{"id":5070,"date":"2023-06-27T22:55:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T15:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=5070"},"modified":"2023-06-27T22:55:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T15:55:26","slug":"a-test-for-orthorexia-nervosa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=5070","title":{"rendered":"A Test for Orthorexia Nervosa?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201cOrthorexia nervosa is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28251592\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">defined<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> as an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food.\u201d Want to know if you\u2019re orthorexic? <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">The ORTO-15 is the most widely accepted assessment tool used to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/29215937\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">screen<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> for orthorexic tendencies\u2026.\u201d A score of 40 or lower was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/16682853\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">considered<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> the best threshold for an orthorexia diagnosis. There are 15 questions, scored from one to four, so you can end up with a score of 15 to 60, with a score under 40 denoting orthorexia. So, getting ones and twos and even an occasional three on your answers would mean you may have orthorexia, so lower scores are worse.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">You can take the test yourself. I present the questions in my video <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-orthorexia-nervosa-test\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Orthorexia Nervosa Test<\/span><\/b><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> from 0:44 and below. They start out: <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">When <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/16682853\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">eating<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">, do you pay attention to the calories of the food?\u201d Your choices are always, often, sometimes, or never. According to the test, the healthiest answer is \u201coften,\u201d with the orthorexic answers being \u201calways\u201d <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">or<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> \u201cnever.\u201d I can see how always obsessively worrying about calories could hint at a problem, but if you\u2019re eating healthfully enough with a diet centered around whole plant foods, you don\u2019t need to worry about calorie counts or portion control. The healthiest foods, such as fruits and vegetables, don\u2019t even have nutrition labels, but, apparently, if you\u2019re never googling the calories of every apple you eat, you may have a problem.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-93350\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1050\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44-960x525.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44-1024x560.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44-768x420.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44-1536x840.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44-1200x656.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44-720x394.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2023\/04\/0-44-540x295.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Next question: \u201cWhen you go in a food shop do you feel confused?\u201d Supposedly, the healthiest answer is \u201calways.\u201d You should <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">always<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> be confused, and if you\u2019re not at least <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">often<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> confused, you may end up needing to be drugged.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">Question 3:<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\"> \u201cIn the last 3 months, did the thought of food worry you?\u201d Supposedly, the healthiest way to answer is \u201cnever.\u201d You never once worried about what you\u2019re putting into your body. According to the test, it would be healthier if your eating choices were <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">conditioned\u201d worries about your health. Additionally, taste should <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">always\u201d be more important than the quality of your food. According to the test, if you think the quality of food is even <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">sometimes\u201d more important than taste, you may have a mental illness. What if you\u2019re \u201coften\u201d willing to spend more money to have healthier food? <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">Crazy!<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> Are you so delusional that you think \u201cconsuming healthy food might improve your appearance?\u201d My favorite, though, has to be question 14: \u201cDo you think that on the market there is also unhealthy food?\u201d You\u2019ve got to be kidding! Finally, question 15 penalizes people who live alone: \u201cAt present, are you alone when having meals?\u201d<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">If you scored under 40, you are not alone. Using this test, about 50 percent of registered dietitians in the United States are supposedly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/28624376\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">suffering<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> from a mental illness. The prevalence of orthorexia nervosa \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26902744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">presents<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> as being impossibly high.\u201d Anorexia and bulimia are estimated to be no higher than about 2 percent, so it\u2019s a bit \u201ccounterintuitive to believe that a phenomenon of restricting eating that is not well understood\u201d has rates as high as nearly 90 percent.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">It\u2019s no <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">wonder<\/span> <i><span data-contrast=\"none\">The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5)<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\">, the psychiatry profession\u2019s official diagnostic manual, does not <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/29215937\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">include<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> orthorexia as a psychiatric diagnosis. And psychiatrists <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">love<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> turning things into mental illnesses. The latest edition <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25453714\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">turned<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> kindergarten temper tantrums into a disorder, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26220829\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">drinking<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> too much coffee or even <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/25164305\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">having<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> bad PMS can be a mental illness. But they\u2019re still not going to go there with orthorexia. \u201cResearchers,\u201d for example, \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/29215937\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">had<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> a tendency to pick and choose which questions of the ORTO-15 they used and they determined their own cut-off scores for diagnosis,\u201d <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">resulting<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\"> in an \u201calarmingly erratic use of the ORTO-15 tool\u201d that was designed to measure orthorexia. The bottom line is that the ORTO-15 test <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">\u201c<\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">is likely unable to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26902744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">distinguish<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> between healthy eating and pathologically healtful eating\u201d\u2014whatever the latter may be.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">More recently, new criteria have been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26724459\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">introduced<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\">. Given the \u201cimpossibly high prevalence rates,\u201d new emphasis is placed on health problems because of diet, such as \u201cmalnutrition, severe weight loss or other medical complications from restricted diet\u201d that would, by definition, make it an unhealthy diet. Take, for instance, the tragic case in which someone had <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/21998605\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">tried<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> to live off of a few spoonsful of rice and vegetables and ended up bed-ridden. If that is what you want to call orthorexia, fine, but one wonders if that case might of have been clouded by some actual psychiatric diagnosis like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">If you add in those adverse health criteria, then the prevalence of orthorexia <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/26902744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">drops<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"none\"> to less than half of 1 percent, which seems a little more reasonable.<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"none\">Interestingly, those eating vegan diets had the <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"none\">least<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"none\"> pathological scores in the sample. Though this may reflect that they\u2019re just being less serious about healthy eating, reaching for the vegan donut rather than the lentil soup.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cOrthorexia nervosa is defined as an unhealthy obsession with eating healthy food.\u201d Want to know if you\u2019re orthorexic? \u201cThe ORTO-15 is the most widely accepted assessment tool used to screen for orthorexic tendencies\u2026.\u201d A score of 40 or lower was considered the best threshold for an orthorexia diagnosis. There are 15 questions, scored from one &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}