WHAT IS BINGE EATING?
Binge eating is a complex and often misunderstood condition that affects millions of people. Although awareness of binge eating has grown, what the term “binge eating” means to people often varies. The text book definition of binge eating is important to understand, but can also miss the experiences of people who struggle with problematic eating patterns that do not neatly fit the traditional definition of binge eating. We’ll cover the textbook definition of binge eating, as well as other common types of eating problems that can also be emotionally and physically exhausting when not carefully treated.
What is a traditional binge eating episode?
KEY CHARACTERISTICS:
According to the DSM-5, two main characteristics define a traditional understanding of binge eating.
Eating a large amount of food (to be more precise: an amount of food that is clearly more than what most people would eat) within two hours in the same context. (By this definition, going for seconds of turkey and stuffing at a Thanksgiving meal would not necessarily qualify as binge eating. Neither would eating several cups of popcorn with friends at the movie theatre.)
Feeling a lack of control. A sense of a loss of control often takes the form of difficulty controlling how much you eat, or feeling as though you cannot stop eating. (However, people who struggle with binge eating for a long time often describe the sensation of losing control over binge eating fading over time.)
More signs of binge eating
In addition to these two defining elements of “textbook binge eating,” several other characteristics often accompany this traditional version:
Eating more quickly than you usually do
Eating a lot of food when you’re not physically hungry
Eating in secrecy (away from others) due to concern about being judged or feeling embarrassed. (If you live with others, you might wait until people leave the house or go to sleep before you eat. If you live alone, you might eat in the car, rather than eating inside a restaurant to avoid onlookers.)
Eating to the point of feeling physically uncomfortable. (For some, this looks like feeling overly full awhile after binge eating; for others it can look like indigestion, stomach discomfort, or even unintentional vomiting.)
Challenging or unpleasant emotions afterward. The emotional toll of binge eating often takes the form of sadness, disgust, or guilt.
Eating Disorders Associated with Binge Eating
Problematic eating can lead to eating disorders, if they’re not already present. Furthermore, the specific nature of eating problems tends to vary overtime among many people who have eating disorders. For example, restrictive eating commonly seen with dieting and Anorexia Nervosa can eventually lead to overeating, and in some cases binge eating and even Binge Eating Disorder. If you engage in traditional binge eating episodes once or more per week on average, then you might experience Binge Eating Disorder. If you try to compensate for traditional binge eating episodes, with vomiting, exercise, fasting, or laxative use, then you might be suffering from Bulimia Nervosa. Regardless of where you might be at in this process, the sooner you get help, the sooner you can start recovering.
Common Eating Problems Beyond Textbook Binge Eating
However, traditional eating disorders diagnoses fail to cover the full experience of people who struggle with eating problems similar to bingeing. Consequently, the suffering that often accompanies “subjective binges,” emotional eating, and mindless eating often goes unrecognized.
1) Subjective Binge Eating
A subjective binge occurs when most of the criteria of a textbook definition of binge eating are met, except a key few elements (such as eating more than the average person in a situation or eating significantly more food within a two hour window). For example, Maria was on a diet, and picked up a fast food meal for lunch that a restrictive diet forbid her from eating. Although she did not eat more than what most people would eat in this situation, she still felt guilt over breaking her diet. She was hard on herself about eating a regular meal and worried that it would impact her diet goals. As you can see, the guilt, distress, and shame that often accompany traditional binge eating still accompany subjective binge eating. Unfortunately, the pain that comes with subjective binge eating is often missed by people who don’t know to ask about subjective experiences of binge eating.
2) Emotional Eating
Emotional eating occurs when we eat due to emotions we’re experiencing, rather than physical hunger. For example, whenever John stays late at work to prepare for an important board meeting, he often orders takeout and eats uncontrollably to manage his stress. He usually experiences a brief sense of relief, but eats so quickly that he misses his satisfaction point and ends up regretting the whole experience when he feels uncomfortable afterwards. People often think emotional eating only occurs with unpleasant emotions, such as stress, sadness, or boredom, but it can also occur with pleasant emotions, such as excitement. For example, Michelle, developed a habit of going out to eat to celebrate major career milestones. When others weren’t available to celebrate with her, she treated herself with a special meal. When she still felt a sense of emptiness afterwards, she stopped by to get more food on the way home, and kept looking for more food at home. There are two common issues with emotional eating: food does not tend to solve emotional problems, and emotional eating can often create new ones.
3) Mindless Eating
Mindless eating is very common in our busy world of multi-tasking. You might eat lunch at your desk while you’re working to try to be more productive and get home on time. You might grab a bag of popcorn to eat while you watch a movie, mindlessly eating until you get to the bottom of the bag or the movie ends; or you might eat breakfast during your morning commute. While mindless eating often starts with the best of intentions, it often leads to missing the taste of food, slowing down to savor each bite, and tuning into our bodies to notice if we’re hungry, satisfied, or full. Mindless eating can deprive us of the truly pleasurable experience of eating, and lead to overeating and even binge eating. A habit of mindless eating can lead to detachment from the experience of eating, as well as our bodies and ourselves.
Therapy can help
If you can relate to any of these eating problems, then you might benefit from therapy tailored specifically to you and your experiences. If you’re still not sure whether your eating patterns are an issue, it might be best to meet with an experienced therapist one-on-one to describe what you’re experiencing and get their professional guidance.
A Path to a Better Relationship with Food, Your Body, and Yourself
Recovering from binge eating and other eating problems does not happen overnight. The process takes time to develop new habits and requires a commitment to healing. However, with the help of an experienced therapist who specializes in eating issues, you can work together to identify unique factors that contribute to your eating difficulties to develop a better path forward. At TherLively, an experienced psychologist can teach you ways of eating and strategies to prevent binge eating, as well as mindful eating tools to help you enjoy eating and feel better afterwards. We believe recovery is about more than just changing your eating habits—it’s about creating a sustainable, compassionate relationship with your body and yourself so you can live a fuller life.
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