Friday’s episode of 20/20, entitled “Orthorexia: Obsessing Over Health Food,” really painted an ugly picture of the so-called health food nut in general, but even more so of the raw food movement, the primary focus of their story.
According to Wikipedia, the term orthorexia was actually coined by the Steven Bratman, the author interviewed in the first segment.
In Part 1, we meet the scarily skinny Johnny Giovanni Righini. Here the distinction is drawn between this diagnosis of orthorexia — not (yet?) officially recognized in the medical and psychological texts — and anorexia. The latter involves a distorted body image. In this case, Johnny knows how he looks and has a website devoted to his recovery from both.
In Part 2, John Stossel, in his admirably blunt fashion, points out to Victoras Kulvinskas, one of the original raw food advocates and author of Surviving Into The 21st Century, among several others, is only eight years older than himself, but looks much older.
My favorite quote is from the second part, “Nobody gets to pick how they die, they only get to pick how they live.” (-Charlotte Andersen, 29-year-old, mother of three) True, true. Indeed, it’s this very reason that many Calorie Restrictors eat as they do, i.e., not so much for life extension as health extension.
It’s hard to say how 20/20′s story will be received by the general public. As always, a lot depends on who the media chooses as spokespeople to represent a given movement, organization, trend, etc.. Perhaps by picking Johnny, they’ve drawn a clear enough contrast, at least based on appearance, that health-conscious individuals will not all soon be confronted (more than they already are?) by friends and family with this show as “proof” of their “illness.”
So, what do you all think? Do you see yourself in these stories? How do family and friends react to your “obsession”? Does Stossel have a point about Kulvinskas’ aged look? Post your comment and let’s chat.
