Binge eating disorder is a common eating disorder where you frequently eat large amounts of food while feeling powerless to stop and extremely distressed during or after eating. Binge eating disorder typically begins in late adolescence or early adulthood, often after a major diet. During a binge, you may eat even when you’re not hungry and continue eating long after you’re full. You may also binge so fast you barely register what you’re eating or tasting. Unlike bulimia, however, there are no regular attempts to “make up” for the binges through vomiting, fasting, or over-exercising.
You may find that binge eating is comforting for a brief moment, helping to ease unpleasant emotions or feelings of stress, depression, or anxiety. But then reality sets back in and you’re flooded with feelings of regret and self-loathing. Binge eating often leads to weight gain and obesity, which only reinforces compulsive eating. The worse you feel about yourself and your appearance, the more you use food to cope. It becomes a vicious cycle: eating to feel better, feeling even worse, and then turning back to food for relief. As much as you may feel powerless to break this cycle, there are plenty of things you can do to better manage your emotions and regain control over your eating and your health.
Behavioral symptoms of binge eating and compulsive overeating
Inability to stop eating or control what you’re eating
Rapidly eating large amounts of food
Eating even when you're full
Hiding or stockpiling food to eat later in secret
Eating normally around others, but gorging when you’re alone
Eating continuously throughout the day, with no planned mealtimes
Emotional symptoms
Feeling stress or tension that is only relieved by eating
Embarrassment over how much you’re eating
Feeling numb while bingeing—like you’re not really there or you’re on auto-pilot.
Never feeling satisfied, no matter how much you eat
Feeling guilty, disgusted, or depressed after overeating
Desperation to control weight and eating habits
Do you have binge eating disorder?
Do you feel out of control when you're eating?
Do you think about food all the time?
Do you eat in secret?
Do you eat until you feel sick?
Do you eat to escape from worries, relieve stress, or to comfort yourself?
Do you feel disgusted or ashamed after eating?
Do you feel powerless to stop eating, even though you want to?
The more "yes" answers, the more likely it is that you have binge eating disorder.
Let me know if any of you suffer from binge eating...i have some good tips to end this disorder.
Stay Heathly,
Robbee