【大学入試対策】英語長文読解最終対策とコツ(2)：「全体」、2つの視点を超えて

Orthorexia

¶1　① Eating disorders―psychological illnesses related to eating habits that negatively affect one's physical or mental health―are increasingly common in developed nations, where ideas about physical attractiveness and nutrition can greatly affect people's body image and diet. ② Sufferers of one such disorder, known as anorexia nervosa, think they are overweight no matter how thin they become, and many even limit their food intake to the point of starvation. ③ Recently, a disorder called orthorexia has become common as well. ④ Sufferers feel they must completely eliminate certain items, such as sugar or dairy products, from their diet, and they focus so much on food that it affects their quality of life. ⑤ A sufferer might, for example, stop eating out with friends. ⑥ Although the initial goal of such restrictions may be to improve health, they can cause social isolation, stress, and extreme changes in weight when taken to extremes.

¶2　Eating disorders are most common among people in body-conscious professions, such as dancers, actors, or fitness instructors. Increasing numbers of children and adolescents, however, are also suffering from orthorexia, as parents, teachers, and the mass media cause food-related anxiety by overemphasizing healthy eating. Some children, for example, worry that eating a cookie or a piece of candy will seriously affect their health, and they become upset when faced with "bad" foods. Dietician Lisa Dorfman says, "I see kids whose parents have hypnotized them. I have five-year-olds that speak like forty-year-olds. They can't eat an Oreo cookie without being concerned about...fats."

¶3　Health professionals differ on whether orthorexia is a distinct illness or is just a sign of an underlying mental illness that is typically seen in people with recognized eating disorders, such as anorexia. According to the latter argument, shifting social trends may be the reason orthorexia takes the form of an overemphasis on healthy food rather than weight loss. Others feel orthorexia should be in a separate category. Whereas anorexics' unhealthy focus on weight loss places them at risk of starvation, orthorexia sufferers are willing to eat as long as the foods fall into certain categories. Although orthorexia is associated with psychological stress and strained relationships, it does not usually put the sufferer's life in danger.

¶4　Some experts note the similarities between orthorexia―in which ideas about food often take on strong moral associations―and spiritual practices. Indeed, diets sometimes linked to orthorexia, such as those of vegans or vegetarians, often have a philosophical element that relates food to spiritual testing and morality. Dr. Steven Bratman, who first used the term "orthorexia," says the inner life of sufferers "becomes dominated by efforts to resist temptation." In an age where religion is seen as less central to everyday life, orthorexia may simply be a new way for people to turn toward ritual and control of their physical desires.

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