The Truth About Binge Eating

Photo by CW

Wandering into the kitchen thirty minutes after dinner because you’re bored. Inhaling the contents of the breadbasket, just because it’s there. Desperately needing ice cream when you feel sad. Food can be a seductive force that we don’t always need hunger to crave — but overeating can result in dangerous behaviors that wreck havoc on our health and psyche.

“Compulsive eating, now officially referred to as ‘binge eating,’ is a specific behavior in which a person eats to fill a void other than hunger,” Sondra Kronberg, M.S., R.D., a clinical nutrition therapist and former member of the board of directors of the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), tells Yahoo Health. Common symptoms include eating slowly or rapidly until becoming uncomfortably full, ignoring satiation cues, consuming unusually large amounts of food (often in secret), and feeling guilty or embarrassed after binging. Purging, as with bulimia, is not necessarily a symptom.

The causes of binge eating (BE) are unknown. But people may be more susceptible to developing the disorder because of certain factors, including genetics, impulsive personalities, and a history of chronic dieting. And females, because of having more sensitive reward systems in the brain, have been found to be six times more likely than males to binge, according to a study of rats conducted by the University of Michigan.

Long considered to be a vague “Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified” (EDNOS) by clinicians, binge eating only became recognized as an official eating disorder by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) in 2013, after 20 years of research poured in to substantiate it. NEDA notes that 3.5 percent of women, two percent of men, and 1.6 percent of adolescents are currently struggling with the full-blown disorder. But because many people who binge eat aren’t obese, it can be tricky to spot and ultimately treat.

And there’s a fierce debate raging about how to best tackle BE, according to the American Psychological Association. Some professionals advocate for cognitive behavioral therapy, others for certain medications such as antidepressants, and still others for actually treating obesity before the actual disorder. However, there’s no uniform approach.

Group support is another option. In 2011, to combat what she called a food obsession, Naomi Teeters, 31, of Spokane, Washington turned to international peer-led group Overeaters Anonymous. The organization, according to its website, “addresses physical, emotional and spiritual well-being.” But after attending OA meetings for six months, Teeters realized she couldn’t relate to the organization’s philosophies. “Members couldn’t speak of certain food by their proper names because they could be trigger words for someone else — for example, doughnuts were referred to as ‘circular sweet things with holes in the middle,’” she told Yahoo Health. “But painting a vivid picture of the food just made it more tempting.”

Another tough selling point for Teeters: People were encouraged to ban certain foods altogether. “One particular food cannot be the enemy,” Jean Fain, M.S.W., a Harvard University-affiliated psychotherapist and author of The Self-Compassion Diet, tells Yahoo Health. “I would encourage patients to incrementally face their ‘forbidden’ weaknesses to form a healthier relationship with food. I know one bride who weighed and measured her portions at her own wedding and refused to eat her cake. For her it was victory; for me, it wasn’t effective.”

Teeters also notes that similar to the 12-step program utilized by Alcoholic’s Anonymous, OA members are encouraged to rely on a ‘higher power’ — tough to do if one doesn’t ascribe to religion or spirituality — which she says removed personal responsibility to face core issues. “The danger of this line of thinking is that it conveys to patients that they are powerless over their behavior,” says Kronberg. “Besides, do you really want to give a doughnut that much power?” That said, she adds, group support can play a large role in overcoming BE, which is so often a private disorder.

But food presents a gray area for many women. If you eat your way through a breakup or pig out during group dinners, does that mean you’re doomed to the disorder? Not necessarily. “Everyone overeats occasionally, in social settings for example,” says Kronberg. “But when the overeating interferes with the quality of life — you feel guilty about the amount you’ve consumed, you eat in secret, you make yourself sick by rapidly eating — that’s when it can spiral.”

The key is to recognize trigger points: For example, one small study conducted by Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that people most desired sugar, starch, and salt around 8 p.m., regardless of their diets or eating patterns. It made sense from a biological point of view, said study authors, as the urge to consume more at night (when cavemen couldn’t hunt) helps to store energy.

With that in mind, opting for healthier snacks or avoiding the television (a proven appetite booster) could help. Something else to avoid: Skipping breakfast. According to the Mayo Clinic, many BE sufferers don’t eat their first morning meal. Not only does starting the day famished up the chances of a binge later on, it’s easy to rationalize overeating when you’ve conserved your morning calories. Finally, if you’re itching to binge, consider this: Go for an evening walk or jog. One study published in the Journal of Cardiology found that exercise releases an appetite-suppressing hormone. Sometimes, small steps can make an enormous impact.