In the third grade, Liana Maffezzoli read an article about someone being a victim of food poisoning.

Since then, she has only eaten food she prepares herself.

"I feel like the world wants to poison me," she said. "I eat salad, fruit and things that don't have to be cooked by someone else, but if I do eat hot food, someone else has to try it first."

Coming to college, she had a big change to deal with. In the cafeteria, where the majority of food is prepared, the dietetics freshman found it harder to obtain foods that agreed with her picky eating habits.

"At home it isn't that bad," she said. "I don't mind making my own food. But it really affects my life at school."

This and other "food rituals" — such as ketchup on everything, eating only certain foods or having foods separated on a plate — are a part of disordered eating, said Rhonda Bokram, a staff nutritionist in the health education department at Olin Health Center.

They are not necessarily a problem, she said, unless a person becomes obsessive about them.

"The amount of time that an individual spends thinking about eating a food, a behavior and the amount of anxiety attached if they are unable to do what they feel they need to do, those are indicators that the individual has a serious problem," Bokram said.

Like Maffezzoli, advertising junior Kerielle Williams has a food restriction — she doesn't eat anything green.

However, her abstinence from green foods didn't start for any particular reason. As far as she can remember, she has never had them.

"I never had lettuce or anything growing up," she said. "My mom never pushed me to eat anything green that I didn't like, and now I still do it."

Williams has no reasoning behind her choice, which she said drives her friends and family crazy.

"My mom says that I need to get over it," she said. "But I'm used to it. I'm a vegetarian, too, so I'm used to being a picky eater."

Williams said she is used to knowing what she can and can't have at restaurants.

"I mainly eat grilled cheese and pasta," she said. "A lot of pastas come with green herbs and things on it, so I just say that I'm allergic to herbs so they don't put it on."

Williams' friends are constantly interrogating her about her habit, and even pressuring her to eat green foods, she said.

"Everybody was trying to get me to drink green beer on St. Patrick's Day," she said. "It was the running joke of the day. I hate St. Patrick's Day."

Bokram said even healthy eating obsessions, such as loving fruits and vegetables or only eating low-fat or fat-free foods, are not OK.

"They are not eating a balance of nutrients, which includes fat and other major nutrients," she said. "And it is a problem."

An individual with a food ritual should seek help when they see this behavior, thought or anxiety is taking over their life, Bokram said.

Maffezzoli has no plans of trying to change her eating habits.

"I will just have to deal with it unless I take some measures to reverse it," she said. "It isn't that big of a hassle, so only time will tell."