orthorexia
/ˌɔːrθəˈrɛksiə/
CommonAn obsession with eating only foods considered pure or healthy, to a degree that harms everyday life.
Not formally classified as an eating disorder in the DSM but widely recognized clinically. Online it is used both sincerely by people in recovery and as a term for mocking extreme wellness culture.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | i couldn't eat at my friend's wedding because nothing was clean enough. that was the moment i knew i had orthorexia. | Food rules had become so rigid they prevented participation in a major social event. | tiktok, 2024 |
| 02 | wellness tiktok is just orthorexia with a ring light | The aesthetic health content online mirrors the compulsive food purity patterns of orthorexia. | x, 2024 |
| 03 | took me three years to realize my clean eating was orthorexia. therapists aren't trained for it. | The disorder went unrecognized because it looked like virtue rather than illness. | reddit, 2023 |
| 04 | anxiety spiked every time food wasn't from approved brands. not wellness. orthorexia. | Reframing what the speaker had called wellness as the eating disorder it actually was. | instagram, 2024 |
Use it when
- Describing an unhealthy obsession with eating only pure or approved foods.
- Discussing the darker side of wellness and clean eating culture.
- Someone's food rules are so strict they avoid social situations because of them.
Do not use it when
- Someone just has dietary preferences or medical restrictions.
- You mean anorexia or restriction based on calorie fear.Use “anorexia” instead.
Variations and related forms
Orthorexia vs clean eating
orthorexia
Orthorexia is when food purity rules cause anxiety and social dysfunction.
VS
clean-eating
Clean eating is the general wellness trend of avoiding processed foods, which is not always pathological.
Origin and context
Term coined by physician Steven Bratman in 1997 to describe an unhealthy obsession with eating correctly. Gained online recognition alongside the rise of clean eating content in the 2010s.
- First seen
- 1997
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/orthorexiaUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0