Orthorexia: how an obsession with eating ‘clean’ could make you ILL

Jessica Alba; Alicia Silverstone; Gwyneth Paltrow; Blake Lively: it seems every A-lister has their own 'clean-living,' website. 

No gluten; no dairy; no meat; no sugar – green juices, raw salads, and strange concoctions… it's all part of the current trend for eating extremely healthily.

However, if you're one of the many people who tries to emulate their favourite stars' diets in a bid to look your best, you might want to reconsider: because clean-eating could well be making you ILL.

Indeed, researchers have now come up with a term for it – orthorexia – incidence of which are apparently rising.

As Professor Charlotte Markey, a psychologist at Rutgers University in the US explains: "People start eliminating foods they consider 'impure' or 'bad' – sweets, sugars, carbohydrates.

"Before they know it, they are eating a highly limited diet.

"They think there is room for improvement and that they can always eat 'healthier. They cut out sugar, then salt, then wheat, then dairy, and so on.

"They become obsessed with what they should not be eating and keep whittling down the foods they will allow – which often impacts them socially since food is such a part of our social experiences."

She adds: "What people don't realise is that many of those foods they are restricting, like carbohydrates, which are an important source of energy, really do serve a function."

Here, take the Bratman Test to see if you too are suffering from the negative effects of the condition:

• Do you spend more than three hours a day thinking about your diet?
• Do you plan your meals several days ahead?
• Is the nutritional value of your meal more important than the pleasure of eating it?
• Has the quality of your life decreased as the quality of your diet has increased?
• Have you become stricter with yourself lately?
• Does your self-esteem get a boost from eating healthily?
• Have you given up foods you used to enjoy in order to eat the 'right' foods
• Does your diet make it difficult for you to eat out, distancing you from family and friends?
• Do you feel guilty when you stray from your diet?
• Do you feel at peace with yourself and in total control when you eat healthily?

Your results:

• Yes to 4 or 5 of the above questions means it is time to relax more about food.
• Yes to all of them means a full-blown obsession with eating healthy food.
• It also important to note that orthorexia nervosa is not seen formal medical condition yet many experts believe that it is a growing concern as society becomes more obsessed with health and diets.