Should I be giving help about diet and nutrition or getting it?

If you see that as a less-than-serious question asked solely to create a column, you could lodge a strong argument.

After all, what I eat not only has my current weight at about 15 fewer pounds than I carried during my first year at college, but also — and more importantly — at a lower body fat percentage. In fact, I currently carry so little subcutaneous fat that I can crunch my abs and create a six-pack.

And in about two weeks, I turn 58.

But if you are familiar with the work of Steven Bratman, MD, MPH, whose books include The Alternative Medicine Sourcebook and The Alternative Medicine Ratings Guide, you would recognize that opening question isn’t so crazy. In 1996, he coined the term “orthorexia nervosa” for when eating healthy becomes such an obsession that it makes you unhealthy.

According to an article about orthorexia posted on the WebMD website, while the ailment is not officially accepted as a disease yet, many in the medical field have acknowledged it as a burgeoning problem.

Orthorexia creates a fear of losing control, one that is so extreme that the orthorexic will not eat a meal that he or she has not prepared.

Hmm?

I haven’t eaten a restaurant meal in years.

Now you can see why reading about orthorexia made me a bit uneasy. But in my case, other factors determine my habits none of them are based in fear.

For instance, I’m probably a cheapskate and definitely a pragmatist.

A suggested strategy for anyone ordering restaurant or fast food is to alter the order to make it healthier. Requesting high-fat, high-calories items such as dressing salad, butter, or sour cream to be served in separate bowls in order to reduce the amount used is a common example.

Years ago, I would do so at restaurants, but guess what? Most vegetarian entrees are already loaded with fat, albeit “good” fat, but all fats are calorically dense and can easily double or triple the number of calories of the vegetables or the soy-based meat substitute they are designed to enhance.

So I’d skip the entrees, order my meal from the a la carte offerings, and be bothered by the steep bill I’d receive for two servings of steamed broccoli and two baked potatoes. In short, I stopped going out to eat not because I was obsessed, but because I was frugal.

I knew that the $15 I’d just spent could get me 3 pounds of broccoli and 10 pounds of potatoes at a grocery store.

I also share another similarity to an orthorexic: When I visit family members or friends and share a meal, I don’t really. I bring my own.

But that doesn’t stem from some sense of moral superiority; it’s because I don’t want to be a headache for the host — or create an uncomfortable situation for me.

A great example of the latter occurred when I was in college and my girlfriend was invited to a wedding reception in the Coal Regions. I was pleased when she told me the bride had arranged to have a vegetarian meal for me.

When everyone was served, however, I was not. About the same time the dessert options were being offered, a waitress holding a plate over her head cried out, “Hey! Who ordered all the vegetables?”

The hall went silent. I raised my hand meekly and the murmuring began.

To this day, I delicately inform my host that I’ll either come to the gathering well-fed or bring along some snacks.

Another symptom of orthorexia is “refusing to eat a broad range of foods,” which is me to a T. But my refusal stems from scientific study not self-righteousness.

Even mainstream nutritionists estimate that about 70 percent of the selections in a grocery store shouldn’t be consumed if your goal is great health.

Yet I do try to broaden my range of foods.

About once a month, I note on my grocery store list to “check out new stuff.” So I carefully consider the nutritional information on the labels — in the health food section, nonetheless — of frozen pizzas, alternate bread products, energy bars, and cereals, but I rarely, and I mean rarely, buy anything out of the ordinary.

When I do, I’m almost always disappointed. Either taste is lacking or the good taste isn’t “worth” the number of calories.

Maybe I’m wrong, but consuming calories to me is like making a withdrawal at the bank, and I’m not willing to go broke just for the sake of variety.

In short, I’m sure that there are healthy eaters who go to such extremes that their eating is no longer truly healthy. But my extreme eating has allowed me to remain extremely healthy and extremely productive.

If that makes me an orthorexic, so be it.