Kids as young as 12 addicted to ‘healthy diets’, warns psychologist
Instagrammers promoting ‘healthy diets’ are behind a rise in kids — as young as 12 — seeking counselling for obsessive food disorders, a psychologist is warning.
Manly
Don't miss out on the headlines from Manly. Followed categories will be added to My News.
CHILDREN as young as 12 on the northern beaches are seeking psychological help because they are addicted to so-called ‘healthy’ diets.
A Balgowlah expert has told the Manly Daily she has seen a rise in people suffering from orthorexia, which is not an official term but a word used within the therapy industry to describe those obsessed with health.
Lesley Russell, a clinical psychologist who specialises in eating disorders, said the unregulated fitspo industry and Instagrammers were to blame for the rise in people with this type of eating disorder. She said it was a particular problem on the peninsula, which was “body obsessive”.
Ms Russell treats those aged 14 and up but on one occasion she referred a 12-year-old whom she believed to be orthorexic to another psychologist.
“More and more people and even children are developing these obsessive views and behaviours around so-called healthy foods,” Ms Russell told the Manly Daily.
“It’s about restrictive eating, where foods are labelled good and bad.
“They almost treat the diets like a religion and they have a moralistic attitude towards different food groups.
“Their idea of what is healthy is often quite warped.”
Ms Russell said young people were being bombarded with diets in the media such as clean-eating, gluten-free and low-carb, which encourages followers to cut out entire food groups.
But it was not just a female issue, she was also seeing young males with body issues.
“I’m quite shocked to see young men, who by cultural standards are quite attractive, with low body esteem,” she said.
The author of Two-Minute Moves and a former orthorexic, Lizzy Williamson, 40, of Bilgola, said she had fought “body demons” for years but that after the birth of her children she tried every “healthy” fad diet going.
“I’ve tried paleo, sugar- free, gluten-free, Atkins,” she said. “With each one I was incredibly obsessed with what was on my plate and would get very upset with myself when I broke the food rules.
“On the Atkins I felt so tired. I spent so much time thinking about diets, putting pressure on myself and feeling disappointed when I could not sustain them.
“At the time I thought I was being healthy. I also think I was an over-reader. I did so much reading about what was the best thing I should be doing for me and my family.
“Instagram was also a problem. I’ve stopped following anyone that makes me feel bad.”
Joe Bonington, who runs a gym called Joe; s Basecamp in Brookvale, started a campaign last year called #mybodymoves calling for fitness instructors to take responsibility when it came to discussing body image and weight loss with clients.
He said he wanted to change people’s attitudes to the perfect body after noticing an increase in people overexercising and undertaking restrictive diets.
“I’ve seen people start with clean-eating but they will take it further by becoming vegetarian, then vegan and, before you know it, they’re allowing themselves practically nothing,” he said.
“The buzz word in health at the moment is ketosis.
“I always appeal to people to just eat real food.”