you are not dairyrexic get some good yogurt too."
If I eat dairy, I'll be like "wow, it's not that bad after all" at first, then my nose starts getting clogged and my lower abdomen starts getting bloated. Problems breathing follow, sleep becomes wors / impossible, snoring etc. I've tried it so many times…
"as a former fart filled raw vegan, I know a thing or two about gas."
That's hilarious… I've felt like a fart-filled balloon before… Once towards of my banana craze I ate at a friends and had to go to the toilet 4-5 times cause my gut was literally exploding. No fun.
@ greensmu
I've tried HCl because food stayed in my stomach forever without being digested, it seemed to help a bit but then not… now the problem went away, I highly suspect it was of a psychological nature (I was under a lot of pressure at the time). Anyway, the HCl made my stomach bleed while at the same not helping with food intolerance so I stopped taking it.
@ JT
It also happens with fruit, honey or with stuff like inulin, so I'm pretty sure it's the fructose. I've eaten high fat before and it didn't make me fart really.
Han's The Gassy One:
I remembered flax and rye gave me terrible issues with gas too. I guess anything that does not digest well or ferments wildly in your gut will make you ballon like.
Maybe this is the secret of DurianR's biking, he is jet propelled across Australia!
Hans,
I would avoid the things that make you sick. maybe stick to a traditional Asian type of diet. Then when you start feeling good start adding 1 thing at a time until you figure out what works and what doesn't. Also, you should get checked out by a gastroenterologist, because you could have an infection in your gut or something else that could be treated.
JT,
thanks, I'm just scared that if I start restricting again, I will have to restrict more and more because more and more things are giving me problems.
Actually I believe that I've had these problems for at least 10 years, I remember going to lots of doctors and having lots of tests done. I had a colonoscopy and gastroscopy done (the latter several, as I had heliobactor pilori found in the first examination, no more in two or three later ones). The gastroenterologist told me that me expelling stools more than four times a day was normal, that having to wipe my ass for half an hour was normal, that feeling bloated and unconfortable in the abdomen was normal. That was actually when I gave up any hope in conventional medicine.
Hey Hans, my boyfriend has all of your symptoms and was diagnosed with an ulcer. The bleeding while taking HCL is a giveaway. The intestines are long and screwy, so there’s a lot of hiding places. He used to pop NSAIDS like candy (or goji/bacon or whatever your thang is ). He didn’t want to go the conventional doctor route so we’ve been doing cabbage juice and adding more salt. He’s doing better but doesn’t eat healthy no matter how you look at it, doesn’t sleep well, and doesn’t exercise, so whatevs.
Matt,
you are indeed hilarious. Why do people feel the need to go so flipping far out in their beliefs I will never know.
Awesome post, Matt. LOL at the titles.
Amazing.
"the most aesthetically-unpleasant footwear ever designed."
If you mean Mark Sisson's ugly and tacky yellow ballet slippers, I'll agree. But I like the Vibram's KSO Trek. It's less conspicuous, has a better grip, and more comfortable. Mark's dietary pronouncements like the 150g of carbs causing creeping obesity is a joke. I ate that much carbs at every meal (along with an abundance of fat) and rapidly lost 13 pounds. Then I took psychiatric drugs that messed up my metabolism and took a year to get off and 4-5 months to recover from.
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/marks-beach-sprints/
Also, Matt, the term orthorexia is over a decade old. Someone pointed out an article about it in 2003 & there was a book written in 2000 – with the title orthorexia nervosa.
"A destructive relationship with food — seen in growing numbers — is an obsession for eating "correctly" and fearing "bad" foods. Dr. Steven Bratman, medical director for Prima Health, chronicled this disturbing condition in his book, Orthorexia Nervosa: Overcoming the Obsession with Healthful Eating (Broadway Books, 2000). He found people adopt progressively rigid and unhealthy diets that eliminate food groups, until it ultimately costs them their health, personal relationships and emotional well-being. Like traditional eating disorders, it begins with a diet."
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AV-Skeptics/message/33
LMFAO!
I love MS's humor no end.
