Disordered eating is a classification (within DSM-IV-TR, used in the health-care field) to describe a wide range of irregular eating behaviors that do not warrant a diagnosis of a specific eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa. Affected people may be diagnosed with an eating disorder not otherwise specified. A change in eating patterns can also be caused by other mental disorders (e.g. clinical depression), or by factors that are generally considered to be unrelated to mental disorders (e.g. extreme homesickness).[1]
Some people consider disordered-eating patterns that are not the result of a specific eating disorder to be less serious than symptoms of disorders such as anorexia nervosa. Others note that individual cases may involve serious problems with food and body image. Additionally, certain types of disordered eating can include symptoms from both classic cases of anorexia and bulimia, making disordered eating just as dangerous.
Some counselors specialize in disordered-eating patterns. The recognition that some people have eating problems that do not fit into the scope of specific eating disorders makes it possible for a larger proportion of people who have eating problems to receive help.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper claims that he has disordered eating condition. In the episode of his talk show "Anderson" that aired on 30 December 2011, he guested eating disorder specialist Sondra Kronberg, RD, CDN to discuss about the different types of eaters. During this episode Anderson Cooper was made to eat food he has not eaten all his life (e.g., a coffee drink and spinach, among others) saying that he "does not see the point" in eating them. In a previous episode of the same show with Jerry Seinfeld as guest, he made similar comments about "not seeing the point" with waffles, seemingly to emphasize his disordered eating condition.