Have you experienced eating a lot during a festivity like the holiday season or a Thanksgiving Day? Generally, most of the people engage in overeating during special holidays, as people tend to be tempted with the delicious and mouthwatering dishes served in front of them. It is normal to overeat during an occasion, provided that you will resume a normal healthy eating routine the following day.
However, if you engage in episodes of overeating, this might be something. You don’t have to worry when you eat all your might when you are in a buffet served with all of your favorite foods. But in case you develop this kind of habit that you eat faster than normal until you become uncomfortably full, eating in large amounts when you are not even hungry, or eating alone because you might be embarrassed eating huge amounts with other people, then you develop an unusual disorder called “binge-eating disorder“.
Binge eating, otherwise called as compulsive overeating, is a disorder characterized by an obsessive relationship to food. People with this disorder find it pleasurable to eat uncontrollably, consuming food beyond the point of being comfortably full. Then, it will be followed by feelings of guilt and depression. Unlike people with bulimia, binge eaters do not attempt to compensate for the excess food that they eat through purging behaviors such as laxative use, fasting or vomiting.
They typically eat even when they are not hungry. Their obsession to food is evident in cases that they spend too much time eating and fantasizes eating alone. This disorder will most likely pose the patients to gain weight that will eventually lead to obesity. Though most of the compulsive over-eaters are overweight and obese, some individuals with normal or average weight can also be affected by this disorder.
Binge eating was recognized as a disorder in the present time. People with this disorder start binging when trying to eat a lot beyond the uncomfortable mark while they are not that hungry. Once they overcome binging, they try to go on a diet and resume on eating a regular meal. However, when they are restricted from eating, they tend to binge more food, making it as a more serious problem.
Here are the signs that you might be having binge eating as a disorder: (1) you continuously eat even if you are uncomfortably full; (2) you eat more food than the normal during mealtime; (3) you eat very fast when binge eating; (4) you regularly eat alone; (5) you hoard food in your fridge; and (5) you feel anxious and depressed after you have eaten huge amount of food.
Most people suffer from binge eating and compulsive overeating. Doing nothing about it will lead them to more serious nutritional problem. Here are some of the steps on how you will overcome binge eating:
- Start to become choosy on food. When binge eating, you tend to eat any food at your sight. Try to be picky sometimes. This will repress your urge to eat a lot.
- Deal with your emotions instead of channeling it out on food. People who binge eat often do so to repress their emotions that they don’t want to face. Handle your emotion well, and you will no longer resort to compulsive eating.
- Distract yourself from the urge to eat. Utilize positive coping techniques in managing your emotions. Do exercise or yoga, play a musical instrument, talk to a friend, or anything else that will divert your attention from eating.
- Provide yourself a cooling off period. When you feel the urge to overeat, try telling to yourself to wait for about 15 to 30 minutes before actually indulging on food. During that span of time, utilize some coping tools to manage your emotions towards it. After the allotted time, when you still have the urge to eat, then eat with no guilt at all.
- Practice yourself on ordering the “small size”. You need not to be deprived with food. Eat only a portion of your meal. Eat slowly. Savor the flavor of your meal. With that, you feel that it is just alright. Making this practice a habit will surely make you fit.
- Utilize a written plan to prevent binge eating. Having a written plan might be helpful in preventing from one to engage in binge eating. However, this plan must be prepared ahead of time so as to prevent further problems when in the plan already.
These are some of the techniques you might use when you feel that you develop compulsion in overeating. However, it is still advisable to consult your physician or your counselor regarding your problem with overeating. There are also several therapies and medications that your doctor might advise for you to follow that will help you be in control.
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