Binge Eating

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COMPULSIVE OVEREATING

Compulsive Overeating or Binge Eating Disorder (BED) People struggling with BED engage in frequent binges, but do not purge afterwards. Binges are often followed by intense feelings of guilt and shame. Because of the high ingestion of calories, individuals with BED are often overweight.

Part of the reason for this all too common problem is cultural. We live in a "food toxic" environment, with continuous easy access to delicious, sweet, high fat foods (as well as those tricky "No Fat" foods which are full of sugar and calories). It's just plain hard to resist! McDonald's stated goal is to have every American within five minutes of one of their restaurants. Many studies have documented that when individuals from other cultures come to the United States, they give up their healthful native diets and take on the junk food American diet. They then suffer from the same obesity-related health problems as Americans.
While some of us can resist temptation, there are those for whom temptation becomes obsession. For compulsive overeaters, any emotion can be experienced as a reason to eat. Feelings of anger, sadness, guilt, shame, fear, even joy are experienced as a vague anxious feeling. Eating serves as a way to quiet this internal storm.

Many people with BED have used food in addictive ways since they were children. There is a strong family connection for those with BED. She may have grown up watching her parents use food and other substances (drugs, alcohol) to self-medicate depression or other painful feelings. By watching her parents, she learned that food was the most effective way to comfort herself.
Recent research is showing that compulsive overeating also has a genetic component. Some people may have a deficit in the system that sends signals from the belly to the brain about hunger and fullness. She may also be struggling with a biologically-based depression. When this condition is treated with anti-depressants, she may find her urges to binge diminishing to manageable levels.

But does this mean you are helpless, destined to food obsession and misery for a lifetime? No! Unfortunately, however, people look to "The Diet" as the answer. The thought is, "I need more CONTROL." Most individuals with BED have tried every diet in the book, only to find that the lost weight returns and brings a few more pounds with it. Dieting is bound to fail because deprivation and hunger set one up for food obsessions, cravings and binges. This is a normal healthy, biologically adaptive human response to calorie restriction-not a sign of weakness or lack of willpower!

Each failed diet chips away at her self-worth as she is bombarded with messages in society and in her relationships that she is weak, lazy, stupid and morally inferior to thin people. This further reinforces her feelings of depression and hopelessness that she will ever attain her goal weight. She isolates herself socially and romantically, feeling that no one would have her as she is, or she remains in abusive or detached relationships, believing that this is as good as she deserves. She may avoid looking in mirrors and buy clothes that hide her body so that she does not have to know her true size. However, a clothes shopping trip or a photograph of herself may bring the stark realization that she is even larger than she thought.

There are many approaches to addressing this problem, from stomach stapling to 12-step groups to diet pills. For most sufferers of BED, long-term success hinges on addressing issues on multiple levels; medical, spiritual, emotional, interpersonal and psychological. It is especially important to challenge the belief system that underlies the problem;

"As a large person, I have less value than a thin person."

"As a large person, my anger and my opinions have no merit."

"Fat is ugly; therefore, I am ugly so why bother to try to make myself look nice?"

"Because I am weak and lazy, I don't deserve to be healthy and care for my body."

"I don't love me so why should anyone else?"

"I'll do fun things when I am thin; then I'll have the right to enjoy life."

"I've tried every diet and failed so I might as well give up on myself."

"I can't listen to or trust my body, or I'd weigh 2000 pounds!"

"I must control my appetites, because look what trouble they've gotten me in so far…"

"Recovery can be painfully slow as the individual must learn an entirely new belief system relative to her body, her emotions, and her worth as a person."

Symptoms and Warning Signs:

• depression
• feeling ashamed
• antisocial behavior
• obesity

Medical Consequences:

• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• gall bladder disease
• diabetes
• heart disease
• certain types of cancer

The above sections on Anorexia, Bulimia and Compulsive Eating included information from:
Facts on Eating Disorders, by the American Anorexia Bulimia Association, Inc.
Anorexia & Bulimia: Signs, Symptoms & How to Help, by The Renfrew Center Foundation
Let's Talk About Facts: Eating Disorders by American Psychiatric Association