If your relationship with food and exercise has stopped feeling like a choice and started feeling like an obsession, you may be experiencing Orthorexia Athletica.
The world's only specialist clinic for Orthorexia Athletica
✓ Treatment available in English
✓ The only clinic of its kind in the world
✓ Guaranteed appointment within 10 days
1994 Ylab founded
20+ Years of clinical experience
EED 12 Proprietary treatment method
Orthorexia Athletica is a concept coined by Yvonne Lin and Anatoli Grigorenko, founders of Ylab Wellcare – Sweden’s only specialist clinic for orthorexia since 2001. Their book ”Orthorexia: fixation on food and training” (available in Swedish), was published by the Swedish National Sports Federation’s publishing house, SISU, in 2013.
UNDERSTANDING THE CONDITION
What is Orthorexia Athletica?
Steven Bratman, 1990s
Orthorexia Nervosa
Unhealthy fixation on healthy eating in order to avoid illness. Does not include exercise.
Coined by Ylab
Orthorexia Athletica
Unhealthy fixation on healthy foods combined with compulsive physical activity and exercise. Term coined by Ylab to distinguish the condition from orthorexia nervosa.
Orthorexia Athletica is an unhealthy fixation on healthy foods combined with compulsive physical activity and exercise. The initial pursuit of a well-shaped and high-performing body has evolved into a fear of becoming fat and unfit.
Unlike classic eating disorders, orthorexics do not look sick – they look fit. This makes the condition difficult to identify, often leading to misdiagnosis.
What dominates – anxiety when eating wrong or missing a workout, even if ill or injured, can vary from person to person. Exercise is just as significant factor in debilitation as diet, not just a compensatory behaviour.
WARNING SIGNALS
Recognizing Orthorexia Athletica
Orthorexia takes different forms, but certain patterns recur. Do any of these feel familiar?
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Health has become a demand — rules around food and exercise feel necessary, not optional
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Strong anxiety when routines are disrupted — guilt or shame if a meal or workout deviates from the plan
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Social situations are avoided — dinners, travel and spontaneity have become difficult or impossible
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The body never looks fit enough — performance decreases and mood worsens despite a "healthy" lifestyle
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Rules take up more space than enjoyment — eating spontaneously or skipping a session feels unthinkable
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There is always something better — a stricter diet, a harder session, a better protocol
"Orthorexia Athletica differs from classic eating disorders. Treatment for anorexia does not work for orthorexia — because the underlying mechanisms are different."
ABOUT YLAB'S TREATMENT
Orthorexia treatment at Ylab
Ylab is the only clinic in Sweden that specialises in orthorexia and orthorexia athletica, with over 20 years of experience in diagnosing and treating the condition.
Ylab’s treatment method, EED 12 (Eat & Exercise Disorder 12-step programme), is a multidisciplinary and integrated approach grounded in the principles of holism and science, with a strong integration of theory and practice. It is Ylab’s position that Orthorexia Athletica can have both psychological and physiological origins — and both must be addressed.
All treatment at Ylab is available in English.
ABOUT YLAB
Ylab Wellcare
Ylab was founded in 1994 by Yvonne Lin and Anatoli Grigorenko – both academics and martial artists, whose backgrounds shaped Ylab’s guiding principle: holism and science. Today, Ylab is a full-service health & training centre offering individualised health and training coaching, rehabilitation services, elite sports training, and eating disorder treatments. There is a lab in-house for carrying out functional (e.g. VO2max), metabolic (RMR) and Body composition tests (Bod Pod) using highly reliable instruments by Cosmed.
The founders of Ylab – Yvonne Lin and Anatoli Grigorenko – are the authors of the only published book on orthorexia in the Swedish language, commissioned by SISU, the Swedish Sports Confederation’s publishing house.
Yvonne Lin, MSc
CEO AT YLAB, PSYCHOTHERAPIST
Trained psychotherapist with a Medicine Master and a Master of Psychology with specialisation in psychophysiology. Two-time world champion in martial arts and the person who introduced aerobics to Sweden. Author of nine books on health and exercise. Known media and opinion profile in Swedish radio and TV. CEO of Ylab.
Anatoli Grigorenko, PhD
HEAD OF R&D AT YLAB, SPORTS SCIENTIST
Sports and health researcher with an academic background in health and physical education from Moscow. Doctorate in biomechanics and motor control (1995), followed by several years as a researcher at the Karolinska Institute’s laboratory for biomechanics and motor control. Elite background in judo, still active as a judo coach. Head of research and development at Ylab.
Ylab’s full team consists of physicians, physiotherapists, psychotherapists, kinesiologists, health scientists, sports physiologists and biomechanists. All staff have an extensive academic background and a background in elite sport.
Information for international patients
LANGUAGE
All treatment at Ylab – including the initial Wellness Analysis and the EED 12 programme – is fully available in English.
FIRST VISIT
The Wellness Analysis – tests, analysis and feedback – takes approximately four hours and can be completed in a single visit to Stockholm. You are not obligated to commit to a full programme afterwards.
EED 12
The standardised treatment method has been developed after rigorous internal research, and consists of education, exercise-, and food regulation, behaviour training and individual counselling.
LOCATION
Ylab is located at Artillerigatan 59 in Stockholm (Sweden) in the Östermalm neighbourhood. A second clinic is located in Norrköping.
”Received a fantastic message from our daughter just now, she is no longer sick, perfect values and wise thoughts! You at Ylab are absolutely fantastic. Neither our daughter nor we could have made it through this without you!
Lisette and Gert, parents(translated from Swedish)
READY TO TAKE THE FIRST STEP?
Book a Wellness Analysis - or just get in touch
Are you unsure whether you or your loved one is at risk for orthorexia? A Wellness Analysis is the starting point – an investigation where we map your situation, daily routine and provide a clear picture of what it actually looks like.
Don’t hesitate to contact us for personal advice.