Aibu to think that clean eating isn’t that bad?

[arethereanyleftatall]

DD, 17, only eats ‘clean’. She eats like this because she says she feels much better on it, and for her that’s a priority above all else. And, to be fair to her, she’s thriving. Doing well at alevels, volunteering, working, and generally a wonderfully bright and joyous person to be around. This is in stark contrast to the gcse years with school refusal, period pains, excessive sleeping, no homework completed ever.
if it’s relevant, and so as not to drip feed, she ticks every adhd box at the top, but not diagnosed although we’re 4 years in now on the nhs list, and she’s got through the first few stages, and probably autism, but is able to mask so much, that that isn’t noticeable to the outside world.
daily menu for her would be steak, eggs, salmon, about 4 different fruits/veg, honey, all organic, and meat/fish/eggs only cooked in a special non Teflon pan with tallow. Drinks are filtered water only, and a hot drink with ginger, lemon.
I didn’t think this was too bad, expensive yes but I can afford it, but many of her peers are eating junk on the daily, and drinking alcohol, so compared to that, I feel like she’s ok. Yes, I know there’s lots in between that and balance would be key but I can’t force any near adult to eat, and certainly not DD for whom telling her what to do has the exact opposite effect.
anyway. On here last night, i discovered there’s a diagnosis for this - orthorexia, and it scared me. Oh, one last thing, it doesn’t stop her eating out socially, she’ll order steak and chips and I’ll eat her chips.

Would this be the same for someone who was vegetarian, vegan, halal, kosher, gluten free etc?

Orthorexia is taking this to an extreme, for instance refusing to eat out somewhere as they don’t know what’s in the food. I think it just sounds like she takes her health seriously. I eat like this too and do not have an ED.

I think orthorexia is a bit of a leap unless she is like Victoria Beckham and will only eat the exact same meal every day (I do think she has it). Also it’s a worry if she will NEVER touch junk at all, even if you went for a meal out for example or decided to get take out? If she’s a normal weight and healthy and not obsessively exercising or weighing out food then it probably isn’t a big deal but I’d keep an eye on it.

What an oddly nasty post- educating herself is precisely what Op is doing.

You've not had your coffee yet, have you?

Also next time choose an article that isn't heavily biased, since this site constantly shits out vegan propaganda. If you want to see real-life examples of people on the carnivore diet, look anywhere online that isn't news outlets. Every single person I know on the carnivore diet (and that's a lot) is thriving. No scurvy, no bullshit propagated nonsense. When people ignore the real-life case studies and evidence in favour of theory that eating just meat is bad, is practicing religion, not science.

I would find that extremely concerning.

I don’t know what you could realistically do right now in regards to her potentially having or developing an eating disorder.

But undiagnosed/untreated adhd and autism both correlate with eating disorders afaik. So I would definitely push for a diagnosis. Could you go private?

If going private is in any way possible I would absolutely prioritise a diagnosis and therapy!

My diet mostly consists of “clean eating” foods, but I have to admit, it can easily slide from clean eating to eating disorders. I have previously found myself obsessing over foods at times. Working out what to do when out and about without having access to “clean foods”. Worrying because I might have to eat something that’s not considered a “clean food”. But I’m quick to catch these moments and remind myself that those thoughts are disordered eating thoughts and that I NEED to snap myself out of that mentality. Thinking like that will only cause stress on the body and stress can be very bad, especially long term. For me, I don’t want my children copying any disordered eating habits, so I try to demonstrate a healthy balance. It’s something I discuss with my husband too as I need him to nudge me in the right direction if I do become slightly obsessive. If fish and chips on the beach followed by an ice cream once in a while will make you happy then the crap in that food is worth it for the mental wellbeing and happy hormones it provides from the nostalgic memories. It’s a very fine line to be honest with you. If I were you, I would concentrate on a healthy lifestyle more than clean eating because healthy lifestyles can mean an ice cream every now and again and not letting yourself get unnecessarily stressed out. I like to use natural products on my skin and alternative natural remedies when I can, but I absolutely won’t turn down medicines when I need it despite having who-knows-what in it, because that it what my body needs. And something that I remind myself and have said to others (when friends or colleagues have said “oh I know this is bad for me but I haven’t got anything else to eat”) is “any food is better than no food”. Starvation isn’t good for the body and is worse than eating foods with chemicals in.

The Carnivore diet also carries an increased risk of kidney problems and osteoporosis, as do all types of Keto diet. Most medical professionals don’t recommend it.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-nutrition/what-is-the-carnivore-diet

Is it the lack of fibre that's making you so agitated?
Yeah, I'd rather not go anywhere near you lot. You smell so bad that I find it personally offensive.
That said, I fully support your endeavours. As a passionate biologist, I enjoy seeing natural selection at work, it’s truly fascinating when defective individuals remove themselves from the gene pool with no external interference. Keep up the good work!

