2023-12-14 09:42:28
Taking advantage of the Christmas holidays, there are many who have ever allowed themselves the license to binge eat. However, it is one thing to eat a lot from time to time and quite another to have the so-called binge eating syndrome or disorder. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), under the United States Department of Health, defines it as the act of uncontrolled eating at least once a week within a minimum period of time. of three months.
The person with binge eating syndrome also displays at least three of the following behaviors during a binge eating episode:
– Eat much faster than normal
– Eat until you feel uncomfortably full
– Eat a lot without being hungry
– Eat alone or secretly out of shame
– Feel disgust, depression or guilt after each binge
Dr. Marisa Navarro, author of Emotional Eating, explains that they are people who “eat enormous amounts of food, in a very short space of time, and with the feeling that they cannot stop eating, that they cannot control what is happening to them.” happening” and adds that “after these episodes the person feels very guilty, ashamed and decides that it will not happen again, but after a short period of time the binge repeats, without them believing that they can avoid it; It is an enormous force that leads them to repeat the situation again.”
No punishments
Something that differentiates it from other eating disorders such as bulimia is that people who suffer from binge eating syndrome do not usually have episodes of punishment, with food restriction, or causing themselves to vomit, purge, or exercise until they are exhausted to compensate for the pain. excess food, simply after the aforementioned lack of control they return to eating normally, “until the next episode of binge eating, which will not take long to occur,” says the doctor.
Binge eating disorder can range from mild to severe. The person with binge eating disorder is usually overweight or obese (a weight greater than what is considered healthy for their height). Other related health problems include: digestive problems, headaches, joint pain, muscle pain, stress, sleeping problems, depression, and menstrual cycle (menstruation) problems in women.
difficult to detect
The doctor explains that, generally, people who suffer from binge eating syndrome feel ashamed of their lack of control when eating and may try to hide the problem. “In most cases, people affected by this syndrome feel that they have no control and that they believe they cannot avoid them, so they try to secretly indulge in these binges, and hide it from everyone around them, hence the difficulty.” To detect it, even the closest family does not realize what is happening.”
These excesses are usually food in general or whatever is on hand, but on many occasions they are binges on some food that the person really likes and finds very appetizing. “They are capable of going to buy it in large quantities or prepare it to binge,” Marisa Navarro clarifies.
Guilt and anxiety
The specialist insists that this way of eating has a lot of compulsive behavior, and that all people who suffer from it have in common how difficult it is for them to stop eating, to control that situation that overwhelms them and they believe they cannot handle.
According to Dr. Navarro, “the action of binge eating is always preceded by thoughts, which do not have to be related to eating, but which are causing us feelings of anxiety and anguish, and these lead us to an overflow action that It’s binge eating.”
For the expert, this binge momentarily calms anxiety, fills possible emotional voids that we may have and satisfies the shortcomings we feel, although only occasionally. “In this way, neural circuits are created between the feeling of anguish and anxiety and the search for calm through binge eating, and it is repeated every time these emotions overflow.”
Warning signs
People who suffer from this syndrome tend to eat much more quickly during these periods, and eat until the feeling of fullness is quite uncomfortable, even becoming unpleasant.
After each episode the person feels shame, disgust, feelings of guilt, devaluation and very low self-esteem; these feelings usually accompany them until the next episode.
Treatment
Binge eating syndrome needs psychotherapeutic treatment as it mainly has an emotional component (talking to a trained therapist about your mood, feelings, thoughts and behaviors) and, in some cases, pharmacological treatment is also necessary.
#binge #eating #syndrome #anxiety #manifests #food