Thomas Grainger’s obsession with clean eating developed into an eating disorder.

“I went out to a birthday at a pub and we went for dinner. There was no health options, so I had a burger,” she told news.com.au

“I was telling my friend the next day how the scenario stressed me out. She said that’s ‘not normal, you should eat a pub meal and not be freaked out.’ That really opened my eyes.”

Ms Colwell realised her healthily habit had become an obsession, which has been dubbed orthorexia nervosa.

“I really thought I could engineer my health. All I had to do was do enough research and I would find the perfect human diet,” she said.

“But the more research I did, the more contradictions I found. So instead of picking a direction, I just cut out everything that was in question.”

American doctor Steven Bratman coined the term ‘orthorexia nervosa’ in 1997, after he developed an obsession with eating healthy food. The term uses the Greek word “orthos,” which means “straight,” “right,” or “correct,” and is a modification of the disorder anorexia nervosa. The US National Eating Disorders Association calls it a “fixation on righteous eating.”

Dr Bratman developed a short questionnaire, the Bratman Test, to help diagnose the condition. Some questions include: “Do you spend more than three hours a day thinking about your diet? 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? Does your diet make it difficult for you to eat out, distancing you from family and friends?”

Answering ‘yes’ to 4 or 5 questions means it is “time to relax more about food”. Answering yes to all of the questions “means a full-blown obsession with eating healthy food.”

Thomas Grainger, right, during the worst stage of his eating disorder. Picture: Supplied.Source:Supplied

At 14, Thomas Grainger developed symptoms of an eating disorder, which began after he was bullied as an overweight child. One year later, he was diagnosed with anorexia and admitted to Westmead Hospital.

He recovered, but at 19 he relapsed in to a daily “exhausting ritual” of controlled, clean eating which lasted for two years.

“I would have to measure my food, make sure it was fresh and clean and comparable with what the latest health trends were saying was ‘healthy’,” he said.

“I would have to eat the same foods on the current ‘safe list’, which always appeared to be shrinking. I was constantly on edge, always anxious about not being able to exercise control over what I ate. A simple lunch appointment with friends became a huge cause for concern and I began avoiding people and events if I didn’t feel comfortable. I struggled to get to sleep at night and felt trapped.

“[One time] I was sitting in a restaurant in Hong Kong and suddenly burst into tears as the waiter placed a bowl of noodles in front of me. I just couldn’t allow myself to eat them. I knew it was stupid, but I just had so much resistance to letting go of my control.

“I now was an underweight orthorexic who not only feared gaining weight but also a large number of delicious foods which everyone around me was happily eating as part of a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Thomas Grainger, left, with his family, who noticed symptoms of his disorder when he was 14-years-old. Picture: Supplied.Source:Supplied

Mr Grainger, now 22, has written a book titled You are not your eating disorder, where he writes aboutAustralia’s obsession with body image.

“There is a righteous movement taking place in Australia about the proper way to eat ‘clean’ and healthy and no one agrees about what this is: paleo, vegan, raw, macrobiotic? There never will be an answer, because who we are is not what we eat.”

The Butterfly Foundation CEO Christine Morgan says eating disorders affect almost 1 million Australians.

Ms Morgan believes the language we use when talking about food — referring to foods as ‘good’ and ‘bad’, or ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ — entwines our food choices with morality.

“It’s got a very moralistic tone to it — ‘Clean is good’. We’ve been taught that anything clean is good for us. Anything which is disciplined or restrictive is the new black,” she said.

“If you say, ‘I am restricting my eating’ then you get a big tick. They might think ‘I’m being morally diligent’ … well no, you’re actually starving yourself.”

A healthier Thomas now, who is currently on exchange in Germany. Picture: Supplied.Source:Supplied

Dr Rebecca Reynolds from the University of New South Wales’ School of Public Health and Community Medicine is a registered nutritionist currently conducting a study on the prevalence of orthorexia nervosa in Australians.

ON is not a clinically recognised condition like anorexia or bulimia, but in the DSM5 it fits under the umbrella of an ‘unspecified feeding or eating disorder’.

“That when there is significant stress and impairment of functioning associated with food,” said Dr Reynolds, who believes the rise in food movements like paleo, sugar-free, gluten-free and raw food have fuelled an increase in orthorexia nervousa sufferers.

“Look, we didn’t see ads for The Paleo Way on the backs of buses five years ago,” she said.

“I see it on social media and it makes me really angry because even some nutritionists do it. They are so obsessed with what they eat and it doesn’t seem balanced.” (A 2006 study of 283 Austrian female dietitians found 13 per cent had orthorexia and 35 per cent showed orthorexic behaviour).

Jordan Younger before and after. Picture: Jordan Younger/InstagramSource:Instagram

American blogger Jordan Younger launched her website the Blonde Vegan in early 2014, preaching her healthy habits to tens of thousands of followers. There, she shared stories from her plant-based lifestyle with a huge, devoted readership. Her social status was exploding.

But, almost a year after opting for the restrictive regimen, the 23-year-old began to feel tired, suffered from skin breakouts and even stopped her menstrual cycle.

”I was spending the entire day obsessing about eating only vegetables, green juices, fruits and occasionally nuts and grains,” Ms Younger told People magazine.

”I was following thousands of rules in my head that were making me sick.”

Ms Younger realised her healthy habits had evolved from a new found ‘lifestyle’ to a full-blown eating disorder.

“My best friend visited me in New York and we went to get breakfast before spending the day in Central Park,” Ms Younger told Women’s Health.

“We went to a juice bar near my apartment because we both knew it was one of the only places I would be able to find something to eat. I knew which juice I wanted, a green juice with no fruit in it, and when we got there, they were out of that particular juice. Even though there were several other green juices, smoothies and raw food options to choose from, I felt completely panicked by the thought of eating or drinking something I hadn’t planned.

“Instead of choosing another juice and going with the flow, I insisted that we walk a mile out of our way to the juice bar’s other location to get the juice I wanted. My body was already starving from days of restriction and crying out to me that walking a mile without any sustenance would be a bad idea, but I did it anyway.”

Jordan Younger — Breaking Vegan. Picture: Jordan Younger/InstagramSource:Instagram

Now, in her new book Breaking Vegan, Younger speaks of her struggle with orthorexia and how she overcame the gripping condition.

“While veganism is an amazing lifestyle for so many people, it accidentally helped me finetune my restrictive habits, creating a whole list of “bad” and “off-limit” foods in my mind,” she said.

“I tried to hide my food fears when I was with other people — and veganism was the perfect cover. Rather than admit my food phobia, I could just claim it was too hard to eat out as a vegan.”

Jordan soon dropped the vegan label and changed the name of her blog to The Balanced Blonde. Last month, she launched her book Breaking Vegan, which describes her struggle with orthorexia.

“Now, I live a label-free life, and I find more power in that than I ever found in my plant-based fanaticism, she wrote on the Refinery.