Impure thoughts

Bulimia and anorexia are all too often fashionista disorders, one of the fast growing family of lifestyle diseases. The usual counter-mantra to their endless cycle of paranoid binging and starving has been simple: ‘Eat Healthy'. Now even that has come under the scanner in the west and the new juju word is ‘orthorexia' or a condition in which eating healthy becomes an unhealthy obsession.

Sufferers refuse to ingest ‘impure' foods and end up becoming as stick-thin as those affected by the other two better-known disorders, as very few edible items meet their stringent standards. Orthorexia is not necessarily related to anorexia, but the victims in both cases display a marked similarity of silhouette.

The distinction is subtle, as anorexics are bothered about how they look while orthorexics are bothered about what they eat. Though the actual percentage of ‘orthorexics' is unknown, the rising anxiety among the chatterati about pesticides and genetically modified foods, points to a rather large group of potential victims. And their numbers are swelling because of the rising tide of opinion in favour of organic and seasonal foods. It is not surprising, therefore for the organic food movement to regard this burgeoning segment as probable converts.

The orthorexics' tendency, however, to distrust labelling and methods of production — and their consequent deliberate reduction of intake — makes them also all-tosusceptible to that paradoxical and peculiarly First World phenomenon: voluntary malnutrition. The west is indeed a study in contrasts, with large sections of the population obsessively overeating, while others severely curb their intake on purpose. Backed by empirical evidence there should be cause enough to invent a new type of condition or disorder to encompass this kind of widespread behaviour that seems to traverse continents and cultures!