Binge Eating Support Series Post 1: What is a binge?
What exactly is a binge, anyway?
What exactly is a binge, anyway?
Have you ever noticed that people throw the term 'binge' around a lot these days? “I binge-watched Schitt’s Creek last night,” and “I guess he’s binge-drinking again this Thursday night” are just a couple of examples outside of food.
When it comes to binge eating, specific characteristics are involved, including the following:
1) An experience of loss of control while eating.
This is more than just thinking you ate more than you should or “blowing” your diet. When someone experiences clinically significant loss of control eating, they feel like they physically can’t stop eating once they’ve started. This might look like going back and forth into the kitchen to get food repetitively, with that feeling of loss of control. Others describe the experience as feeling like they’re completely disconnected from their body, or as if they’re a vehicle rolling down a hill, unable to brake. As a clinician, you might hear the following:
“Once I start eating, it feels like I can’t stop.”
“It’s like a magnet keeps drawing me into the kitchen.”
2) Eating an “objectively large amount of food”
What does “objectively large” mean? Eating disorder experts describe it as eating more than what most people would eat in a similar time frame under similar circumstances. Some estimate that an objective binge is equivalent to multiple meals’ worth of food. Often, people describe eating amounts of food that may be significantly less than this, but recognize the loss of control experience described above. This is called a subjective binge.
Research tells us that it’s not so much the amount of food as the distress associated with the experience that matters. Consultation note: When I work with therapists, I encourage them to assess this first characteristic thoroughly and provide education to clients they work with, because often people think they are binge eating when they actually don’t meet criteria.
An episode of binge eating involves by at least 3 of the 5 following criteria. Because us mental health providers love our acronyms, we’ll coin these as the “UNRAD” experience of:
Eating until you are Uncomfortably full
Eating when you are Not Hungry
Eating more Rapidly (or quickly) than what is typical of you
Intentionally eating Alone, or in secret, due to shame about your behavior
Experiencing Distress or Disgust after the experience
What is Binge Eating Disorder (BED)?
To meet criteria for Binge Eating Disorder, the above criteria should be met, and the binge eating must happen at least once weekly for a period of 3 months at a minimum. There must also be concerns about these eating patterns. If someone is using strategies such as exercise, vomiting, or other means to cancel out their binges (known as “compensatory behaviors”), they likely meet criteria for a different eating disorder.
Behaviors that are often mistaken for binge eating
If you (or a client) identify with any of the experiences below, or perhaps don’t meet the full criteria for Binge Eating Disorder, the following support posts in this series can still be helpful.
Repetitive snacking (AKA “Grazing”) – known as eating small amounts of food over time, it’s often driven by undereating, not giving yourself full permission to have certain foods, or need for stimulation of some sort. Though it can be distressing, it’s not a binge.
“Emotional” eating or eating to soothe yourself or distract from difficult emotions. Recognize that emotional eating is part of a normal relationship with food. If it is your only coping strategy, however, you might consider adding to your toolkit.
Eating something you hadn’t intended to, or “blowing the diet”. Also not binge eating, but often speaks to overcontrolled food intake and rigid food rules.
Eating until uncomfortably full. By itself… not a binge. Sometimes this is called “rebound eating” and is more likely to occur after a long period without eating or when you get really hungry. If you don’t eat enough regularly, or have a medical condition such as gastroparesis, this may also affect your experience of feeling full quickly.
This information aims to clarify what binge eating is—and what it is not. For accurate diagnosis, therapists are encouraged to assess these dimensions carefully and offer clients clear, compassionate education. For additional tips or applied support, reach out for more information on clinical consultation or eating disorder treatment.
The information shared in this blog is intended to educate and empower, not to replace medical or mental health services. It should not be used as a form of treatment. If you’re struggling or need individualized care, please reach out to a licensed professional.
10 things that can keep eating disorders going
10 Things that can keep eating disorders going
Eating disorders often develop as ways to cope— sometimes in response to stress, trauma, or experiences that felt unsafe or overwhelming. People sometimes feel frustrated with themselves for not being able to change their behaviors. Below are 10 things that can keep eating disorders going and make it challenging (but not impossible!) to recover.
Systemic Issues: Larger societal problems such as discrimination, food insecurity (not having enough food to eat), or weight bias can lead people to experience shame and stress, which can disrupt appetite and lead to the use of disordered eating to cope.
Being Below Your Body’s Desired Weight: Known as your “set point” (or “settling point”), being under your body’s desired weight can trigger intense hunger, cravings, and slowed metabolism. This can keep restriction and binge–restrict cycles going. Your body’s settling point can change over time.
Food Rules: Having rigid rules (e.g., “no carbs”; “no eating processed foods”) causes guilt when broken, which can fuel bingeing and restriction.
Restricting food you eat: Not eating enough in portion, timing, or variety causes fatigue, poor focus, extreme hunger, and binge urges. People may also experience other effects of food restriction. Read more about the effects of restriction here.
Basing your Worth on Body or Control over your food: Having your self-esteem be solely focused on weight, shape, or eating in a certain way reinforces body-checking, avoidance, and strict rules that keep the cycle going and can isolate you from doing what matters in life.
Other Weight Control Behaviors: Vomiting, fasting, over-exercising, or using products to cancel out or “make up” for your eating keeps your body undernourished and locks the binge–restrict cycle into place.
Life Stress & Difficult Emotions: Experiencing difficult emotions and stressful life events can make you vulnerable to using behaviors to cope or to use the eating disorder as a distraction. Treatment can help you learn coping skills and give you the opportunity to reflect on how to confront stressful situations.
Low Self-Esteem: Feeling unworthy fuels the belief that changing your body will make you “enough.”
Perfectionism: Unrealistic standards drive self-criticism and rigid thinking, making “good enough” impossible, and the bar keeps raising. It’s worth noting that achievement and meeting high standards are often praised in our society and by people in our lives, which reinforces these behaviors.
Relationship Difficulties: Strained or unfulfilling relationships can lead to using disordered eating to avoid, communicate distress, or self-soothe.
Although there are many things outside of our immediate control that can fuel eating disorders, treatment can help identify the things we can do to help ourselves. CBT for eating disorders can help you identify what keeps your eating disorder going, and offers ways to support you during recovery.
The information shared in this blog is intended to educate and empower, not to replace medical or mental health services. It should not be used as a form of treatment. If you’re struggling or need individualized care, please reach out to a licensed professional.