The invisible disorder

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When does a healthy diet become unhealthy? When it flips over into orthorexia, the new obsession with ‘clean eating’ that has the experts concerned.

How can you tell if someone’s vegan? Don’t worry – they’ll tell you! If you don’t get this joke, try replacing the word ‘vegan’ with ‘paleo’, ‘organic only’ or ‘sugar free’ and see if it describes anyone you know. Still not ringing true? Log into Facebook, Pinterest or Instagram and count how many green smoothie pictures – most likely accompanied by that smug hashtag #fitspiration – appear. As the aforementioned joke says so succinctly, it’s not only fashionable to follow a restricted diet, it’s de rigueur to talk about it constantly, to spout tips gleaned from healthy-eating blogs and to post endless images of unadulterated, unappetising-looking meals on social media. But while a slavish devotion to healthy eating might appear harmless – laudable, even – what’s going on behind the scenes for devotees of this highly competitive social trend may be far less salubrious.

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