[Nutritional and psychological habits in people who practice exercise]

The distorted body image has become a global problem. The thinness as a standard of beauty for women, and fitness for men, has been linked to an increase in eating behavior disorders. The physical exercise with aesthetic or addictive purposes has increased, as well as the popularity of gyms.

To analyze the orthorexics behavior, to know the influence of gender on psychological behavior and to analyze eating habits in a sample practicing physical activity.

Observational, descriptive and retrospective study in which an ad hoc questionnaire was performed, incorporating Adherence to Mediterranean diet test, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI-2), Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ) and adapted the Spanish version of the Multidimensional Body Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ). Besides, anthropometric assessment was performed in each participant.

264 subjects were included in the study (156 men), 35.9 years (± 11.1 years). With mean BMI of 23.8 kg/m2 (± 3.1 kg/m2) and total body fat percentage 20.8 (± 8.7%). The average score Adherence to the Mediterranean diet was 5.9 (± 2.4). Orthorexic and obsessive behaviors were found, and between genders for some markers studied.

The habits analyzed show a tendency to body worship, closer to a pathological condition rather than to a healthy aspect, causing alterations on perception, that result in dieting and alterations such as eating disorders.