Binge Eating: How do you know?

What is Binge Eating? 

Binge eating disorder is characterized by compulsive overeating in which people consume huge amounts of food while feeling out of control and powerless to stop. The symptoms of binge eating disorder usually begin in late adolescence or early adulthood, often after a major diet. A binge eating episode typically lasts around two hours, but some people binge on and off all day long. Binge eaters often eat even when they’re not hungry and continue eating long after they’re full. They may also gorge themselves as fast as they can while barely registering what they’re eating or tasting.

The key features of binge eating disorder are:

• Frequent episodes of uncontrollable binge eating.
• Feeling extremely distressed or upset during or after bingeing.
• Unlike bulimia, there are no regular attempts to “make up” for the binges through vomiting, fasting, or over-exercising.

People with binge eating disorder struggle with feelings of guilt, disgust, and depression. They worry about what the compulsive eating will do to their bodies and beat themselves up for their lack of self-control. They desperately want to stop binge eating, but feel like they can’t.

So why am I writing about this?  You guessed it.  I have in the past suffered from this disease and to a degree still suffer from it.  I can’t say that I’ve learned to control it but I have found that recently my binges are smaller and less frequent in nature but they still happen nonetheless.  Certain foods always seem to set it off and unfortunately their foods that I really can’t eliminated from the house.  Lately, my biggest one has been peanut butter sandwiches.  I can manage to control myself to only have two of them but they are packed with peanut butter, probably enough for 4-6 sandwiches easily.  It never fails either, I know what I’m doing is wrong but for some reason just can’t stop myself from eating them. 

Now I know what most people would say, “Just don’t bring that stuff into the house.”  It’s not that easy.  I have a family and they enjoy peanut butter for lunch and snacks, bread is a needed essential in the house but we do try to get the healthy versions when at all possible.  I’ve even talked with other people about this very subject and you can tell when someone doesn’t deal with this or doesn’t understand.  Things like, “it’s all in your head”, “you can control yourself, you just choose not to”, or “that’s not a disease, it’s just you not having self-control or being lazy”. 

So I wanted to write this not only to admit to myself that I do have a problem, to hold myself accountable, and finally to show other people that just because you decide to change your life, lose weight, get into shape or anything else, you may still have to deal with things like this for a while.  The best thing you can do is admit that you have a problem, not matter what it is and seek some sort of help for it. 

Challenge Yourself.