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Binge Eating Disorder
My car was my private binge bar. Where I could shut myself and food in and the eyes of others out. This was quite common when I was recovering from Anorexia and when I broke one of my many diets, I hadn't yet discovered that there were totally sand and sensible best weight loss tips ever that really worked. Here's a rather typical excerpt from my diary dated: 22.6.1990: Yesterday I sneaked 2 donuts, 2 tex bars, a kit kat, 3 packets of chips and if that wasn't enough I then gorged a huge piece of carrot cake. I could have burst. I gobbled it all down so fast I didn't even taste it. Now I feel guilty and ashamed and full of self-loathing for my lack of willpower. So much for the 29 kgs (63.8lbs) I've just lost on diet. But in my case this kind of eating was sporadic rather than weeks/months at a time so I can fortunately say that while I did plenty of unhealthy over eating - I somehow managed to avoid the type of regular compulsive over-eating that would have qualified me. Whew! But it was also this kind of eating that caused me enormous desperation and it was what finally lead to my years of research into eating and finally to developing The Mind over Fatter Program. What is Binge Eating Disorder? You want to know.Compulsive eating occurs at least twice a week over at least a 3 month period. These compulsive over-eaters experience enormous feelings of distress and self-disgust, but not even that can stop the uncontrollable eating frenzy they experience.It's as if food is everywhere and a binge eater is forever hyper-aware of it all the time. One of the hallmarks of Binge Eating Disorder is that this disorder is marked by a complete loss of impulse control. Once the start of eating has been triggered (for example by an emotional event), binge eaters feels as if the 'stop switch' disappears. Typically binge eating happens on a whim. A thought of food enters a binge eaters head (it could be triggered by driving past an a billboard, hearing a food advert on the radio, seeing another eating, passing a food store or so on) and that's it. They imagine they'll have just one piece of chocolate but inevitably it expands to something else, then something salty and next thing they're surrounded by food wrappers and wrapped in guilt and shame. The other hallmark of Compulsive eating disorder is that the eating is accompanied by feelings of distress. And unlike Bulimia victims, those people with compulsive eating problems don't purge afterwards. The result is that many experience rapid weight gain. And just as anorexics can cycle over to bulimia, it's not uncommon for a person to swing between binge eating disorder and bulimia. How common is Binge Eating Disorder
Between 15-30% of women belonging to slimming clubs succumb to binge-eating (this is three times higher than overweight women not in slimming clubs). Wow - doesn't that say something powerful? For many, dieting interrupted by episodes of binge-eating is very common. I certainly know this was true for me! I was surprised to see that binge eating disrupts as many as 2% of U.S. men, I didn't expect it to be only 1,5% behind women according to a report in Biological Psychiatry. But that's what a survey of face to face interviews with 3000 adults between 2001 and 2003 over 8 years concluded. This makes this disorder more common than both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia.But still, you won't find Binge Eating Disorder in the DSM-IV as an official diagnosis. What causes Binge Eating disorder?Researchers speculate that there is most likely a genetic component. But there's no doubt that environmental triggers play their role to and there are a growing 'in your face' barrage of enticements to eat.
From billboards advertising the latest and greatest burgers, to fast food joints (complete with drive thru's) on every corner, colourful eye-catching food packaging and not to mention those 'eat all you can buffets'. For those with compulsive eating disorder, Western society is a minefield of triggers. And even best intentions get easily waylaid. And as any regular dieter can attest, the end of almost every diet is followed with a binge as we reach for all the things we denied and deprived ourselves of on diet. You can take our Binge Eating Disorder quizz...
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Love your site... it's wonderfully creative. It comes alive and makes me want to live a more joy-filled life and the added bonus is that it is also incredibly wise.
Tatiana - New Mexico
I am a university-bound teenager from the United States. Two years ago I was diagnosed with anorexia, a battle that eventually found me in the hospital.Dieting has robbed me of too much time. I found this website by chance. I've spent a lot of time browsing through articles and reading stories. It has changed my attitude and made me want to be MY ideal weight, not someone else's. Thank you to all the contributors and readers of Mind over Fatter. I deeply appreciate everything you do.(abridged by Cari)
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It's easy in our society today to feel that our value is determined by the number on the scale. I am encouraged to change my mind so I can love myself for who I am not how much I weigh. Thank you so much for your website. It is such an inspiration to me!
Thank you! Rachel, USA
