Orthorexia: the clean eating obsession that makes you dangerously ill
“I was eating purely, straight from the earth, as nature intended,” says Gianni who is married with two children, Hudson, 3, and Basil, 1, and lives in California.
“I ate kale salad, raw nut berries, goji berries, raw chocolate and dehydrated flax crackers. I drank green smoothies, wheatgrass and hemp milk. I was striving for dietary excellence and trying to be the best I could be. It felt great.”
But after 12 months Gianni was struggling to get out of bed before 11am, suffering debilitating cramps, anxiety and his sex drive plummeted. A blood test with a doctor confirmed he was dangerously low on key hormones.
“I was at rock bottom. I had low cholesterol, vitamin D and B12. My pregnenolone [a hormone relating to energy, memory function, stress and immunity] was in single digits and the same level as you’d find in an 85 year old man.” He was 31 at the time. But the pull to 'eat clean’ was hard to resist.
“I was eating purely, straight from the earth, as nature intended,” says Gianni who is married with two children, Hudson, 3, and Basil, 1, and lives in California.
“I ate kale salad, raw nut berries, goji berries, raw chocolate and dehydrated flax crackers. I drank green smoothies, wheatgrass and hemp milk. I was striving for dietary excellence and trying to be the best I could be. It felt great.”
But after 12 months Gianni was struggling to get out of bed before 11am, suffering debilitating cramps, anxiety and his sex drive plummeted. A blood test with a doctor confirmed he was dangerously low on key hormones.
“I was at rock bottom. I had low cholesterol, vitamin D and B12. My pregnenolone [a hormone relating to energy, memory function, stress and immunity] was in single digits and the same level as you’d find in an 85 year old man.” He was 31 at the time. But the pull to 'eat clean’ was hard to resist.
