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Excessive fixation on healthy eating can hurt, says Ivan Alimenko, a clinical psychologist and specialist in rational nutrition, weight loss and eating disorders correction in an interview with Sputnik.
Today the intention to eat healthy is very popular, especially thanks to social media. However, the expert warned that the advice of social media consultants they should be treated with caution, Because bloggers are often not really nutritionists.
“It has become very fashionable to take nutrition courses. This is an incomprehensible profession in general. People without basic medical training, without knowledge or experience, are starting to give advice on healthy diets,” he explained.
He detailed that these alleged experts usually recommend the consumption of superfoods. This term is not recognized by science you can designate basically anything: Chia seeds, spirulina, goji berries and other berries, lactose-free and gluten-free foods, and vegetable milk.
These foods, which supposedly have an incredible amount of nutrients, as a result of aggressive advertising cost more than traditional foods, Alimenko noted.
In addition, the specialist stressed that no need to expect miraculous results after consuming them.
“There are very few benefits of these foods. Unless you have specific allergic reactions or strange problems with the metabolism of trace elements and vitamins, these are simply value-added products,” he said.
At the same time the specialist raised another problem of the availability of information of all kinds: the orthorexia. It is the eating disorder that happens when a person chooses to eat only food that he considers healthy.
“In search of something perfect we can overpay for medium-quality products or for products the taste or composition of proteins, fats and carbohydrates does not differ from ordinary food,” warned Alimenko.
Eating disorders have become as common as healthy eating experts, he stressed. The expert sees the cause in the limitations a person sets for himself and is not allowed to eat what he likes. Accordingly, you don’t get a sense of satisfaction when eating, While consuming unappreciated and supposedly very healthy foods in large quantities.
“For example, a person dreams of a cake, but eats nuts that also contain a lot of calories. He gains kilos and does not feel pleasure, and is pursued by the feeling: ‘. Being afraid of tasty foods with additives and flavor enhancers impoverishes our diet, creating the risk of dietary depression and restrictive eating behavior, “the specialist stressed.
People with orthorexia find it very difficult to socialize, they get anxious for someone to eat differently, they are very neurotic at any table, which creates problems for their adaptation, he pointed out.