By it, I mean "healthy eating". I put this in parantheses because I believe many people out there who think they are healthy are in fact, depriving their body of valuable nutrients. Right now I am making an effort to eat healthier, but if going a little over my calories means getting some more fiber, vitamins, protein, etc. I will do it because I want to be healthy, which does not always correlate with what I see on the scale.
The reason I ask is I have a friend that I am concerned about. I believe she is far too obsessed with healthy eating and controlling her weight. We went out to eat the other weekend at Red Lobster, which has lots of healthy options. She kept going on about the bread they had and trying to guess the calorie counts. She would pick up a piece of bread, sniff it, put it back, repeat, before eventually picking out a small corner and nibbling it (she once ate 1/4 of a pickle). For her entree, she ordered a side salad of shrimp and iceberg lettuce and ate half, all while trying to pawn her shrimp off on me and my other friend. Sadly, this behavior is incredibly typical of her as I have eaten out with her a few times and only ever seen her eat iceberg lettuce salad and restrict her portions of even small, healthy food (not that I consider iceberg lettuce to be healthy). Eating in with her is not much better as she will pick at other's food or smell it and eat the smallest serving possible.
As I am trying to watch what I eat and manage portions, I get upset when people talk about how healthy I am being or what I am eating, but where is the line when you want to help a friend who you believe is eating in a disordered manner? I am not a mental health professional so I can't make a diagnosis, but as this girl's friend I genuinely want her to be ok with food and her obsession with being healthy and managing her weight is slightly scary and honestly drives me crazy. Is this a conversation I can bring up with her? She talks about food all the time and how healthy she is and complains if she gains one pound in a semester (how much I gain if I don't go poo). I want her to be happy and healthy, not starving and convincing herself she is healthy. What should I do???? I want to help, but I don't want to interfere