She is judgmental without having good judgment, has a short temper and often collapses from compulsive dieting.

Anorexia nervosa is a "serious mental health disease that involves compulsive dieting and drastic weight loss".

Compulsive dieting, compulsive eating, anorexia, and bulimia occupy spaces further along the continuum and represent a more problematic relationship with food and body image.

Joan Enoch, medical director at the Renfrew Center, an eating-disorder retreat in Philadelphia, traces much of today's compulsive dieting to the rise of Twiggy, the slight British model who arrived in New York 21 years ago.

She describes herself as a compulsive overeater from the age of 8, leading into compulsive dieting and anorexia from the age of 12, citing "a bad body image" and a craving for acceptance amongst her peers as her motivation to lose weight.