Addictive eaters crave sugary food, caffeine, junk food, soda and refined carbohydrates because they are addicted to the chemical composition of these foods. They always find these food stimulate them to want more and have great difficulty resisting them or eating just a little of this food type. The pleasure centers of the brain releases dopamine when we eat chemicals, fat and sugar. Dopamine gives us the same high as drugs and alcohol do which allows us realize how addictive these foods are.

Emotional eaters find loneliness, boredom and sadness are temporarily abated when they fill their stomachs with refined carbohydrates. They filled them up quickly and they feel satisfied and sedated, even tranquilized for a while. Comfort can briefly be found in soft sweet foods like ice cream or cake that reminds us of childhood. Depressed people often want caffeine and sugary foods. Emotional eaters try to get rid of a bad feeling fast and try to feel good even faster by using comfort foods and bulk eating.

Habitual eaters have often been made to eat everything on their plate. As children they were often not allowed to leave food and have conditioned themselves to continue this habit. Habits formed in our early years are difficult to overcome (but not impossible). Habitual eaters will eat at every occasion and eat everything in front of them and available to them without being aware of whether they are hungry or not. They are very susceptible to free food and delicious-sounding menu options.

Ignorant eaters have been completely brainwashed by food manufacturers to believe that what they are eating is healthy or harmless. They eat a lot of convenience and ready meals and believe they are as good as home-cooked food. They may exist primarily on foods that are branded diet food and diet drinks (low fat, vitamin enriched etc) but still have a weight problem.

Destructive eaters usually have a deep-rooted need to hide their sexuality and feel vulnerable when they look attractive or desirable. People who have never had enough nor felt enough feel secure with a certain volume and frequency of meals as they worry they may not get enough. They also feel panicky in a situation where food is shared, i.e., sharing plates at restaurants, in case they get less. They feel uncomfortable when they cannot dish out their own portions and a host does it for them in case they don’t get enough to satisfy and may go hungry.

Angry eaters like crunchy food like chips, nachos and apples and tough food like meat and thick bread that they can really chop into one. Hard mastication is effective when we are feeling tense and wound up. Stressed people often will want salty food. They will always eat after a fight or disagreement to make themselves feel better.

Feasters need to celebrate with food and they don't get the signal to stop eating. They don't feel full the way other people feel full and they don't know when to stop so even when they are very full they can continue eating. When feasters eat a diet higher in protein that is more slowly digested they stimulate peptide YY that makes people feel less hungry and full more quickly.

Constant cravers seem to feel hungry more than other people. The constant cravers do best when they go on very short-term diets where they can have 1 day a week when they can eat freely. You really can’t do much damage eating sugary carbs 1 day a week because that is only 1 day when your insulin rise and your fat storage goes up. Whereas having a little something – 1 cookie or 1 ice cream – puts your insulin and fat storing levels up every day. Knowing that you can have your treats 1 day a week will make it easier to not have them on the other days. Constant cravers find it easier to resist certain food groups when they know they can have them on another day because it takes away the feeling of denial and removes that feeling of 'It's not available to me' and replaces it with 'It's available to me at weekends and I am very happy with that'.