From time to time, both of us eat too much. But if you overeat excessively while feeling out of control and unable to resist, you might have a binge eating disorder. Binge eating disorder is a common eating disorder where, though feeling unable to avoid and intensely upset during or after eating, you often consume large quantities of food. You may eat to the point of discomfort, and be consumed afterwards with feelings of guilt, remorse, or depression, beat yourself up for your lack of self-control, or worry about what your body can do with compulsive eating.
In late adolescence or early adulthood, binge eating disorder usually starts, often after a significant diet. You can eat even when you're not hungry during a binge and continue to eat long after you're full. You can also binge so easily that you hardly record what you eat or taste. Unlike bulimia, though, by vomiting, fasting, or over-exercising, there are no daily efforts to "make up" for the binges.
For a fleeting moment, you can find that binge eating is calming, helping to ease uncomfortable feelings or feelings of stress, depression, or anxiety. But then reality sets back in, and feelings of remorse and self-loathing flood you. Binge eating also contributes to obesity and weight gain, which further strengthens compulsive eating. The bad you feel for yourself and your looks, the more food you use to deal with it. It becomes a loop of viciousness: eating to feel better, feeling worse, then turning to food for relief. It is important to remember, as helpless as you may feel about your eating disorder, that binge eating disorder is treatable. You will learn to break the cycle of binge eating, regulate your feelings better, build a healthy food relationship, and regain control over your eating and your health.
Signs and symptoms
You can feel humiliated and guilty of your eating habits if you have a binge eating disorder, and attempt to conceal your symptoms by eating in secret.
Behavioral symptoms of binge eating and compulsive overeating
· Inability to stop eating or monitor what you consume.
· Consuming large quantities of food easily.
· Eating when you're finished, too.
· Hiding or saving food to eat secretly later on.
· Eating with others normally, but gorging when you're alone.
· Eating continuously during the day, with no mealtimes scheduled.
Emotional symptoms
· Stress or tension that is only released by eating is felt.
· Embarrassment over the amount you eat.
· Feeling numb, like you're not even there or you're on auto-pilot, when bingeing.
· No matter how much you eat, you'll never be satisfied.
· Since overeating, feeling guilty, disgusted or depressed.
· Desperation to keep weight and eating habits under control.
Causes and effects
In general, binge eating disorder, including the genes, feelings, and experience, requires a variety of things to create.
· Social and cultural risk factors. Social pressure to be slim will add to the emotional eating you feel and fuel it. By using food to console, dismiss, or reward their children, some parents unwittingly set the stage for binge eating. Like those who have been sexually exploited in infancy, children who are subject to repeated critical remarks about their bodies and weight are often vulnerable.
· Psychological risk factors. There are clear connections between depression and binge eating. Some binge eaters are either depressed or have been depressed before; some may have difficulty with regulating urges and handling their emotions and voicing them. Binge eating can also lead to low self-esteem, depression, and body dissatisfaction.
· Biological risk factors. Biological anomalies may lead to binge eating. The hypothalamus, for example (the portion of your brain that regulates appetite), does not send right hunger and fulfillment signals. A genetic mutation that tends to cause food addiction has also been discovered by researchers. Finally, there is proof that low levels of the chemical substance serotonin in the brain play a role in compulsive feeding.
Effects of binge eating disorder
Binge eating contributes to a wide range of physical, mental, and social issues. You're more likely than those without an eating disorder to experience health problems, stress, insomnia, and suicidal thoughts. As well as significant weight gain, you can also experience depression, anxiety, and drug abuse.
However, several individuals are able to rebound from binge eating disorder and reverse the unhealthy results, as grim as this sounds. Also, you can. Re-evaluating your relationship with food is the first step.