There is a thin line between what makes up disordered eating from "disciplined eating" or diet as commonly called. Diet culture is everywhere, and it often comes disguised as a "healthy food plan".
Dieting is a preoccupation of food and/or exercise, and is seen as "normal" in our culture, seemingly an innocent attempt at eating healthy. Yet it can lead to disordered eating especially when those "dieting" get positive feedback from others. The more positive feedback one gets, the more likely they are to continue in similar behaviors.
Anxiety often builds over eating, and/or shame develops as a result of eating. This is the danger of dieting, foods get labeled as "good/bad" healthy/unhealthy", broken down into calories, fats, carbohydrates, sodium and so on. While being educated about the food we put in our bodies, placing judgements on them is the slippery-slope.
When people begin thinking about food and/or exercises often, it allows them to distract themselves from other emotional concerns in their life. In other words having this preoccupation about food/body shape/exercise allows an individual to avoid and numb other problems. This is reason for concern because the long they utilize eating/not-eating as a coping skill to distract/avoid the worse their health becomes and most likely their problems begin to snowball as well.
If you think you or a loved one is on this path, please don't hesitate to contact me or another professional about these concerns.