One Blogger's Obsession With Clean Eating Nearly Killed Her

Eating well and taking care of yourself is so important. We all know that, right? What we put into our bodies can have such an impact on how we feel, how we perform, and our overall health. It's so hard to strike a balance between eating well, exercising, and still treating your body with love and respect. Sure, we want to be healthy, but we also want to enjoy life and all it has to offer! It's all about moderation and balance. But going too far in either direction can be detrimental to our health. We focus a lot on overeating and obesity or eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. But there are other extremes to be aware of: exercise addiction and orthorexia. In your quest to live healthily, it's possible to go too far, and do a lot of damage to your body and psyche. Christina Rice, who has a healthy living blog and consultation business called Christina Rice Wellness, shares her story of how her pursuit of health nearly killed her. It's an important cautionary tale for us all.

When Christina was a student at UCLA, working out helped her manage some of the anxiety and stress she experienced as she tried to juggle everything. She had a magic number: 75 minutes of exercise, at least six days a week. She clung to that number everyday, and it wasn't long until it spiraled out of control. Around the same time, Christina jumped on the clean eating train - a food movement based on eating only whole, unprocessed foods. After suffering from some digestive issues, she removed "bad foods" from her diet, like sugar, fats, and carbs. She cut out all sweets, food starches, and most fats, and soon she was dropping weight at a scary pace. She lost 40 pounds in less than three months.

It became clear to Christina that she was struggling with an addiction to exercise and an obsession with healthy eating called orthorexia. But a diagnosis was elusive - the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders doesn't recognize the latter as an actual mental illness. However, Christina realized that it was affecting her life in very negative ways. She stopped socializing with her friends because it cut into her exercise time, and she didn't eat out with them because restaurants didn't meet her very strict dietary guidelines. She met with dietitians and was continuously brushed off. After all, her plan was healthy! But eventually, her weight dropped to a dangerous 73 pounds, and people began to take notice. A nutritionist sat her down and leveled with her: she was on a deadly path, and was in danger of suffering a heart attack at any moment.

With the help of a psychologist, Christina created a plan to address her clean-eating obsession and change her mindset of what it meant to be healthy. She realized, while undergoing treatment, that she had to stop working out and eat foods she was afraid of. She started small at first; she would cook with oil, or skip a workout. Her nutritionist designed a meal plan for her, which included healthy fats and complex carbs. She maintained a daily food diet, writing down her fears with each new food she ate.

It's been a long road, but these days, Christina is doing much better. She discovered she doesn't process gluten very well, and has transitioned to a whole-foods Paleo diet that she developed with the help of her nutritionist. She doesn't feel the need to exercise everyday, and has a much healthier relationship with food and her own body. We're so glad Christina was able to find that balance, and is on the road to recovery and health!