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I am looking for a good adjective to describe a person who prefers natural medicine, who takes natural health products like nutritional supplements, herbal products, organic food whenever possible and stays away from synthetic chemicals or pharmaceutical drugs as much as possible.

Thanks!

teylyn
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Marcus F.
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  • It just reminds me one episode in South Park ... but I can't remember how they call such a person. – Stan May 30 '13 at 07:38
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    Organictarian is gaining traction but has not yet appeared in dictionaries. It would satisfy the "organic food" portion of your question. – Chris Schiffhauer May 30 '13 at 09:48
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    @Stan You mean "... what they call such a person"? – Kris May 30 '13 at 11:39
  • @Kris: Ah, yes :) thanks for pointing out my mistake. – Stan May 30 '13 at 12:05
  • I think a lot depends on the way in which they go about it. if they look at their diet and conclude they may have a nutritional deficit and take a supplement to target that, its a different kettle of fish from a situation where someone assumes all supplements are good for them and tales them because Sea kelp sounds cool, rather than because they are short on calcium and iodine, or whatever. One I'd call prudent, the other I'd regard as a bit too much into 'woo'. – Spagirl Aug 09 '17 at 14:30

2 Answers2

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A health nut springs immediately to mind. One definition reads: "a person who eats health foods and does exercises to become healthy." But it is an idiomatic expression and one which non-native speakers may be unfamiliar with.

Health-conscious is perhaps more suitable for your needs. But the type of person you are describing sounds to me pretty obsessed. Related but not exactly pertinent, a recently discovered eating disorder called, Orthorexia nervosa, means someone who will not ingest any food considered unhealthy.

Mari-Lou A
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    What the OP emphasizes is preferring natural stuffs. Health-conscious doesn't imply that. For example, some people would rather buy "natural vitamin C pills" than "synthetic vitamin C pills", although, no scientific proof indicates the natural one is better than the synthetic one. – Stan May 30 '13 at 09:06
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    "Nutritional supplements" as OP stated do not necessarily suggest 100% organic or 100% natural aids. I am not a scientist nor a nutritionist but if one were to ask for "natural vitamin C pills" I would recommend eating oranges. :) – Mari-Lou A May 30 '13 at 09:12
  • The orange idea is definitely right :) And ... I am not a native speaker, but still, I think OP talks about some kind of superstition. – Stan May 30 '13 at 09:16
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    @Stan Not sure if superstition is correct here. Perhaps zealous is what you were thinking about? – Mari-Lou A May 30 '13 at 09:22
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    The extent of zealous may be not enough to express such an attitude, "(strongly) refusing to believe modern science and just thinking of that the natural is always the best, is the choice of God". I just said kind of superstition. Such people can be found many in China, and science writers often use the corresponding Chinese word of superstition to describe that. Maybe GMO is still controversial in science, but even some mature tech is unreasonably suspected by such people (e.g., they would prefer pure natural milk which is never processed). That's why I think it's above zealous :) – Stan May 30 '13 at 09:44
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    @Stan Note that the OP says the person *prefers natural medicine; takes natural ... products ... whenever possible; [avoids] synthetic ... drugs as much as possible. The person does not avoid them completely. This is little more than a health-style choice. Note that ODO defines superstition* as excessively credulous belief in and reverence for the supernatural. I think even "kind of superstition" would be far too strong a description in (at least British) English. – TrevorD May 30 '13 at 10:28
  • @TrevorD thx for detailed explanations. Indeed there're some differences in the extent and the meaning of the relative words superstition between Chinese and English. I haven't noticed that before. – Stan May 30 '13 at 11:05
  • Health nut is a derogatory term, it implies that the person is "nuts" or crazy in the extent to which they prefer healthy food. Also in my mind (and as you also say) it would tend to imply someone who exercises etc a lot in addition to preferring healthy food, which isn't in the OP's question. – Caesar May 30 '13 at 13:14
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My friends and I call our one friend "crunchy".....as in crunchy granola. If I were describing her to someone I would probably use that word and if someone looked at me funny I would say, you know, organic

Arica
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