ACORN Assessment Tool
ACORN Eating Disorder Inventory
(page 1 of 2)
(Check all that apply)
o1. I think I am fat, even when friends, family or health professionals say I am not.
o2. I avoid foods which I think have fat in them almost entirely or are repulsed by them.
o3. I eat much more slowly and/or much less than others eat.
o4. I have lost my period or my interest in sex.
o5. I feel like I am in control when I am fasting or restricting food intake.
o6. I almost never eat anything without estimating how many calories I am eating
o7. I assume that being very thin is an important value in life. The thinner the better.
o8. I have tried to eat more food to sustain a healthy weight and have been unable to
continue doing so.
o9. I think that being too thin is not as bad as being too fat.
o10. I have gotten light headed or weak from not eating or restricting my food.
___ # of Checked Boxes from 1- 10
o11. I see myself as someone who binges and purges food.
o12. I have increased the number of times I purge by vomiting.
o13. I used diuretics to try to control my weight.
o14. I exercise hard more than an hour a day to control weight and feel deprived or guilty
when I don’t.
o15. I am almost always on a diet.
o16. I used laxatives to get rid of food when I was not constipated.
o17. I have tried to stop purging and have been unable to stay stopped.
o18. I don’t tell my parents, friends or health professionals how much I binge or purge.
o19. I am obsessed with thinking that my body needs to be different or better.
o20. I admit that I have caused myself some physical harm by purging and I still do it.
___ # of Checked Boxes from 11-20
© Copyright, Philip R. Werdell, 2002, Revised 2009
ACORN Eating Disorder Inventory
(page 2 of 2)
(Check all that apply)
o21. I eat when I am not hungry.
o22. I sometimes eat much faster and/or much more than others eat.
o23. I isolate from others so that I can eat the way want.
o24. I graze or snack frequently between meals.
o25. I sometimes think I will eat moderately and then eat much more than I expected to
eat.
o26. I use food to numb difcult feelings.
o27. I have tried to stop bingeing and been unable to stay sstopped.
o28. I am obsessive in the way I think about food.
o29. I think weight causes me serious physical and social problems and I still overeat.
o30. I can overeat on almost any food.
___ # of Checked Boxes from 21- 30
If you checked:
three or more in 1-10, you have symptoms of anorexia;
three or more in 11-20, you have symptoms of bulimia;
and three or more in 21-30, you have symptoms of binge-eating disorder and/or
possibly food addiction.
If you have checked ve to ten in any category, your eating disorder is advanced and
very serious.
© Copyright, Philip R. Werdell, 2002, Revised 2009