The source of Eating disorders can go back to the prenatal experience while in the womb.  While we were in the womb, the umbilical cord was how we received nourishment or food.  Coming in with the nourishment there can also be toxicity. The one place we could not contract or block was the umbilical cord. The umbilical cord is how we let in nourishment. If we were to block that completely we would have died.  The umbilical cord and the mouth are what are called parallel organs. They are both sphincters and they worked in tandem. When we are born we no longer use the umbilical cord but the mouth for taking in nourishment. We can still be dealing with issues of trying to have boundaries with food. The only two choices we have are to block the food source (anorexia), or regurgitate the food source (bulimia). Underlying all eating disorders are boundary issues. Learning how to have boundaries is one of the ways of healing eating disorders. Where there are serious physical implications for advanced eating disorders I recommend supervision by a medical doctor and an eating disorder group.