Stop Compulsive Overeating

DEFININTION:

Compulsive overeating people tend to have frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food in a short period of time and just a few of the feelings that accompany it are self destruction, out of control, and embarrassment.

This is very different from a "pig out" session with your girlfriends or football buddies. Someone who cannot stop binge eating can feel very alone and very ashamed of their behavior.

Research shows that external factors such as stress, major life changes such as divorce, marriage, moving to college or getting a new job can all be catalysts that lead to binge eating disorder. And because everyone processes stress differently some people use food as a comfort measure or distraction.

STATISTICS:

(source: About.com)
Estimates of binge eating disorder (BED) range from 1 to 5% of the general population. One source suggests that 3% of the overall population currently has BED. In Australia, the estimate is 4%.

A large-scale national survey in 2007 found that 3.5% of women and 2% of men reported histories of binge-eating disorder.

Based on the above data, about 65% of those with BED are women; 35% are men.

Also, a June 2008 study reports that 3% of adolescent boys binge or purge at least once per week, compared to 10% of adolescent girls.

SIGNS:

> Recurrent episodes of binge eating. To qualify as binge eating, both of the following must be present:

> Eating an amount of food that is clearly larger than what most persons would eat in a similar situation with the same amount of time, AND
> A sense that one cannot stop eating or control content or quantity of food intake

> Three or more of the following are associated with the binge eating episodes:
> Eating is notably faster than normal
> Eating occurs until the person is beyond full, to the point of discomfort
> The binge occurs when the person is not physically hungry
> The person chooses to eat alone because the amount of food consumed is embarrassing
> Disgust with oneself, depression, or guilt is present after overeating

> The binge eating produces significant stress.

> Binge eating occurs an average of at least two days per week for six months.

SYMPTOMS:

What to look for if you think you might be compulsive overeating:

Are you using food to:

* fill a void in your life
* feel better or cheer yourself up
* calm down or soothe your nerves
* escape from problems
* cope with stress and worries
* reward yourself

Most people feel this way if they have binge eating disorder. You are not alone.

Now that you know the stats, signs and symptoms it is time to get help.

Binge Eating Disorder Help: Dealing with Fear and Doubt

I hear this from my clients all the time, "I am afraid of who I will be if I am not a binge eater", or "I am afraid to stop binging". Whatever you are afraid of could be making you binge more and more. Facing your fear and dealing with doubt is a major step in treating binge eating disorder.

Fear drives us to do many things and one of them is to find alternate sources of protection to hide from it. We use food to hide from fear. We are afraid we will get hurt again by someone. We are afraid of our boss. We are afraid of seeing the real person within us. We are afraid to stand up to our parents, significant other, children etc. Fear is behind it.

Try to make a list of what, or who, you are afraid of. Be honest. No one is judging you and no one will read your list so go ahead and do it. What are you really afraid of?

Now that you have your list you can begin to take some simple steps to reduce your fear. Here are 5 quick tips you can start right away.

1. Use a journal to write down your thoughts - By writing down what it is that you are afraid of and why, starts the process of becoming "aware". In order to change something you must be aware of it.

2. Become the Observer - Imagine that you are able to view yourself from a distance as if you are watching yourself on a movie screen. You are actually sitting in the audience and you can see yourself up there on the movie screen. You can see yourself afraid of (whatever it is that you are afraid of) and you can see yourself on the screen reacting in a very frightened way. From the audience you can see the person on the screen and you can just view it without being involved in it. Does the person on the screen really need to be afraid of whatever it is that he/she is afraid of? By sitting in the audience and just viewing yourself up there you are able to remain calm and see the situation. Use your journal to write down what the movie was and how the person could be less afraid.

3. Understanding Doubt - Doubt and a lack of self-confidence can contribute to fear. They are also major factors in binge eating disorder. You can start right now to challenge your belief systems by asking yourself "why?"

Let's say I believe it is wrong to sit in the front seat of a school bus. Do you think there is anything wrong with sitting in the front seat of a school bus? The reason behind my belief is that my teacher told me it would make my legs grow shorter than the rest of the kids' if I sat in the front seat. So I believe I must never sit there. How am I going to know if that belief is true or not? Someone told it to me so I believe it. You are probably shaking your head saying it is not true right? But I believe it is. You are now trying to convince me that it is not true because you saw little Johnny sit there and nothing happened to his legs. In order for me to believe something different I would need to question my belief and find facts to back it up. Maybe my teacher told me that because his teacher told him that and that's what he believed.

Now if I were to say to you that you are worthless for having an eating disorder. Do you think that is true or false? If you answer "true" why do you believe that? Who is telling you that it is true? I happen to believe it is false. I know that because an eating disorder does not define who a person is. Challenge your negative beliefs.

4. Use the Law of Attraction - The Law of Attraction states that "like attracts like" so if you focus on fear, what will you get? More fear! That's right. But if you focus on being happy and confident, you'll get more of what you want. Try to state in a positive way what you want and focus on that, not on what you don't want. For example, if you said "I don't want to live in fear", you are still focusing on fear. Re-state it to, "I want to live in joy".

