Binge eating
Dec 31, 2008Binge, a word commonly associated with an excessive intake of drugs or alcohol. College students are the largest group known to participate in this practice. However, binge has recently become associated with something else, eating. In the extreme, it has been associated with an eating disorder known as bulimia nervosa, where sufferers often eat and then throw up the food they have eaten.
Bulimic individuals generally eat this large amount of food and then feel remorse for the large caloric intake. In a way, their bodies need this, because it is starving not of fat, but of other essential vitamins and nutrients. However, your body can only process so much at a time, and after using this practice for a certain amount of time, some can experience an automatic regurgitation.
While binge eating is most often associated with bulimia nervosa, it can occur on its own. For those who use binge eating, often known as emotional eating, outside of this particular eating disorder, it can lead to serious health problems such as morbid obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.
So how do you differentiate those who have a serious problem from those who just eat more on holidays or participate only in the occasional overindulgence? Binge eaters actually consume more calories in one sitting than the normal person does, even in those times of celebration or temporary stress. In addition, the binge eater feels out of control, like there is no way to stop themselves.
There is no set amount of food when we ask ourselves how much is too much. It is mostly personal assessment on an individual basis. For example, Michael Phelps may take in a gross amount of food as compared to the rest of us, and he may even eat a higher amount of food in one setting than any normal individual would. However, it is controlled, and he does it as a part of a disciplined training plan. The biggest factor is that while the average overeater or occasional indulger feels guilt for eating a large amount of food and stops, the binger, while they feel this guilt, is not able to stop themselves.