Week Six: Binge Eating

This week, I thought I would cover the eating disorder called Binge Eating Disorder.  Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a type of eating disorder not otherwise specified and is characterized by recurrent binge eating without the regular use of compensatory measures to counter the binge eating.(www.nationaleatingdisorders.org)
So basically it means that someone with BED has frequent episodes are eating large amounts of food in a short amount of time without regular use of other things to get rid of the eaten food.  Its like Bulimia Nervosa, but without regularly getting rid of the consumed food.  BED still makes you feel guilty, depressed,or disgusted after eating the food.  Like any ED(eating disorder) people who have these mental illnesses can still be of normal or heavier weight. BED makes people often express shame, guilt, and distress over their ED.
Some signs of BED are :

• Being unable to stop eating, or being in control of food intake.
• Eating even when you know your full.
• Hiding food to eat in secret later.
• Eating normally around others, but when alone you gorge.

Some of the symptoms of BED are:

• Feeling stress or tension that is only relieved by eating
• Embarrassment over how much you’re eating
• Feeling numb while bingeing—like you’re not really there or you’re on auto-pilot.
• Never feeling satisfied, no matter how much you eat
• Feeling guilty, disgusted, or depressed after overeating
• Desperation to control weight and eating habits (found on  http://www.helpguide.org/mental/binge_eating_disorder.htm)