What is the history of disordered eating? In cultures where there is enough food to have a good diet relatively easily, how did humanity start eating for societal reasons?

by rhiao

I was talking to my wife, who was anorexic in high school, and she learned disordered eating from her mom, who learned it from her mom, etc etc... how / why / when did this whole disordered thing start?

voyeur324

/u/butter_milk has previously written about eating disorders and the challenges of psychological diagnoses for historical figures. (there are many more answers about what it meant to be mentally ill in centuries past).

/u/sunagainstgold has written about food asceticism in medieval women numerous times in the past. See, for example, this comment about women's holiness and authorship being tied to the suffering of their bodies.

/u/subs-man has previously explained how anorexia and bulimia came to be added to the DSM-III in brief but may see fit to elaborate.

What counts as a "good diet" is very subjective, aside from not starving. Not starving has been the goal for most people for most of history. Below is an answer about skinny/sickly beauty.