What Is Binge Eating Disorder?
The majority of people have had times when they ate too much, especially during special occasions and holidays. Binge eating disorder is different. You feel like you can’t stop eating even though you’re already uncomfortably full or even not hungry. You feel embarrassed about it. Unlike bulimia, you don’t try to make yourself throw up or exercise intensively after a binge.
Symptoms
If you suffer from binge eating disorder, you:
– Feel as if you can’t control the amount you eat.
– Eat more food than other people do in a similar situation.
– Feel disappointed after you binge.
– Have an eating binge at least once weekly for 3 months, on average.
You also have three or more of these symptoms:
– Eat much faster than normal.
– Eat enough to be painfully full.
– Even if you’re not hungry you eat a lot.
– Eat alone so no one will see how much food you’re consuming.
– Feel disgusted, guilty, or upset about your eating.
Check this article if you want to reduce your guilt around food.
People who binge eat can get other health problems related to gaining weight or unhealthy eating, too, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or heart disease. You also may have muscle and joint pain, trouble sleeping, and digestive problems. Women may have infrequent or irregular menstrual periods.
Treatment
Beating binge eating disorder is not about willpower.
– You need the assistance of a specialist, such as a psychiatrist or a psychologist. She might use an approach called cognitive behavior therapy, which focuses on what you do and how you feel. It can aid you to change your thoughts about eating and understand what triggers your binges.
– Collaboration with a dietitian is essential. Don’t hesitate to book an appointment with Dietitian Christelle Bedrossian, she can teach you about healthy eating and how to have a healthy relationship with food.
– Sometimes medications will be prescribed to suppress the need to binge eat.
– Having emotional support from family and friends is beneficial as well. Their assistance makes it easier to change the way you think about food.
– Taking care of yourself: Feeling stressed makes it more likely that you’ll binge eat, so you’ll need optimistic ways to manage that. Yoga, exercise, meditation, and massage therapy can help you feel calm.
Finally, binge eating is not the only existing eating disorder. Check this article to know about other kinds of eating disorders.
Christelle Bedrossian
Dietitian-Nutritionist