 Would you believe me if I told you that both of these women have an eating disorder? You might see it for one, but what about the other? They both have rules and regulations around what they can and can't eat. They both excessively restrict their food intake and engage in ritualistic behaviors around food. They both feel isolated, misunderstood and could both die from their disorder. One woman does these things because she wants to be thin, lose weight and look a particular way. She has a diagnosis for her disorder, anorexia nervosa. She can be treated and she can recover. The other woman, she does these things because she wants to be physically healthy and pure. However for her, no diagnosis can be made, no treatment exists and her hopes of recovery are bleak. This woman represents more people than we know living with the same hidden condition. One that forces you to deprive yourself of vital nutrients, starve yourself and put your health at risk. So much so that it can ultimately take your life, but only after it's taken who you are and everything you love. It is indiscriminate, it can affect anyone and currently it is not properly recognized, researched and can't be treated. In order to fix this, we first need to give it a name, make it visible and better understand it. We call it orthorexia nervosa and we understand it as a condition marked by an obsession with healthy eating to the point of distress and impairment. But what does this mean? Individuals with orthorexia find themselves overly focused on the nutritional value of their food, subscribing to a set of strict and restrictive rules around food and by being distressed by unhealthy food on a daily basis. For them, it's not the quantity of the food that's important, it's the quality and their obsession with this impacts their ability to function in their daily life. So we've established it has a name, orthorexia, and we seem to know what it looks like. Next we need it to be formally recognized as a disorder and be able to diagnose it. That's where my research can help. For the past year and a half I've been doing extensive research into this condition and have consulted with experts in the field in order to develop what will be the first diagnostic interview for orthorexia. A diagnostic interview is basically a set of structured questions that clinicians and researchers use to determine whether someone has a particular mental health disorder. The development of my diagnostic interview is an important and necessary first step towards orthorexia being formally recognized as a disorder. It is this formal recognition that will allow for this hidden condition to be visible and will allow for the development of effective treatments as well. Orthorexia nervosa. I've seen it. It's time for the rest of the world to see it too. Thank you.