Eating disorder Eating disorder An eating disorder is a mental disorder defined by abnormal eating habits that negatively affect a person's physical or mental health. They include binge eating disorder where people eat a large amount in a short period of time, anorexia nervosa where people eat very little and thus have a low body weight, bulimia nervosa where people eat a lot and then try to rid themselves of the food, pica where people eat non-food items, rumination disorder where people regurgitate food, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder where people have a lack of interest in food, and a group of other
Emotional eating Those who experience this biologically instigated increase in appetite during times of stress are therefore primed to rely on emotional eating as a coping mechanism. Emotional eating differs from actual hunger in a number of ways. Emotional hunger tends to hit quickly and suddenly and feels urgent, yet physical hunger is usually not as urgent or sudden unless it has been a while since a person ate. Someone who is physically hungry will often eat anything, while someone who is emotionally hungry will want something specific, such as fries or a pizza; emotional hunger is usually associated with cravings for