Why is it that when something hurts your heart your appetite bears the pain?

I know why the craving for mass quantities of cocktails and cigarettes, but the loss of appetite that accompanies a mental disturbance is, well, disturbing.
Full disclosure: As a woman I honestly don't mind these fasting tendencies too much, seeing as how as a gender we're all trying to be 5 lbs thinner. Daily.


I can't shake the mind over matter. At lunch today we had an unusually healthy meal - baked chicken, green beans, salad - and after my 30 minute run, I physically force-fed myself 1 tiny piece of chicken and a bite of green beans.

It's ridiculous.

And I wonder if this is maybe how the anorexic do it ... maybe they focus on something so difficult, so emotional, so overwhelming it causes them to dislike food.
I shudder to think about just how much weight I would lose if my emotional toll was much heavier ... a death, a major illness, bankruptcy ... than just worry about someone else's feelings and the what-ifs that plague us all.

But sometimes, when he's acting distant, I just can't stomach a thing.