Introduction: What is overeating (also known as Binge Eating)?

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is the most common form of eating disorder in the United States, with approximately 4.7% of adults (1.4% men and 5.1% women) suffering from it at some point in their lives (according to the American Psychological Association).

Overeating is a long-term problem that affects a person psychologically and physically. It is a disorder that can worsen over the years and can make someone feel like they will never be free of the torment.

Compulsive eating is a disorder characterised by an individual’s inability to control their food intake.

The affected person may feel out of control of their body and mind. They may also have feelings of guilt, shame or embarrassment about the amount of food they have eaten or the way they look after eating.

Overeating usually starts in early childhood, but it can start at any age, depending on the life events a person is going through (trauma, stressful events, major life changes and so on).

Symptoms of overeating

Signs that you may be overeating include the following:

• eating quickly and without pleasure or without feeling full
• you are very concerned about your own weight and body shape, even if you are overweight or underweight
• eating in secret and then feeling ashamed
• the problem usually gets worse over time and becomes a daily routine
• you abuse large amounts of food, usually sweets or junk food
• overeating can make you feel good at first, but then feelings of guilt, shame and disgust can quickly follow
• consuming a very large amount of food in a short period of time, such as over 2-3 hours
• feel that your own eating habits are out of control
• continue eating even when you are full or not hungry
• you eat very quickly, without chewing your food properly
• eat until your stomach feels like it is bursting
• dieting frequently, often without getting the results you want (i.e. without losing significant weight)
• overeating can worsen over days, weeks, months or even years.

If any of these feelings or habits sound familiar, you need help from a specialist to correct your relationship with food.

How to stop compulsive eating

With the rise of emotional eating in today’s society, its effects can be seen dramatically, all around us. Nowadays, more and more people are turning to food as a way to cope with their emotions.

But it shouldn’t come as a big surprise that the satisfaction brought by overeating can often harm those who practice it.

Emotional eating actually leads to poorer sleep quality, lower immune levels, and an overall decrease in happiness over time.

However, all these problems don’t come without their solutions. What you can do is find alternative ways to cope with emotions other than eating.

For some people, these solutions come from psychotherapy, for others through self-awareness or meditation practice. Others may need a higher physical activity regime or a better connection with themselves through breathing exercises to strengthen the mental connections between body and mind. There is no universal prescription, which is why calling in a specialist is recommended if you feel the problem is serious.

What causes emotional eating?

Emotional eating occurs for a variety of reasons. Contrary to popular belief, anxiety or boredom are not the only reasons. In fact, this behaviour is a response to emotions you might associate with feeling vulnerable. And these things can happen at any time, such as at work or even when you’re surrounded by friends.

Nervous system problems can also arise from overeating. A combination of good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle with a regular exercise routine can help prevent these effects, but these lifestyle changes are not a cure for overeating disorder.

Overeaters often experience depression, anxiety or other mood disorders. Statistics show that 8% to 58% of people with symptoms of clinical depression report engaging in bouts of uncontrolled unhealthy eating at least occasionally (Kulkarni et al., 2013).

Feelings buried inside you for years, for example, are often mistakenly experienced as hunger pains. When the person finally decides to confront these feelings and tries to deal with them, they will often be met with a form of punishment from their own body or a battle of their brain against the emotions they are experiencing. These are the same emotions that cause overeating.

Overeating is an unnatural response to emotions. It can occur when you feel powerless, worthless and ashamed in certain social situations. Or you miss certain foods when you don’t have them available (for example, you feel like you’re going crazy if you don’t have chocolate in the house). This can make you feel angry or frustrated with yourself, which can trigger excessive behaviour. This can in turn lead to feeling anxious or stressed and then overeating.

Or, you might eat a lot of food to compensate for feeling ugly, worthless, or not good enough for someone (a parent, your partner, or another important person in your life).

You may overeat because you want to be skinny for your boyfriend or so he won’t look after your work colleague. When you care a lot about your body, you end up only paying attention to the flaws you think you have physically, until you end up thinking everything is wrong with the way you look. Then you get discouraged and feel that nothing good can happen to you as long as you look like that, so you should eat more, so that at least something good can happen to you for the day. Obviously, this way of thinking only makes the problem worse.

The first step to stopping overeating is to identify what triggers your emotional eating. Once you know what triggers your emotional eating, you can start to work on it and find ways to deal with difficult situations in a different way.

For example, if you know that overeating is triggered by stress, then it might be helpful to find ways to cope with stress in a healthier way than overeating.

Or, if you feel lonely after work, try calling a friend or going for a walk instead of eating something unhealthy.

Ultimately, healing involves starting to identify and change the underlying causes of your emotions and behaviours.

Conclusion: start taking control of your eating

Emotionally healthy eating starts with understanding and letting go of the behaviours that are harming you. Forcing yourself to refuse food – often touted as the most effective way to deal with emotional eating – is literally starving your body of the nutrients it needs.

Healing overeating can only happen through a sometimes lengthy process of changing your relationship with food, your attitude to food and your reaction to the emotions you feel. Anything else only treats symptoms, not the cause.