Strictly focusing on healthy foods could lead to eating disorder

It's not considered an official diagnosis yet, but eating disorder experts are starting to see more of what is called orthorexia. This is described as someone who is so strict about a healthy diet that he or she ends up malnourished while trying to follow the rules.

"Part of what we see in patients that come to our center for treatment is this kind of global, overall concern about the types and the quality of food that they are eating," said Christine Peat, director of the National Center of Excellence for Eating Disorders.

The patients often say they can only eat whole foods, or organic, and they take that to extremes, "putting a lot of caveats or boundaries around what is acceptable," Peat said.

The rules become so rigid that it negatively effects a person's ability to function in every day situations.

"Hallmarks for us on the professional side tend to be how pervasive this problem is. Is this limiting you from enjoying social interactions when you go out to eat? Is this limiting you to the point where you are having malnutrition, or is this taking up so much real estate in your brain that you can't think about anything else?" Peat said.

Like many eating disorders, orthorexia may be hard to spot at first, and the lines can be blurry between being disciplined and hurting your health.

"What we encourage folks to do is to not have rigidity around food or around weight," Peat said.