Based on this quiz, I would definitely be considered orthorexic. I would guess that most people who follow strict or somewhat strict paleo or primal would also be considered orthorexic, if they answered the quiz honestly. Is the quiz fair? I would say probably, yes. Does the way we eat make some elements of our lives more difficult, make social interaction more difficult, etc? In some to many cases, likely yes.

To me though, the issue is what is the alternative? Unfortunately, society/technology/"progress" has put us in a position where possibly the only way to be healthy is to be orthorexic. Just going with the flow doesn't work so well when the entire food system is damaged. I think this article address this point well:

http://napavalleyregister.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/columnists/stock-report/so-basically-everything-in-moderation-right/article_4ba28698-6ccb-11e1-95d0-001871e3ce6c.html

I would be considered orthorexic. I don't care. I consider myself a foodie first before anything else diet related, one that has been trying to lose weight and cares about my health. I love food and I won't eat things that taste just ok. That means that while "dieting" to lose weight, I make sure to eat food that is nutrient dense, that tastes really good, and that makes me feel full...I don't do well going hungry. All of that takes major planning and preparation, as well as some research. I also can make a lot of stuff at home that tastes waaay better than restaurants and is cheaper and healthier for me.

I have spent a lot of time looking things up. I think most people have no idea how much they eat or what's in it or any idea of the relationship of what they eat and how it effects them. You just have to watch an episode of Biggest Loser when people say they didn't know a caesar salad with fried chicken isn't healthy.

I'm sure some people could take this to the extreme, just like anything else in life. I also think they probably know deep inside if they have a major problem? Most of us are fine here and better off for our efforts, but I hope those that need it get some therapy.

I believe this is valid, as I am married to a man, that I believe has this disorder. It started out at "healthy" eating, I respected that decision and fully supported that. after almost 5 years of this, he has lost too much weight, is obsessed about what he eats and when he eats it and is almost completely anti social. When he started this, he had a home ran business, which was very successful, through the years the recesson and price of fuel, has forced him to work outside the home. He suffered with panic attacks at the thought of leaving the comfort of our home,and how and when he could eat his meals. We missed many activities due to his dietary restrictions.

People who eat vegetarian or vegan or even paleo do not fit into this... unless they become so obsessed that it affects their livelihood, which it has certainly done in my husbands case. Don't dismiss this as real just because you don't agree with it. it is real, I guarantee that it isn't the obsessed that are the most affected, but they do need to be taken seriously and helped. denial doesn't make it less real.

This about the classes of people who would qualify as someone with a problem based on this quiz:

• Anyone on a diet to lose or gain weight
• Any vegetarian/vegan
• Anyone managing food intolerances/allergies/reactions
• Anyone who takes an active role in the food they eat

Basically, in order to not have a problem, you have to be indulgent and ignorant.

Based on the questionnaire, I guess I have a "touch" of orthorexia, although I find these quizzes completely devoid of context. Of the questions I answered "yes" to, they came with much more complex explanations. Example:

Do you sacrifice experiences you once enjoyed to eat the food you believe is right?

Uh...yeah, but the sacrificed experience is getting mildly drunk on beer most evenings after work. Sure, I enjoyed it and giving it up was (I guess) a sacrifice, but it was unhealthy and caused more problems than it was worth. Ditto for the sugar binge that immediately followed beer and preceded sleep.

I will say, however, that my wife has raised the question in recent months about how much I sometimes obsess over the link between food and autoimmunity, although I don't think it's a case of orthorexia but rather some other psychological issue I have as a person with chronic pain (like-being-able-to-walkorexia?). When I'm eating well and feeling well, life is amazing. When inflammation and pain rears its ugly head, I tend to get hyper-focused on what I must have done "wrong" to cause the flare ("must have been that one sweet potato fry I ate off my daughter's plate last Wednesday..."). I need to be reminded that autoimmunity is a complex beast and that flares can be caused by any number of things, and can also be random events.

