When it is an eating disorder, the vomiting (or purging) is done on purpose to prevent the body from digesting the food eaten. A person may do this after eating very little, or after eating a lot. Some people actually only chew food and then spit it out to prevent their bodies from keeping the calories. It’s often shame-driven, meaning that the person purging might believe they don’t deserve food.

Of course, our body does protect us by naturally expelling toxic foods, but that is something we generally do not have control over.

Thank you for another great question!