With the rise of fad diets like keto and raw foods, there has also been an increase in the misconception that eating disorders like anorexia nervosa are also an extreme dietary choice. There are a few similarities between eating disorders like orthorexia nervosa, which centers around eating only certain food types, and dietary choices, but there are major differences as well.

Among the most prominent differences is that an eating disorder is a compulsion, a pattern of disordered behavior – while a dietary choice is just that (a choice) an eating disorder is difficult to simply stop. It will require treatment.

The Connection Between Dietary Choices and Eating Disorders

The similarities between a fad diet or even a very stringent one and an eating disorder can muddle the issue for some non-professionals. Most diets require eating only certain food and restricting the amount of calories the person takes in. This can be a cultural concept rather than a weight loss one; some religions require avoiding certain foods like pork, for example, and certain diets may favor some foods over others.

Weight loss is a choice for most people – each year, about 45 million Americans choose to engage in an ordered diet, avoiding certain foods until they reach a  weight goal, and then stop dieting when they have hit that target.

However, this isn’t the case for everybody.

For the 20 million women and 10 million men who experience an eating disorder in the United States each year, there is no choice – a distorted view of their weight and a hardening of habitual disordered eating trap them into a dangerous behavioral health issue.

A dietary choice can be a slippery slope. Although dietary choices do not require care from professional programs as eating disorders do, they can lead to those disorders.

In a situation like that, it might be time to seek out help. Eating disorder treatment programs offer therapy uniquely suited to the needs of people whose eating habits have become disordered.

These residential or day treatment programs are staff themselves with professionals who provide essential care; while many of the therapy programs can help clients make healthier decisions when it comes to how and when they eat, they go far beyond a simple conversation about a diet that’s gotten out of hand.

What to Do When a Diet Becomes a Problem

First – talk to your doctor, on your behalf or you loved one’s. They might not be specialists in the field of an eating disorder, but they can point you in the right direction to find someone who is, and they can make a preliminary diagnosis.

Then you should decide whether day treatment on residential treatment is the correct choice for you. Residential programs allow the client to live at the facility and spend 24 hours a day working on correcting flawed thoughts and behaviors. They’re ideal for more advanced or more severe cases.

Day treatment programs don’t require people to live at the facility, instead arranging frequent sessions with therapists and other healthcare professionals to address the condition. Day treatment programs normally offer the same types of therapeutic programs as residential, just on a less intensive scale.

Day treatment facilities will normally offer counseling sessions with psychologists, medical doctors, and nutritionists for meal planning, for example. They can help people making risky dietary choices understand where the trigger points lie and how to incorporate “healthy foods” into a balanced diet. They can help clients avoid certain choices, such as fad diets and prolonged fasting, which can be slippery slopes for people who are predisposed towards developing an eating disorder.

For more information about the differences between a lifestyle choice and an eating disorder, contact your day treatment center.

This content was provided by a guest contributor.