Unfortunately, there is no one-correct answer. I'ts an addiction- you can't just get off it- not physically and not emotionally.

First, let me say this again: The eating habits of an eating disordered person, are only the symptom, while the illness itself, is an emotional one. Now, why are the symptoms so hard to get rid of? -It seems pretty easy: Eat 3-5 balanced meals a day, keep them in your body... what could be easier? -To a person with an ED, just about anything.

Try to think of your biggest fear, and what you would feel if it stared you right in the face. For an ED person, that fear is the fear of gaining weight, and eating is the fear staring you right in the face, laughing at you and becoming reality. It may not be a rational fear, but it's definitely a valid one. This may explain why some ED people come to a point where they simply cannot put certain foods in their mouths, because that fear is so incredible. I remember a time when putting bread in my mouth made me feel physically sick, because I could feel the fat, and nothing but the fat, in that little piece of bread. Also, many people who can eat, cannot keep the food inside. For these people, feeling the food in their stomach, is as frightening as standing on the edge of a cliff. At some point, it is also impossible to eat without "purging", because the stomach becomes so small, it physically hurts if you don't purge.

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