Word: rutzel
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Kristie Rutzel was in high school when she began adhering precisely to the government food pyramids. As the Virginia native learned more about healthy eating, she stopped ingesting anything processed, then restricted herself to whole foods and eventually to 100% organic. By college, the 5-ft. 4-in. communications major was on a strict raw-foods diet, eating little else besides uncooked broccoli and cauliflower and tipping the scales at just 68 lb. Rutzel, now 27, has a name for her eating disorder: orthorexia, a controversial diagnosis characterized by an obsession with avoiding foods perceived to be unhealthy...
...list of foods to steer clear of (bye-bye, trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup) continues to grow, eating-disorder experts are increasingly confronted with patients like Rutzel who speak of nervously shunning foods with artificial flavors, colors or preservatives and rigidly following a particular diet, such as vegan or raw foods. Women may be more prone to this kind of restrictive consumption than men, keeping running tabs of verboten foods and micromanaging food prep. Many opt to go hungry rather than eat anything less than wholesome. (See how to prevent illness...
...when Rutzel first sought help for anemia and osteopenia, a precursor of osteoporosis triggered by her avoidance of calcium, her doctor in upstate New York, where she attended college, had never heard of orthorexia. "You should be trying to eat healthy," she remembers him telling her. He couldn't quite grasp that he was talking to a health nut who believed there were few truly healthy foods she felt were safe to eat. Her condition was eventually identified as anorexia, a diagnosis that organizations like the Washington-based Eating Disorders Coalition think is a mistake. The group, which represents more...
Kathleen MacDonald, who oversees legislative policy at the Eating Disorders Coalition, agrees with Bulik that people should get the care they need. Which is precisely why she thinks orthorexia should have its own classification. Although Bulik and others often use cognitive behavioral therapy, in which patients like Rutzel are coached to replace obsessive thoughts with healthy ones, MacDonald worries there is not enough known about which treatments work best for orthorexia. "It's hit-or-miss," she says...
After seeking help at three different facilities, Rutzel finally embraced a program of meal plans that challenged her to gradually incorporate foods she had blacklisted. Still slim in a size 2, she is engaged to a man whose oldest daughter is 9. And Rutzel says she is looking forward to sharing her experiences with food with her soon-to-be stepdaughter. "It's O.K. to eat potato chips and Pop-Tarts," says Rutzel, "but only every now and then...
| 1 |