When healthy habits go haywire: monster zits, bloody shinsplints, freakish muscles, and the attack of bigorexia!

Men's Fitness, Nov, 2003 by Jacob Ditkoff

FIXING THE PROBLEM While many people have legitimate allergies or dietary restrictions based on personal or religious beliefs, an overly limited diet that neglects one or more nutrients can lead to malnutrition. (Symptoms include fatigue, weakness, lethargy, increased frequency and duration of colds, and more-frequent injuries.) If you think your diet may be lacking in nutrients, or if you want to maintain a restrictive diet without negative health consequences, keep a food diary and see a nutritionist.

SEX

STARTS AS a way to share intimacy, pleasure, and mutual attention with a consenting partner, or to make babies.

BECOMES a full-blown addiction that can involve neglecting relationships, masturbating for hours, picking up prostitutes, and, in extreme cases, result in sexually transmitted diseases, rape, or child molestation. Although the exact definition of sexual addiction is sometimes disputed, experts say it affects 3% to 5% of people; the addiction often grows more severe if not treated.

CASE STUDY Sex-addiction expert Patrick Carnes, Ph.D., writes about a seemingly normal appliance repairman with a solid reputation, a wife, and three daughters. When left alone, he would go through customers' underwear drawers. This progressed to voyeurism, exhibitionism, and visiting hookers. At one point, he was forced to borrow $2,700 to cover his prostitution debts.

MF EXPERT WEIGHS IN Addiction is not the same as just having a lot of sex, says psychiatrist Margaret Jarvis, M.D., of the National Council on Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity. "This is not, by any means, having one affair. This is not doing something that's a little kinky with a willing partner. This is really something that starts intruding on other parts of your life," she explains. "Guys can talk about having affairs and one-night stands ... but for the person who really has this problem, there's a place in their heart of hearts where they begin to feel, 'I'm really out of control.'"

FIXING THE PROBLEM If you need to hide your sexual behavior, fail to stop a particular behavior, have a hard time getting to work or getting your work done, or frequently feel depressed after sex, go to NCSAC.org and take the Sexual Addiction Screening Test. If you are a sex addict, seek out groups that use the 12-step approach of Alcoholics Anonymous as the path to recovery.

QUIZ: ARE YOU A HEALTHOHOLIC?

Not every addiction involves drinking and drugs. Find out if you're taking the good things in your life a step too far.

WHEN GROOMING, DO YOU:

[A] SHOWER, SHAVE, COMB YOUR HAIR? MAYBE EVEN MOISTURIZE?

[B] SPEND MORE TIME GETTING GROOMED, HOPING TO LOOK EXACTLY RIGHT?

[C] KEEP PICKING AT EVERY LITTLE FLAW IN YOUR APPEARANCE AND POSSIBLY CONSIDER PLASTIC SURGERY TO ACHIEVE PERFECTION?

WHEN YOU WORK OUT, DO YOU:

[A] SPEND AN HOUR IN THE GYM THREE TO SIX TIMES A WEEK, AND IF SOMETHING HURTS, YOU LAY OFF OR SEE A DOCTOR?

[B] FEEL GUILTY IF YOU DON'T WORK OUT EVERY SINGLE DAY? DO YOU PUSH YOURSELF TOO FAR, DESPITE PAIN?

[C] START COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHER GUYS IN THE GYM, SPENDING ALL YOUR FREE TIME WORKING OUT AND CONSIDERING STEROIDS?