when healthy eating becomes an obsession. SPRING fatigue 
Most people try to eat healthy and eat a balanced diet, but the desire to want to enjoy good health is sometimes taken to extremes, so that is becoming an obsession in an increasingly large group of people.
The problem has a name: orthorexia nervosa, an obsession with eating healthily. According to experts at the National Center for Eating Disorders in the United Kingdom (NCFED), this condition is putting at risk the lives of a growing number of young people. What is orthorexia?
Orthorexia is still a little known disorder, but experts believe it affects one in 10 women and one in 20 men.
Although orthorexia sufferers hope to be healthy, disease, says NCFED, there is nothing healthy.
These habits carried to the extreme can be put at risk of malnutrition in young people and lead to more serious illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia.
orthorexia sufferers usually try to avoid certain food groups in the mistaken belief that your body is intolerant to these products.
also combined its strict diet with excessive exercise routines, leaving them even more weakened.
According NCFED be aware that these young people all food groups are essential for good health.
For example, removing dairy from the diet can lead to a deficiency of calcium, needed for healthy bones, muscles and nervous system.
Remove the meat deprives the body of an important source of protein and iron. Iron deficiency leads to anemia, which causes lack of energy, trouble breathing and low concentration.
"Relative of anorexia" The NCFED reports that in the UK each year receives about 6,000 inquiries from people suffering orthorexia.
center experts believe that the most vulnerable to this disorder are young people who are misled by fad diets "visiting, which is recommended by magazines and websites.
"Orthorexia is a disorder that is not known by many people," the BBC said Dr. Deanne Jade, a psychologist and specialist in food trastronos of NCFED.
"Not only is a desire to want to eat healthily. It's something that increasingly dominate the lives of those who suffer," he adds.
"With this disease the person imposes many rules about food, for example, eliminating carbohydrates, meat and fat. "
The expert adds that those who suffer orthorexia is also very anxious when you eat outside your home or avoid going out in case you can not follow his strict regime.
"We know it is a serious condition if it starts to affect your social life," says Dr. Jade.
"orthorexia I call the 'cousin' of anorexia. "
People showing signs of orthorexia is likely to develop other illnesses and left with serious health problems for the future, added the expert.
Search ayudaTal explains Dr. Robert Hicks, an expert in general medicine and men's health, "living with an eating disorder, whatever it is, is a miserable and very lonely experience for those who suffer."
For most people food is one of the pleasures of life and is usually an important social event.
But for whom food is a source of anxiety, a very important part of life becomes extremely stressful.
"When we know or love someone develops an eating disorder, we are often very confused about what to do," says Dr. Hicks told the BBC.
Unfortunately, he added, many health professionals are also confused because I still know very little about the causes of eating disorders such as orthorexia.
And what is even worse, no quick or simple treatments.
"There are certain things, however, are clear," says the doctor.
"People who suffer an eating disorder is not bad, nor is challenging to others, or is going through an 'adolescent phase'."
"These diseases are not the result of bad parenting or the parents' fault."
"And there is a disease which one can get away with a snap of the fingers," he adds.
What to do? According to Dr. Hicks, "the first thing to do is accept that these diseases can not be from night to morning."
"The treatment of these disorders takes years of hard work.'s Family who suffers it can play an important role in helping the person overcome the problem."
This is also necessary to provide assistance to the patient's family.
"So it is very important to consult your doctor or contact one of the organizations responsible for eating disorders, "the expert.
Meanwhile, it is important to help the affected person to recognize they have a problem.
As experts say, the road to recovery from an eating disorder is very long.
"After five years, half of patients with an eating disorder fail to recover," says Robert Hicks.
"While many are still concerned with their food and their body weight for many years, "
