Constant overeating can stem from external and internal triggers – but there are steps you can take to stop bingeing and get healthy.
Beginning during her freshman year in college, the now 20-something Monica Olivas of Lake Forest, Calif., wanted to lose weight. Sustenance became a Slim Fast shake in the morning followed by a tiny lunch. By the time she came home at night, she was ravenous — and primed for an eating binge.
Although it’s perhaps not as widely recognized as anorexia or bulimia, binge eating, which is defined as eating excessively large amounts of food and feeling out of control while doing so, is an eating disorder. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, Binge Eating Disorder (BED) affects between 1 and 5 percent of adults, with slightly more than half of binge eaters being women. And this chronic overeating can have serious consequences, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, poor self-esteem, and suicidal thoughts.
Why People Binge
If you lack a role model for healthy eating or if you’re surrounded by people who overeat, you may be more likely to binge. Drastic dieting, where extreme calorie restriction leaves dieters feeling deprived, can also lead to a binge and the kind of boomerang reaction Olivas had — feeling overly hungry and answering the emptiness with overeating.
For some people, a tendency toward binge and impulsive eating can be programmed into their DNA. In a study published in theJournal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers found that the people considered most impulsive weighed on average almost 25 more pounds than those considered the least impulsive.
Bingeing can also be a response to emotional issues. “Binge eating can be a way to stuff one’s feelings down, just like how alcoholics drink to ‘numb’ themselves emotionally,” says Esther Kane, MSW, an eating disorders psychotherapist in Canada and author of It’s Not About the Food: A Woman’s Guide to Making Peace With Food and Our Bodies. Feeling internally out of control and not knowing how to express or soothe yourself, being a victim of abuse, and using overeating as a form of self-harm, can all contribute to a bingeing habit.
How to Prevent Bingeing
To stop bingeing, you first need to understand the underlying cause. If you’re dealing with internal issues, it’s crucial to recognizing that bingeing is a symptom of something deeper and that the real work is to uncover and treat the root of the issues. In this case, therapy and self-help groups such as Overeaters Anonymous can be helpful.
There are practical strategies as well. “Definitely limit your access to ‘tempting foods’ — the ones you binge on,” says Sheela Raja, PhD, an assistant professor and clinical psychologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “It’s better to go out and buy an ice cream cone than to keep a gallon of ice cream in your fridge if it’s highly tempting for you. You can plan to go out for ice cream once a week as a way to prevent a binge.”
Setting a realistic eating plan for yourself rather than trying out extreme or unhealthy diets is also important. You don’t have to go it alone — bring in some reinforcement by working with your doctor or a nutritionist for guidance.
How to Stop Mid-Binge
The next time you find yourself staring into a half-empty gallon of ice cream, remember it’s not too late to break the pattern. To stop the cycle, take a “time out” for the next 20 minutes to do something else, ideally an activity not compatible with eating, such as jumping on a stationary bike or into a soothing shower. Take this time to also explore the underlying reason for the binge. Write your thoughts in a journal or talk to a friend. With this new perspective, when the 20 minutes are up, you won’t feel compelled to resume eating.
Stopping a binge pattern in the long-term can be successful with work and commitment. “It takes 21 days to change a behavior, so start with not bingeing just for today,” Kane says. To permanently quit the habit, she suggests using "self-care tools,” such as journaling, talking to a trusted friend, practicing relaxation techniques like yoga or meditation, learning to identify and express feelings, taking a bath, and exercising regularly. These techniques can help ease built-up emotions and tensions.”
Just as working on a new eating plan with a nutritionist can change your diet pattern, working with a therapist can help you identify new ways of thinking and build positive habits. Self-help groups can provide you with support from others who understand and have worked through similar challenges.
Today, Olivas is doing much better — she even blogs about her journey toward a lifetime of healthy eating and exercising at Run Eat Repeat. But that doesn’t mean the struggle has completely disappeared.
“Starve myself all day and come home to binge — that is my instinct to this day,” she says. “When I get home from work or errands, I always walk straight to the kitchen for food. I don’t stand in the kitchen and binge now, but I do try to stay mindful of eating out of habit.”
She, too, recommends taking it one day at a time: Decide that today you won’t binge and repeat.
