Joe is a compulsive overeater. He hides his eating, and tries to go about the rest of his life as though nothing is wrong. Secretly he worries about parties, and all opportunities where there is an abundance of food. He has started bingeing at home before venturing out. He blames himself, believing himself to lack self-control and willpower.
Joe doesn't quite know when it started, but now he feels out of control and ashamed. He doesn't even reach out for help because he thinks this is a woman's disorder, only adding to his embarrassment.
What Joe doesn't understand is that compulsive overeating, or binge eating, is a serious disorder that can happen to anyone. According to the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) binge eating disorder involves recurrent, persistent episodes of compulsive overeating that occur without regular accompanying behaviors intended to prevent weight gain. This disorder is still not well understood.
Health effects of binge eating disorder include overweight and all the accompanying effects of overweight such as high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, gallbladder disease, heart disease, and some kinds of cancer.
In addition, binge eating disorder leads to stress, depression, missed work and missed social activities due to depression and avoidance. Folks with this disorder often feel badly, are preoccupied with their appearance, and may hide their problem even from close loved ones. Find out more about binge eating disorder.
Five triggers for binges
At least five different factors can trigger binge eating. You might see yourself in one or more of these descriptions:
1. Looking for energy when depressed
Depression can be hard to detect, especially when it's mild. But even mildly depressed people, if they are prone to eating problems, are likely to reach for sugar, fats, refined carbohydrates as a quick pick-me-up, along with caffeine and other stimulants.
Overindulgence in these substances can be a clue that you are depressed. This urge to feel better can lead to mild or very extreme bingeing, possibly to the point of pain. It you suspect depression, see your doctor, as good remedies exist that will improve your quality of life.
2. Addiction to the euphoric "high"
Everyone likes feeling good. Even children look for a high—they spin around in circles until dizzy. Falling down is fun! They get up and do it again.
Adults like the high of alcohol; others the euphoria of stimulants such as caffeine. In small amounts, and consumed responsibly, these substances are harmless diversions.
Certain foods, in appropriate amounts, can make you feel pretty good. Recall how nice you felt after having some homemade macaroni and cheese, or oatmeal, or a hearty bowl of soup. These foods are often referred to as comfort foods.
But folks addicted to the euphoria of the extreme binge are more like the drunken alcoholic or the addicted junkie. Once you start, it's nearly impossible to stop, because, at least for the time being, it feels great. Ingestion of large amounts of fats, carbs, and sugars probably contribute to this high.
Even a child needs to make sure he isn't going to fall down and hit his head after too much spinning. The binge eater is out of control and, in a sense, hitting his head over and over.
3. Seeking to numb unpleasant feelings
Embarrassment, shame, regret, disappointment, and humiliation are feeling-words we'd rather not talk about. We'd all like to chase them away.
Most stress eaters and compulsive overeaters know how effective large amounts of food can be for numbing those awful feelings.
When we believe that our stress and unpleasant emotions are not tolerable, we go down a path of increasing dependency upon overeating to deal with them. This belief is distorted and is at the heart of the problem of emotional eating.
4. Greed
Greed is not to blame for binge eating disorder. If you've been on a binge, you know that this problem isn't about your character. Rather, a binge feels like a physiological "must," and indeed, it can be. So if you have this disorder, there's no need to consider your character to be flawed by greed.
On the other hand, "greed thinking" does contribute to diet problems in an indirect way. Greed is the motive to "eat more food" that leads us to latch on to low-fat, low-carb, and other food-altering diets that promise us we can eat all we want, provided we follow the rules.
When you're recovering from binge eating disorder, it is helpful to think of greed as something you'd like to avoid. It's important for recovering "black and white thinkers" to realize that, since they still have to eat to live, and therefore cannot go cold turkey from eating, greed is a nice measure for how much is enough: "Will this next bite be from greed or will it be from true hunger?"
Most importantly, it is helpful to recognize that greed can begin a binge. The belief that if the food is good, one should be allowed to overeat, causes a loss of sensation of fullness and then, for the compulsive overeater, leads to a "what the heck" mentality, wherein they embark on a full blown binge.
We can logically conclude that greed can be used as a guideline for fullness. Moreover, it has been successfully used as a social restraint, as in "I don't want to appear greedy." It may be time to blow the dust off of this rather antiquated, but quite useful, rule of etiquette. But it's noteworthy that the avoidance of greed alone will not cure binge eating disorder.
5. Response to extreme deprivation
It happens to low-fat dieters. It happens to low-carb dieters. It happens to dieters who avoid their alleged binge foods. They do fine for days, weeks, and even months. And then suddenly, it's as if they've popped a cork. The low-fat dieters binge on a gallon of ice cream, the low-carb dieters binge on mounds of pasta, and so on. This behavior can spring from the rebellion of the mind or the rebellion of the body. But either way, it's a natural response to unnatural deprivation.
Interestingly, this popped-cork phenomenon also happens to calorie-counters, even if they say they've legalized all foods. Why? Calorie counters generally do not approximate their natural hunger and fullness, but rather, they eat on a rigid schedule. Furthermore, they usually try to get the most amount of food for the least number of calories or points. This results in a lowering of fat intake. Both the rigid schedule and the lowered fat intake can trigger a binge.
Lastly, the sense of deprivation that the dieter feels constantly, due to their "rationing" mentality can, all by itself, lead the mind to rebelliously binge.
Folks with binge eating disorder and other disordered eating know in their hearts that the next diet won't fix their problem, but they don't know what else to do. Yet there is a way out—you'll need to stop dieting. Scared? Keep reading.
When you've been bingeing and dieting for months and years, it's hard to hear that you must stop dieting. Diet addicts mistakenly take this advice to mean they must live with their weight. But the news is better than that.
You can learn how to non-diet, which leads to normal eating in small enough amounts that you can achieve your optimal weight. But how?
Think about all the extreme things you've done and thought over the years. Perhaps you've weighed yourself ten times in one day. Perhaps you've resorted to hours of exercise to try and burn off a binge. Maybe you've shopped and eaten in secret. These are some of dozens of behaviors that, if we stop to think about it, are irrational, and do not fit the rest of our personalities.
Our distorted thinking may be depressing to think about, but it's the key to unlock the answer of how one goes from diet addiction to normal eating, just like those ordinary eaters you've always envied and despised.
Cognitive therapy tells us that the distorted behaviors, irrational beliefs and hurtful self-talk need only be addressed, disputed, and replaced by something true. For example, you may have believed for a long time that in order to be thin, you must stop enjoying food. But if you research this carefully, you'll discover two truths:
People can eat delicious, normal food and be thin, even you!
Our bodies are wired to want only delicious food, and that's the key to satisfying them with small amounts.
A thought to ponder:
"The best way to escape from a problem is to solve it."
These Web pages provide sensible advice on healthy diets, nutrition, and weight loss.
However, no advice given here is intended as a substitute for professional medical advice.
Always consult your doctor when deciding to make significant dietary or lifestyle changes.
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Last Modified: Wednesday, 06-Feb-2008 07:13:13 PST
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Compulsive overeating
Eating disorder?
Check out Eating Disorder Hope, a website dedicated to helping eating disorder sufferers find hope, information and resources.
Download our free brochure about the book How to Survive Your Diet. (When you view it in MS Word, give its graphics a minute to load.)
What is cognitive therapy? Cognitive therapy is a way to help
yourself live a more rational, peaceful life, without having to delve into your past. Find out more about
cognitive therapy.
What are technical and adaptive changes? These are two
different approaches to bringing about improvement in your life. Many dieters mistakenly make technical changes, when they
really need to make adaptive changes. Find out more about technical and adaptive change.
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