ABC News: Orthorexia: Obsessing Over Health Food.

This is the reason that I get a little testy when people start speaking in absolutes about diet.  You know: carbs are always bad, sugar is evil, non-organic is poison, blah… blah…

The American diet is, on average, pretty awful from a health standpoint.  However, when diet and a quest for good food transitions from a general concern about, and responsibility for, one’s health to an obsessive quest for bodily purity and “perfect eating”, I get a little skeeved out.

To clarify my position – I primarily seek out good foods, fruits, and vegetables mostly because I like to eat, and good food tastes better than processed crap.  As a secondary benefit, good food is generally healthier and I can control what I’m consuming if I’m making it myself.  But when you’re killing yourself at 30 from malnutrition in order to avoid cancer at 70, there’s something very wrong.

Diet is a balance, and “everything in moderation” is a mantra by which most people can live good, healthy lives that don’t involve worrying and obsessing about every last bite they eat.  So, eat that fruit, but don’t overgorge on calories.  Eat those potatoes and parsnips, but not too many.  Have that pork chop, but eat your vegetables and leafy greens too.  Cook those carrots – sure some nutrients leach into the water and some are lost, but cooking makes plant nutrients generally easier to absorb by our omnivore digestive systems.

And stop worrying.