Binge Eating

Binge eating is an eating disorder where you feel compelled to overeat. Binge eaters usually eat large quantities of food, including when they’re not hungry, in a short period of time and in private. They feel they have no control over their overeating.

The bingeing is followed by feelings of guilt or disgust at having eaten so much. This self-loathing highlights underlying psychological issues, such as depression and anxiety, which can be a cause and an effect of the disorder. Binge eating is different to occasional over-indulgence, which is not an eating disorder. 

Who is affected?

Anyone can be affected by binge eating, but it is more common in women than men and usually starts in the teenage years or early twenties. How is binge eating different to bulimia?

Binge eaters and people with bulimia often eat until they are uncomfortably full. Bulimics then purge the food they have eaten by making themselves vomit or by taking laxatives. People who binge eat do not purge themselves, and feel ashamed of their behaviour, whether they are overweight or not.

If overeating is a regular and uncontrollable habit, you may be suffering from binge eating disorder.

Binge eaters use food to cope with stress and other negative emotions, but their compulsive overeating just makes them feel worse. The good news is that binge eating disorder is treatable. With professional help and support, you can learn to stop binge eating.

It’s common to turn to food for comfort: unwinding after a long day with a hot bowl of soup.

But when eating becomes the main strategy for managing emotions and dealing with stress, it can develop into an unhealthy and uncontrollable food “addiction.”

Often, their binge eating is triggered by a depressed or anxious mood, but they may also overeat when they’re tense, lonely, or bored. They eat to feed their feelings, rather than their bodies.

The problem is that emotional eating doesn’t solve anything. It may be comforting for a brief moment, but then reality sets back in, along with regret and self-loathing. Emotional eating also leads to problems of its own—including weight gain and obesity.