5. Meditation/Visualization - Imagine if you didn't have fear regarding a certain person, place or thing. What would that look like? What would it feel like or smell like? What would you hear or taste in your world without fear? Using your senses you can write in your journal exactly what it would be like to NOT have fear. Then close your eyes and truly see in your minds eye what you have written. Visualize every wonderful aspect of it.

One of the easiest ways to help you overcome fear is to surround yourself with positive people who are focused on the same goals you are. It's the Law of Attraction regarding people too. When you surround yourself with negative people you attract more negativity so make a conscious decision to meet new people and new support groups with a positive focus.

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Nadine Ann is the founder of the BreakAway Program for healing binge eating disorder. She created an online treatment program for those suffering from binge eating disorder looking for a natural means to healing. Nadine Ann is a Certified Nutritionist, Holistic Health Practitioner, Reiki Practitioner, Wellness Coach, and survivor of multiple eating disorders. For more information visit http://www.breakawayprogram.com

Compulsive Overeating, aka Binge Eating Disorder, is described as having recurrent or frequent episodes of eating unusually large amounts of food in a short period of time with a feeling of being unable to control it.

Research in the field of eating disorders has come a long way in the past 25- 30 years. Professionals now know that stress, major life changes such as divorce, marriage, moving to college or getting a new job can all be factors that lead to binge eating disorder. It is how a person interprets situations and how they deal with stress that helps to avoid binging.

You don't have to be a victim forever with this disorder. You can take action and change your life. Here are 5 tips to start you on the path to recovery.

Healing Tip #1 - Reduce Stress

Stress is the number one reason we continue to binge. It is however, not usually the root cause of the disorder. Some kind of trauma usually sets the stage for an eating disorder and stress contributes to it. By reducing the negative stress in your life you can lessen the binge episodes while you work on the healing the root cause of your disorder. Here are some quick ways to reduce negative stress.

1. Try not to over-schedule your time. If you are saying "yes" to everyone who needs you to do a project because you can't say "no" then you have overscheduled yourself. You must learn to say "no". Consider outsourcing, having meetings to discuss plans and stating your opinions. Learn assertiveness training.

2. Avoid being a perfectionist. People don't expect you to be perfect and you shouldn't expect them to be either. Be flexible in your expectations of others.

3. Focus on what you want, not on what you don't want.

4. Exercise. Even if you walk around your block at a pace comfortable for you, this will increase your good hormones that make you relaxed and happy. You can clear your mind in just 10 or 15 minutes of exercise.

5. Treat yourself with appropriate rewards when you solve problems before they become bigger. By not procrastinating you can avoid stressful situations.

6. Use a breathing technique to lower your heart rate so you can think clearly. A quick lesson that you can use now is to put your right hand on your abdomen, right at the waistline, and put your left hand on your chest, right in the center. Without trying to change your breathing, simply notice how you are breathing. Which hand rises the most as you inhale? If your abdomen expands, you are breathing from your abdomen or diaphragm. If your belly doesn't move or moves less than your chest you are breathing from your chest. The trick to shifting from chest to abdominal breathing is to make one or two full exhalations that push out the air from the bottom of your lungs. This will create a vacuum that will pull in a deep, diaphragmatic breath on your next inhalation.


View the remaining tips to stop compulsive overeating.

I ask this simple question...Are You Beautiful? What do you think makes people beautiful?

Try this simple activity to see how you fare:

Write down every single thing that you see as a FLAW in yourself.

Now, why do you think it is a flaw? Who is to say it is a flaw? Was it something someone mean said to you once that stayed with you forever and now you actually do believe it is true?

Try questioning why you think what you wrote down on your paper is true?

What do you come up with?

Do you know what the root cause of your eating disorder is? Would you know how to heal it if you found the cause?

A lot of books have been written on the subject of eating disorders and most of them will have you dig into your family history to find the pain that has been inflicted upon you so that you can determine who or what sent you into a downward spiral. Then you can focus on healing the relationship or the situation.

My approach is this: It's a good idea to find your past "hurts" and get them into the front of your brain instead of locked into the dark corner of it but I also don't think spending a ton of time digging for every last morsel of who hurt you on Thursday February 13, 1992 or Friday September 12, 2008 is effective either. Obviously if you were abused or you can pinpoint a specific issue then you should work on releasing it.

More importantly, I like to get right down to the nitty gritty of the problem and I'll give you the answer now as I do with my clients.

The root cause of everything you feel can 99% of the time be boiled down to a lack of self-worth. You can have all sorts of contributing factors that can lead to you feeling like you have little self worth and then your brain tries to make it all feel better and you subconsciously look for ways to make that happen.

When you aren't getting it from people the next best thing is...food! And so it begins.

Then you have the cycles that begin to happen with binging and binging begins to have a life all on it's own.

Makes sense huh. I know. It can be so simple and yet so hard.

But rest assured if you can figure out why you don't think you have self worth or what has caused you to binge eat you can certainly change it and move past it.