Experts Are Raising Alarms About An Eating “Disorder” Pros Can’t Always Spot

When it comes to what you eat, your nutrition needs likely differ from your partner’s, your neighbor’s and your favorite social media influencer’s. 

So, don’t put too much stock in social media nutrition trends or what diet a friend is raving about, Heise said.

Instead of obsessing over the latest food trend, focus on realistic goals — “so, not focusing on whether or not a food is clean, but focusing on whether or not you have variety in your meals,” Heise said. “Are you getting a variety of different foods? Are you getting a variety of different nutrients? Because that’s where true nutrition comes in.” 

Auguste said it’s important to let go of all-or-nothing thinking when it comes to eating, which includes rules around following one specific diet or a rigid plan to lose weight. “I have so many patients that do that, and then it’s not sustainable to be 100% all of the time,” Auguste added.

Then, when they fall off of the diet, they feel like a failure and give up, she noted. “I feel like that is a downside for somebody with orthorexia, is that you are afraid of letting go of the 100%, and you’re afraid that if you let go, that you fall back into that nothing,” Auguste said.