Sociological Links of Healthy Eating Obsession
Emine Aşık Canbaz, Cihad ÖzsözBy taking the freedom of thinking and knowing of those who have completely surrendered to the symbols imposed by consumer culture, the perfect bodies that they idealize, and the super-foods that they classify, individuals have been left vulnerable. This study aims to reveal in which way healthy life practices affect individuals who develop a healthy obsession with nutrition (orthorectic) and the social consequences of the perception that these individuals possess based on the fact that a strong society should consist of both mentally and physically healthy individuals. These individuals who transform healthy living into obsessions under the titles of healthy eating and sports are constructing new identities through their bodies with the concerns of being admired, accepted, and approved in society under the guidance of consumption culture. At the same time, individuals who move away from the soil and food production processes become alienated from their bodies and the food that transforms their bodies and get sociological diseases.
Sağlıklı Beslenme Takıntısının Sosyolojik Bağlantıları
Emine Aşık Canbaz, Cihad ÖzsözTüketim kültürünün dayattığı semboller, idealize ettiği kusursuz bedenler ve sınıflaştırdığı süper besinlerin karşısında tam bir teslimiyeti söz konusu olan bireyler, düşünme ve bilme özgürlüğü elinden alınarak savunmasız bırakılmaktadır. Güçlü bir toplumun hem zihinsel hem de fiziksel olarak sağlıklı bireylerden oluşması gerektiği gerçeğine dayanan bu çalışmada da sağlıklı beslenme takıntısı olan (ortorektik) bireylerin geliştirdikleri sağlıklı yaşam pratiklerinin hangi kanallardan ne şekilde etkilendiğini ve bu bireylerin sahip olduğu algının toplumsal sonuçlarını ortaya çıkarmak amaçlanmıştır. Sağlıklı yaşamı, sağlıklı beslenme ve spor yapma başlıkları altında takıntıya dönüştüren bu bireyler, tüketim kültürü rehberliğinde, toplum içinde beğenilme, kabul edilme ve onaylanma kaygılarıyla, kendilerine bedenleri üzerinden yeni kimlikler inşa etmektedir. Aynı zamanda topraktan ve gıda üretim süreçlerinden uzaklaşan bireyler kendi bedenlerine ve bedenlerine dönüşen gıdalara yabancılaşmakta, adeta sosyolojik bir hastalığa yakalanmaktadır.
Individuals have been made vulnerable by taking the freedom of thinking and knowing from those who have completely given in to the symbols imposed by consumer culture, the perfect bodies that they idealize, and the super foods they classify. Healthy living has transformed into obsessions under headings such as healthy eating and sports, and people who have an obsession with healthy nutrition (orthorectic) form new identities with their bodies by worrying about being admired, accepted, and approved in society under the guidance of consumption culture. At the same time, individuals who are removed from the soil and food production processes become alienated from both their bodies and nutrition and come down with sociological disease. Because a strong society should be composed of both mentally and physically healthy individuals, revealing which channels and ways affect the healthy living practices orthorectic individuals develop and the sociological consequences of this perception is important.
Through symbols, consumption is attributed to key functions of the identity and status individuals want to have, and individuals try to be different by consuming common symbols with reconstructed social identities. The individual identities formed by social and environmental factors develop according to one’s communication level and gain continuity through social networks. Individuals who take their subjectively created social identity on a global journey leave their own footprints on social media pages. Individuals construct the places they see on the social media and exhibit behaviors that are compatible with the ideal identity they have created in their showcase.
These social identities allow individuals’ social categories and the behavior patterns related to social status to become visible. In cultural areas, people express their distinctiveness through the accessories they use, the cars they drive, the holiday destinations they visit, their preferred food or drinks, and their leisure activities. The most easily acceptable practices from the upper classes outweigh those of the lower classes. Therefore, individuals struggle to gain or maintain their position. Bourdieu (2015) stated that individuals use economic, cultural, social, and symbolic capitals for this aim. Foucault (1992), stressed that individuals with the capital of body, culture, intelligence, and class use the act of consuming to invest in these capitals. Because it is an investment area, the body has become the focus of biopolitical discourses and has started to be shaped according to economic goals.
The internalized bodily norms that reach consumers through messages on mass media decrease the bodily perceptions of individuals who feel pressured to achieve a body image; this directs them to consumption areas such as cosmetics, aesthetics, fitness, and diet. People’s ideal bodily perceptions, long and healthy life goals, and ambition to stay young trigger nutrient selectiveness, emotional changes, vestigial experiences, and obsessive impulses, which in turn lead to eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and orthorexia nervosa (ON). A healthy diet and the relationship an individual has with food become orthorexia when these begin to disrupt various important dimensions/dynamics in human life. ON can also be described as an unhealthy addiction to health food.
In food’s journey from the field to the table, the consumer has gradually become removed from the production stages and ultimately alienated from the food that transforms into one’s own body. Marx explains this alienation of humans by being removed from the soil and the separation of soil from nature by pollution with the concept of metabolic rift (Soner, 2015). Media and social media channels are also known to be effective at disrupting orthorectic individuals’ nutritional behavior. Increased sensitivity leads to the emergence of ON, and constantly advertising dietary, organic, or natural products and black listing other products reinforces the spread of this obsession. Individuals with nutritional obsessions will prefer being physically hungry and socially alone as a result of hearing gossip about food.
In postmodern society, individuals who strive more and more constantly develop the phenomenon of a healthy life as an obsession beyond their lifestyle and consume their material-spiritual existence for this cause. In this context, the participants have been asked questions about nutrition and sports habits within the scope of this study, and inferences have been made based on their answers. After the data collection process had been performed using the in-depth interview technique on individuals who exercise, the obtained data have been subjected to content analysis, coded, and interpreted through the themes and sub-themes that formed.
The participants stated that they eat healthy and exercise to have a healthy life. The participants’ dissatisfaction with their physical appearance was detected as the source of these practices. The participants stated that they could change their eating habits to change their physical appearance, and for this purpose, they followed the nutritional habits of media stars or popular people. When questioned about the importance of changing their appearance, the participants gave answers such as psychologically relaxing, influencing people, and changing external thoughts about themselves. Some of the participants stated that their participation in social environments could change as a result of others criticizing their appearance. They also stated that a proper physique could be used as a status tool and ideal image. The participants have been concluded to be able to build new identities for their bodies over the goals of earning an ideal image and status by being favored, accepted, and approved in the community. Individuals try to be different from others with their reconstructed social identities by consuming common symbols, but each individual is instead standardized and loses originality. However, this standardization arises from fitness centers, not fast-food restaurants. The participants who don’t consume fast-foods anymore have enhanced food sensitivity. As such, they stated being able to spend time, money, and effort on light, natural, and organic foods. Some of them even grow their food at home. Additionally, the participants with anxiety about food safety refuse to eat outside, which has resulted in social isolation and complicated social relations.
In conclusion, developing integrated policies is suggested in order for parents and infants to avoid orthorexia and to have the ideal physique they desire. Also, fitness centers should take responsibility for properly and consciously directing people about healthy life practices.