Orthorexia nervosa, the "healthy food eating disorder," has become a common word since American doctor Steven Bratman developed an obsession in eating healthy food.
It's been written since the old times that eating proper food is the best way to be healthy. But today, even this practice can be termed as 'unhealthy.'
What went wrong?
Dr. Steven Bratman was inspired by a woman by the name of Kate Finn, a vegan food blogger who passed away after fighting with her own eating disorder. That time Bratman was writing his book, "Health Food Junkies," the CBC reports.
In the year 1997 in New York, Doctor Steven Bratman became overly consumed with eating "proper" food that it even affected his lifestyle and later affected his health. He became obsessed with raw vegetables that he can even dig soils just to get these 'healthy' foods.
However, the doctor becoming aware that his practice was becoming 'unhealthy,' he began investigating and researching about the disorder. It was then he coined the name Orthorexia nervosa, the INQUISITR reports.
"All I could think about was food. But even when I became aware that my scrabbling in the dirt after raw vegetables and wild plants had become an obsession, I found it terribly difficult to free myself. I had been seduced by righteous eating," Dr. Bratman stated.
What is Orthorexia nervosa?
Orthorexia nervosa is far different from normal healthy eating. It is considered disorder once eating healthy food causes harm or distress in one's life, the News Week reports.
Clinically, Orthorexia nervosa is not labeled as an eating disorder. However, researchers have developed questionnaire called the ORTO-15 that draws the line on when one can be classified as having Orthorexia nervosa.
Included in the checklist are questions including:
When eating, do you pay attention to the calories of the food?
When you go in a food shop do you feel confused?
In the last 3 months, did the thought of food worry you?
Are your eating choices conditioned by your worry about your health status?
Is the taste of food more important than the quality when you evaluate food?
For the complete list of questions, you may view it HERE.
Once the orthorexia nervosa questionnaire has been answered, the cut off score that signifies presence of the eating disorder is 40. That means those scoring 40 and below has orthorexia nervosa while those who scored slightly above 40 can still be classified under pathological eating behaviors and/or obsessive-phobic personality traits.
Another questionnaire developed by Bratman known as Bratman Test for orthorexia nervosa is also becoming very useful in assessing one's eating behavior. To try Bratman Test for orthorexia nervosa, please click HERE.