I think those of us that have successfully improved a serious and debilitating autoimmune condition with diet can be given a little slack for thinking a lot about the food we put in our bodies. If the links are real (and I believe they are), our sacrifices (beer, pizza, social acceptance) are not only for body composition and self-image (important), but can also mean the difference between vitality and disability.

Do you feel great, show an increase in body composition can bend over and touch your toes or jump more then 2 inches off the ground?

-10 points.

I wouldn't worry too much about being labeled. In today's society if you aren't doing something that appears to be abnormal, you're not normal. Because this is a lifestyle that isn't filled with quick easy convenience foods, you have to plan ahead days in advance for your meals. Do you look at food as something else as pleasurable, well a lot of books out in the world discuss that people are obsessed with unhealthy foods. So like i said, if you aren't doing something that appears to be abnormal, you're not normal. :) Now back to planning this weeks meals err fuel :)

Firstly, this is just a ten question online quiz, it is unlikely to stand up to in depth critisism. Also orthorexia is just a descriptive term not an illness. Probably best not to take it too seriously.

Orthorexia is meant to describe people for whom an obsession with healhty eating has negativly affected other aspects of their lives.

However,

Do you spend more than three hours a day thinking about healthy food?

Nope, although I do love my food and find it endlessly facinating :)

Do you plan tomorrow's food today?

Rarely that organised. I think some have misinterpreted this question, planning ahead is normal and this question needs to be in context with the other questions. For example: Planning ahead to be organised, saving money and use your food efficiently is good. Stressing over the minute details of tomorrow's food out of fear of slipping up and eating something unvirtuous is bad.

Do you care more about the virtue of what you eat than the pleasure you receive from eating it?

No. Both play a role but I'm not eating food I don't like just because it is virtuous.

Have you found that as the quality of your diet has increased, the quality of your life has correspondingly diminished?

Nope.

Do you keep getting stricter with yourself?

No.

Do you sacrifice experiences you once enjoyed to eat the food you believe is right?

No. Also I think this is asking about experiances other than eating food.

Do you feel an increased sense of self-esteem when you are eating healthy food? Do you look down on others who don't?

My self-esteem is not based on food.

Do you feel guilt or self-loathing when you stray from your diet?

I can't imagine feeling guilt or self-loathing over food. Food is awesome.

Does your diet socially isolate you?

No. Social isolation is probably wrose for your health than drinking coke.

When you are eating the way you are supposed to, do you feel a peaceful sense of total control?

No. Food does not have much effect whatever I eat.

My presumption is that orthorexia occurs where trying to eat healthy has serious negative repercussions on other aspects of your life. Spending hours and hours looking up nutritional information every day would certainly qualify. Or severely curtailing social life (ie become a shut in to only eat foods prepped the 1 way that you can feel they are acceptable).

I think this is probably a relatively common occurrence in any of the extreme (as defined by not including large food groups, ie grains, meat, fruit, fat) dietary circles.

The stress induced by trying to conform to "healthy eating" at a 100% level (or social isolation) probably does more damage than being more moderate with habits.

As an example of orthorexia: http://paleohacks.com/questions/33697/what-carbohydrates-to-eat-if-eliminating-fructose

Essentially a "not a single gram of fructose" fascination.

I scored a negative two.

I tend to roll up to whatever drive-thru is nearby and order a #1. No need to look at the menu.

huh. what a dumb quiz . I scored somewhere between 3.5-4.5.

Food could be considered a political issue these days. As more corporations rule the supermarket supply, there are so many ingredients that are simply harmful being put in a majority of food for the sake of profits. To me that's a little like a mugging. I don't have a problem with defending myself from people who want to harm me for my cash.

orthorexic here. i think the fact that this survey and similar people making the case of orthorexia for those following a paleo or even generally healthy-eating lifestyle is that it's so damn hard to eat in western society without thinking about what you're putting in your mouth. i have to plan my meals because how can i eat out regularly when there is gluten and industrial oils permeating everything on the menu. reading what i've read over the last year has convinced me that the SAD is nothing short of slow poison. believing that kind of makes one hypersensitive about what they intake...