How about exercise bulemia? Eating a full bag of Lay's, and getting onto an exercise bike for as long as it takes to burn that number of calories. I had an ex whose dad had it, and forced it onto my ex as a child. I couldnt imagine!
Oh no doubt Nikki-
I used to have the worst case of that ever. I didn't screw around either. I would go on a 100-mile bike ride or go out into the wilderness for several days to hike with only ramen noodles or something. Whee!
Time to update and add PUFA-rexia? My spoon is in a jar of peanut butter as I type.
Recovering from ED (ALL of the above you listed) I had to hold on to something…I would not go near PUFAs (well, I still won’t touch all those nasty veg oils, but the poor peanut? come on…) hoping that they would stop my never ending weight gain (I’m still going…) but I just craved peanut butter…sick of ice cream, chocolate, coconut oil makes me gag, and I can’t look at butter. Hell, if I’m still gaining weight, might as well eat the damn peanut butter too.
Sounds like you’ve got Vegoilorexia. I command you to go to Pizza Hut immediately! 22 grams omega 6 in one whole pizza. http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/fast-foods-generic/9325/2
I call that PUFA-phobia, which I have attacks of regularly…
OMG – the David Wolfe video….cheesuz. Wow. I got cistanche in my pants! Hahahaha. How does he get away with this shit? What a charlatan.
What I like to remind Paleo-rexics, is that ALL of human civilization happened under the influence of neolithic foods. I also point out that practically no one considered neolithic foods particularly bothersome up until a few decades ago. Two relatively significant points that seem to be blissfully ignored by the Grok-o-philes. It’s – at best – a symptomatic approach that misses the big picture, which is obviously metabolism…
So funny! I saw that guy in the video above on live TV in Australia yesterday! He was out here promoting a raw food diet and some rave party event that is alcohol, drug and smoke free where they serve raw chocolate drinks all night and have “the best time ever”!! Yes and he still loves goji berries too :)
this article is just too hilarious, had me laughing SO HARD hahahaa
I try.
As a former 10 year+ 80/10/10 follower, I find this website fascinating. Matt, I was introduced to your work literally 2 weeks ago, and I’ve already read 4 or 5 of your books and quite a few of your blog posts. This has been so freeing, you can’t imagine. Like so many other commenters, I can relate to so much of what you write in this post. (I love your humor, BTW.) I decided to move away from the raw food diet last November after years of suffering various deficiencies and developing hypothyroidism. Plus, I was completely and utterly bored with it and I began to dread every meal. First I started with eggs, cheese, and sprouted bread. I had to start slow because eating this stuff was similar to how most people might feel eating a bug for the first time. It took a few tries to really get back to eating this way, however, the very first time I ate an egg, I literally had the overwhelming feeling of being nourished. Something I hadn’t felt in soooo many years. About 4 months ago, I started eating meat again, too. Over the last 10 months, without ever having read your books, I began experiencing exactly the benefits you describe, especially with regard to thyroid and hormones. Over the last week or so I’ve been following your suggestions for refeeding, and I already feel warmer. I’ve gone from low 97’s to high 97’s and as high as mid 98’s. Two days ago I had a big bowl of frozen banana ice cream after dinner, and I’m still feeling the effects of that mistake!
I met David Wolfe about 12 years ago when I attended one of his talks. I got a chance to talk to him afterward and I asked him about how to get rid of severe candida, something I had been battling for years. My health was pretty much in the toilet at that time. On his version of the raw diet, I lost about 30 lbs–weight I didn’t need to lose! I was 85 lbs (I’m 5’3″) and barely able to function as a human being. That’s when I found Doug Graham’s 80/10/10. It actually did wonders for my health (candida was gone in 2 weeks) and I did great for the first year or so (my testimonial is in Doug’s 80/10/10 book and on his website). Then, before long, the honeymoon was definitely over. Amazingly, I still stuck with it for another 9 years, and I’ve definitely paid for it. But today, I’m so done with it, and I’m not looking back.
There’s so much more to my story, but I’ll leave it at that for now. Thanks so much for your work in the area of diet and nutrition, and doing it with humor and light-heartedness. It’s such a breath of fresh air. As I’ve just started this journey, I know I still have a lot to learn. Looking forward to it!