Eating Disorder Articles
Listen to Your Body
Advice on overcoming binge eating by listening to your body and learning to distinguish between physical and emotional hunger.
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
The essential features of binge-eating disorder are recurrent, out-of-control episodes of consuming abnormally large amounts of food. If you suffer from this disorder you eat whether you are hungry or not and consume food well past being uncomfortably full.
Symptoms of Binge-Eating Disorder
While people with binge-eating disorder tend to have many of the same behavioral and emotional signs and symptoms, the exact definition of what binge eating disorder is remains unclear. In fact, even the definition of what a binge is remains uncertain. Some experts say that a binge is the consumption of excessive amounts of food over a short period of time, about two hours. Others say that a binge can last for an entire day and total more than 20,000 calories.
Causes of Binge-Eating Disorder
It’s not known exactly what causes binge-eating disorder.
Risk Factors for Binge-Eating Disorder
Who is at risk for developing binge-eating disorder? This condition can develop in both children and adults, but it is most common among those in their 40s and 50s (although it’s increasingly being diagnosed in younger people). Because binge-eating disorder is still in the process of being defined, research hasn’t uncovered all of the factors that may predispose someone to develop this condition.
Complications of Binge-Eating Disorder
Not all persons who are overweight or obese have binge-eating disorder. But many who suffer from binge-eating disorder become obese. In fact, weight gain tends to reinforce binge eating. As people agonize over their ballooning shape, they tend to turn to food for comfort – and a vicious cycle begins.
Diagnosing Binge-Eating Disorder
When an eating disorder is suspected, a doctor generally performs a variety of tests and exams. This is important with binge-eating disorder, both to distinguish it from other types of disordered eating and also to determine whether there are any related complications or conditions.
Treatment of Binge-Eating Disorder
There is no “one size fits all” treatment for binge-eating disorder, although the goals for those with this condition are to reduce binging behavior, improve emotional problems that contribute to the problem, and to reduce weight if necessary with healthy diet and exercise.
How and Why Eating Disorders Occur - Researchers Looking Into How and Why
Eating Disorders Occur. Eating is controlled by many factors, including appetite, food availability, family, peer, and cultural practices, and attempts at voluntary control.
Medical Complications - What are the medical complications of
eating disorders.
Medical complications can frequently be a result of eating disorders. Individuals with eating disorders who use drugs to stimulate vomiting, bowel movements, or urination may be in considerable danger, because this practice increases the risk of heart failure.
Emotional Eating - When emotional eating sabotages even
your best dieting efforts.
For many people, the biggest obstacle to shedding extra pounds or eating more healthfully is emotion-based eating. Emotional eating can sabotage even your most well-intentioned efforts.
Getting Help - The Sooner the Better
Eating disorders can be treated and a healthy weight restored. However, the longer abnormal eating behaviors persist, the more difficult it can be to overcome the disorder and its effects on the body. Many treatment plans are comprehensive due to the complex interaction of emotional and psychological problems in eating disorders.
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