EDIT: it's particularly harder in urban settings from what i've experienced and heard anecdotally.

This seems like a test to bring about irresponsibility. As a mom of four, I had to plan a menu...at least a week in advance. Every hour one of the kids would ask what there was to eat. I had to make decisions about food constantly. It is a relief now to only have two people in the house.Salads and meat... I cook ahead so I can grab when rushed. Prepackage the salads and prepackage the meat in pyrex glass storage. Easy as (pie) So I can think LESS about food.

Publicly consuming large amounts of fatty beef and heavy cream means I very rarely get accused of 'healthy eating'.

I actually do believe in the orthorexia (as a subset of anorexia) theory and have known several people who suffered with it, but in those cases they were starving their bodies because they had developed such a pathological fear of unhealthy foods/too much food - it was a facet of textbook anorexia nervosa. It deserves it's own definition though, IMO.

Eating a specific diet has nothing to do with orthorexia. It's an eating disorder involving starvation and severe health problems. Now, you can develop certain unhealthy/ED tendencies while eating a specific/strict diet, but that does not mean you are 'orthorexic'.

I took the quiz:

1. I've never counted the hours I think about food. Not that many I don't think...
2. I meal-plan often, like my mother and grandmother before me. We're poor, it's an important part of keeping to a budget.
3. Yes - I've never had much emotional attachment to food and don't get overly excited about the taste of things.
4. Eating well has improved every facet of my life.
5. No, I've gotten more lax. I'm more of an 80/20 'paleo' eater these days.
6. Yeah, I guess? A lot things taste good but I don't feel well physically after eating them...so I don't.
7. Yes, I am extremely proud of myself for finally stepping up and taking excellent care of my body and my health. Used to neglect myself terribly and eat crap non-stop, and I paid for it with many health issues. I feel bad for people who neglect their health and eat badly, because I know what it's like to not be able to muster the motivation to care for yourself.
8. Not at all. Sometimes I feel stomach pain though. ;)
9. Kind of. I'm pretty flexible though.
10. I guess I do feel a sense of peace when I know I am eating right and am going to feel good. Not that I have a panic attack when I eat pizza, but I get a sense of impending doom since I know I'm going to pay for it later.

According to this scale I am 'orthorexic'. I eat 3000+ calories, mostly of whole foods, every day. Utter bullshit. How is it 'disordered' to put thought and effort into what you eat each day? Not thinking about food and nutrition at all is why so many people eat poorly and pay the long-term consequences!

If living Paleo means that SAD MDs classify me as "sick", then I don't want to be well (especially not their definition of "well").

Paleo has actually helped me to have a much healthier relationship with food - I'm more in touch with my appetite, I know when I'm hungry and am less likely to overeat, I'm enjoying new foods and new ways of cooking, I actually look forward to being hungry so that I can enjoy my food, I don't have to worry that I'll get that "sick" hunger particular to SAD.

Edit: I think that there are some fundamentally different ways of understanding food between SAD eaters and Paleo peeps which could explain this: for example the latter understand the damage that even a small amount of gluten can cause (and keep on causing weeks after the fact) whereas the former just see 300 extra calories of cake, and mistake commonsense self-preservation for some kind of psychiatric disorder. Quite frankly I wouldn't at all mind an indulgence like drinking 300 extra calories of heavy cream (in fact I'd rather enjoy it), but gluten? No thanks.

heh. Apparently I have a "problem".

I'm not buying it.

No one has confronted me, but my family thinks I'm nuts. They also KNOW I am healthier than I was when I was obese, so what can they really have to say?

I answered yes too many questions:

Do you plan tomorrow's food today?

Do you sacrifice experiences you once enjoyed to eat the food you believe is right?

Do you feel an increased sense of self-esteem when you are eating healthy food? Do you look down on others who don't?

Do you feel guilt or self-loathing when you stray from your diet?

When you are eating the way you are supposed to, do you feel a peaceful sense of total control?

I have reasons for all of them, of course. I am coming from an eating disordered background, though, so this does not shock me.

I will take orthorexia over binge eating any day.