All those listed halal, vegan, kosher etc can be accommodated by reserving an appropriate airline meal and could purchase food meeting those requirements at an airport.
Op’s dd is fasting all day if she’s travelling as saying no suitable food. I think main issue stems from fact she’s eating a very limited range of food and that it needs refrigeration or cooking in a certain way.

OP has not said what variety of fruit and veg but has referenced that her DD eats mounds and mounds of blueberries. If she's eating eggs, meat, fish, blueberries and just 3-5 other fruit or veg, then no, she's NOT eating healthily. if she's getting a good variety, that's a bit harder to tell and there's a good chance she's MOSTLY okay. But you can't know that from what OP has said so far.

And the obsession and refusal to eat anything that has ever touched plastic, for example, is bordering on obsessive and definitely problematic.

I'm agitated yet you're telling me you can't wait for me to die and that I stink? You're really good at embarrassing yourself, keep up the good work! I can only guess vegan because they're too easy to spot.

I learnt a long time ago there is no point arguing with stupid, so you do you. Enjoy following WHO guidelines like they're a religion and providing unreliable news articles as sources of (mis)information. Oh and your 9 cats. Yikes.

Yeah when you look at the evidence, millions of people thriving on the diet, you realise listening to the advice of obese 'health experts' is not a good idea.

Where are your articles condemning veganism? Since so many people have ACTUALLY died from following that trash lifestyle. Oh wait its accepted and propagated so you're not gonna do that xd

I don’t actually think veganism is that healthy. I think a balanced diet is best.

'That' healthy? It's so unhealthy that it kills adults and children who follow it.

Countless people cured of auto-immune diseases and so many other ailments that they suffered with while eating a 'balanced diet', by switching to carnivore. It doesn't make sense and it doesn't fit nutritional guidelines so people reject it in favour of the guidelines. As I said, ignoring evidence to favour theory is practicing religion. It doesn't make sense to people so they reject it, and that's fine, more cows for me to eat.

Yes, this is clearly disordered eating OP. What your describing is a very restrictive diet with high levels of anxiety around foods

A diet rich in wholefoods, fruit and veg and low in processed foods not a problem. Obsessive clean eating is by nature disordered

What exactly is not 'clean' about a lasagne? What harm is a lasagne going to do to her? Tap water again is completely harmless. How would she come to harm eating an airplane meal or a sandwich once in a while?

Eating some chicken livers and mounds of blueberries does not mean you don't need to eat for the rest of the day and absolutely bs that it's keeping her full for that long. Again why did she find being hungry at 10am so traumatic? There's so many red flags in your posts. The fact that she only ate eggs and steak during winter is clearly very worrying and disordered

Only eating steak and eggs for a month and not eating for entire days because your safe foods aren't available is already an eating disorder.

Your cooking from scratch is normal and nothing to do with orthorexia.

She said she hated the feeling of hunger. 🚩

Fascinating thread. I had never heard the term Orthorexia, but I’ve been wondering what’s going on with a relative of mine for a while. He follows an extremely specific diet and has obsessive control over what he eats. He refuses to eat out anywhere (cafes, restaurants or friends/family) because he can’t control what is in his meal, shouts and carries on if offered anything not scrupulously on his “diet”, claims a medical condition which he doesn’t have (I’ve seen the correspondence from the Consultant!) to justify it all. It’s actually really awful to watch. From the outside, I can see it’s an attempt to gain control when he felt he didn’t have any, but it is ruining his life. He has lost all his friends and his relationship because of it. Any attempt to discuss it is met with real rage or utter dismissal.

I agree.

I agree with you.

This is excellent. Eating clean is probably an idealised diet. And she's a teenager doing it herself.....
Dream scenario. Some ppl say this is part of some alt right pipeline or to be concerned about. It's all total bs, ignore it.

In what way is eating nothing but eggs and meat for weeks excellent?

I’m surprised that so many on here are saying that it sounds like a normal healthy diet. The irrational rules she is following: no food that’s touched plastic, hardly any foods acceptable, will fast and not drink rather than accepting tapwater - these are so far from normal! If she carries on with these rules it will obviously affect what she can do, but she’s managing at the moment. The worry would be if she adopted even more rules.
I don’t know if her current diet is physically healthy - you’d need to go to an expert not a MN thread to check that. I guess another concern would be how she would react if you suggested that her food rules might be harmful. People don’t react well generally when their strongly held beliefs are challenged, especially if those beliefs and rituals are giving them a feeling of safety and control.

Sorry it was quite nasty. I think I misinterpreted this post as minimizing Orthorexia and in hindsight I don’t think it was the meaning of the thread so I’m sorry I wrote that.