Orthorexia: when healthy eating turns against you

Orthorexia is an obsession with only eating food the sufferer believes to be healthy. But while the condition can have damaging health implications, experts are divided over a diagnosis

The summer Kaila Prins turned 13, she started breaking out in hives all over her body. Her mother remembered that when she was a baby she had tested allergic to soy, so encouraged Prins to cut that out of her diet, bringing her attention to ingredients for the first time. Prins had never paid much attention to what she ate, enjoying the occasional McDonald’s meal or a few chunks of cookie dough like many other teens. But what began as an allergy-related need to pay attention to food labels slowly turned into an obsession that took a toll on the young girl’s health.

A self-described perfectionist, Prins took label reading seriously. She decided to get healthy while cutting out soy. She began by cutting out excessive fat and added sugar, which soon morphed into eating only whole wheat bread, peanut butter, fruit and salad. By the end of the summer, at 5ft 4in (162.6cm), her weight had dropped to 97lbs (43.9kg).

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from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1YH6hPi
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