An eating disorder is an illness that causes serious disturbancesto your everyday diet, such as eating extremely smallamounts of food or severely overeating. A person with an eatingdisorder may have started out just eating smaller or largeramounts of food, but at some point, the urge to eat less ormore spiraled out of control. Severe distress or concern aboutbody weight or shape may also characterize an eating disorder.Eating disorders frequently appear during the teen years or young adulthood butmay also develop during childhood or later in life.1,2 Common eating disordersinclude anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorder.Eating disorders affect both men and women. For the latest statistics on eatingdisorders, see the NIMH website at http://www.nimh.nih.gov/statistics/index.shtml.