I wasn’t anorexic, but ED-NOS with only anorexic tendencies, and to be honest I didn’t feel superior to people with bulimia, but I did feel safer. Like I wasn’t hurting myself as much as I could have been, so that made it “okay.” The damage I was causing to my brain and body wasn’t as tangible as the decaying teeth and damaged esophagus. I understood the motives behind purging, and I felt the same emotions that bulimics must feel after I ate “too much,” but I felt like the calories were my punishment, and I couldn’t “cheat” by throwing up. Also, if I ate those calories, I knew exactly what was in my body; if I purged, I wouldn’t know exactly how many calories had already been absorbed and the not knowing would be just as worrisome to me.

I think some of the whole anorexics-thinking-less-of-bulimics thing stems from self-hatred and fear. For people with anorexia, eating anything provokes an out of control feeling, and knowing that people with bulimia are able to give in to the desire to eat but still achieve some calorie restriction is scary, because its a path that anorexics know they could choose someday. The fear of that potential out-of-control feeling can translate into rejection of people with bulimia. I think the superiority towards others is merely the manifestation of the superiority anorexics feel when they are restricting versus when they are eating–kind of a two selves split thing.

Don’t know if that makes much sense and I don’t speak for everyone, my own experiences are limited (luckily.) and I can only speak for myself. I am glad that I never developed bulimic habits because I’m afraid recovery would’ve been more difficult if I had adjusted to a normal caloric intake + binging pattern. It has been easier to dissociate from my disordered eating patterns because I wasn’t really eating much at the time and normal eating doesn’t trigger a desire to purge for me (as I assume it would for bulimics).