More Chinese are developing eating disorders. (Photo : Getty Images)
Every single ingredient is examined by a person who has orthorexia nervosa, which in some cases caused weight gain and diabetes.
People with orthorexia nervosa, a new eating disorder, only eat fruit because they are scared that the ingredients of certain food will make them sick. This is true for Liu, a human resource assistant in Beijing.
Liu is a follower of Australian blogger Leanne Ratcliffe, also known as "Freelee the Banana Girl." She is a self-proclaimed "diet guru" who has more than 720,000 subscribers on YouTube.
The self-proclaimed guru is famous for promoting an alternative lifestyle by encouraging people to eat only fruit or vegetables. Many Chinese like Liu are following the same fad which is started by Ratcliffe.
The fad has caused many Chinese to be sick of orthorexia nervosa, according to Zhou Yunzhen, a nutritionist from Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
Zhou said that being too strict with food intake and completely ruling out certain foods can be damaging to a person. People who spend too much time studying food will put at risk their physical and mental health.
"It is a modern disease and a rather dangerous one," said Zhou, adding that there are still many outlookers who view people who follow such practices "as healthy people who take good care of themselves."
"People usually are not aware that it is a psychological problem," she added.
Liu was always conscious of eating healthy but when she started following Ratclliffe's diet, she went to the extreme. She used to eat all sorts of fruits but eventually stopped eating watermelons, grapes and oranges.
"Take watermelon for example. I used to eat it because it can easily make me full, but I read an article one day, which said the sugar content in watermelon is astonishingly high," she said.
Zhou said that people suffering from orthorexia also suffer from anxiety and depression like bulimic and anorexic people.
"As a result, they would stop eating that type of food and renew their diet plan. After returning to the diet, they would feel happy," said Zhou. "But the root of their discomfort is not the food they consume, so when the discomfort attacks again, they would blame another food and rule it out as well."
