- Compulsive eating - causes
- Compulsive eating - effects
- Compulsive eating - treatment
- Compulsive eating treatment - helpful methods
- How to kill hunger?
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"Compulsion" is behavior that is difficult to stop yourself from. Compulsive overeating is an eating disorder that we often hide from ourselves. That's why it's so hard to give up binge eating?
Compulsive overeatingto (BED - binge eating disorder) is an internal compulsionto eatlarge amounts of food. Sometimes they are selected products, sometimes eating "whatever you want". Compulsive overeating usually occurs outside of normal meal times and is not due to a desire to satisfy hunger, but an inner feeling of having to eat. This overeating is the result of avoiding confrontation with your own feelings and problems. It is a redirection of attention to a different area of life than your own troubles and emotions. Binge eating results in embarrassment and shame at this behavior.
Compulsive overeating iseating disorderwhich, along with others (bulimia, anorexia), has become a disease of civilization. The number of cases of eating disorders is growing dangerously, especially in countries where the important social factors are the fast pace of life, the demands and pressure of the environment, often associated with the cult of a slim figure.
Read more:Bulimia: causes and symptoms. Treatment of bulimia nervosa Anorexia (anorexia nervosa) - symptoms and treatment Orthorexia: symptoms. Get an orthorexia test.
Compulsive eating - causes
Compulsive overeating is a method to relieve the growing tension that "gets" the patient in everyday situations. Binge eating is first accompanied by states of dissociation, or momentary pleasure or relief, which, as you eat, turn into negative emotional states - including guilt and depression. The person with BED stops at binge eating. He is not interlaced with starvation, excessive exercise, or the use of medications to prevent weight gain. Binge eating episodes deepen her shame for not having willpower, and guilt drives her toward hiding and cheating loved ones. People with BED eat their meals normally (e.g. together with other family members), and eat secretly and covertly.
Compulsive eating - effects
Emotional inhibition, often still developed inin childhood and then reproduced in adult and professional life, it causes severe stress. Its outlet, freeing oneself from it, is found in solitary feasts. The time when the sick person overeats allows him to break away from an orderly and controlled life. Unfortunately, only for a while. Then the patient plunges into self-criticism, self-accusation, which lowers his motivation to introduce changes in eating behavior and in life, leads to social withdrawal, causes long-term depressed mood, and even leads to depression. Among those affected by BED, low self-esteem and difficulties in regulating emotions can be noted.
- People suffering from BED are characterized by reduced self-control and difficulties in coping with stress and emotions, and use ineffective coping strategies. They are characterized by low self-esteem, self-esteem based on the sense of attractiveness, and not life successes - explains prof. Katarzyna Kucharska, specialist psychiatrist and Master Practitioner of Eating Disorders and Obesity.
Bouts of compulsive eating do not last long (half an hour to two hours) but can be quite frequent. The direct effect of overeating is providing the body with a very large amount of calories. Much more than he needs. And because binge eating episodes do not end up inducing vomiting (as in bulimia), people with BED gain more and more weight and become obese, followed by complications such as glucose tolerance disorder, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome and heart disease.
Compulsive eating - treatment
Curing the urge to eat compulsively is a long struggle. "Miracle diets" help in the short term, and when the sick person returns to his "addiction", it causes a growing sense of guilt in him, which calms … by overeating.
Correct treatment of binge eating requires an interview with family members or caregivers of the sick person. The most effective and comprehensive therapy of eating disorders is guaranteed by the use of a multidisciplinary team of specialists. It should include psychotherapists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, internists, diabetologists and gastroenterologists.
Professionals should work together to build a strategy that will eliminate bouts of compulsive behavior. The first step is to identify the triggers. These can be: stress, a sense of boredom or weariness, loneliness, a sense of inner emptiness, helplessness (low agency regarding one's own life). These arepsychological factors. The others have more to do with food as such. This could be: seeing someone eating, a pleasant smell of some type of food (e.g. fresh bread), preparing a meal with an ingredient that the person usually refuses to eat. At the next stages, psychological therapy is introduced and a new diet adapted to the individual needs of the patient is established (quantity and quality of nutrients, meal times, etc.), including lowering its caloric value, if there is a need to treat overweight and obesity.
Compulsive eating treatment - helpful methods
Treating compulsions is not easy. However, there are several strategies that can prevent a compulsive eating attack. However, there are short-term strategies that can be used the moment a person becomes aware of the impending crisis and already knows that in a moment they will not have the strength to resist wasting the refrigerator.
- Immediate exit for a short walk,
- Taking a shower or bath,
- Friend's phone number,
- Rest, sleep - especially if the cause of binge eating is stress.
It is also good to learn what situations cause stress, e.g. returning from vacation to work (school), departure of a loved one. In such a situation, steps should be taken to prevent the crisis from revealing itself. These can be: visiting friends, going to the cinema, planning another exit (theater, opera), signing up for regular classes (evening course, training). If these methods do not work and your compulsive behavior worsens, you must see a psychologist who specializes in treating eating disorders.