Restraint and Excess in Dieters and Bulimics

Abstract

Although the binges of bulimia are undeniably remarkable, it is debatable whether the most striking aspect of the binge is its quantity or its quality. Anecdotes about binges highlight both the prodigious amounts consumed and the trance-like disregard of such fundamental influences on normal eating as palatability. The dramatic episodes of eating and purging that draw one’s attention to bulimia mask another feature of the disorder of particular interest to us — namely, the bulimic’s exaggerated dietary restraint when not bingeing. Although bulimics are famous for how much they eat, and the bizarre fashion in which they eat it, we must not neglect their resistance to eating, which may be just as central to their disorder.