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Psychology of binge eating


Binge-Eating Disorder (Compulsive Overeating) | Psychology Today

Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

Binge-eating disorder involves the recurrent consumption of a large amount of food in a short amount of time. Binge-eating episodes are associated with eating more rapidly than normal, eating until uncomfortably full, eating large amounts of food when not physically hungry, and feeling disgusted with oneself or depressed afterward. Binge-eating usually occurs in secrecy or as inconspicuously as possible. Unlike bulimia, there is no purging after the eating episodes; as a result, binge-eaters tend to gain weight and may be overweight or obese. But while binge-eating is associated with obesity, most obese individuals do not engage in recurrent binge-eating.

Almost everyone overeats occasionally, and sometimes, depending on the circumstances (such as celebrations), it may be culturally appropriate to eat a large amount of food. Such situations are occasional, social, and celebratory. By contrast, binge-eating, or compulsive overeating, reflects a pattern of recurrent episodes of gorging that involve a loss of control and cause an individual significant distress; individuals engaging in binge-eating often feel depressed, disgusted, or ashamed about their eating habits. In addition, binge-eating involves consuming what most people think is an unusually large amount of food very quickly, eating to the point of discomfort, eating in secrecy, and eating even when not hungry.

Binge-eating disorder may be the most common eating disorder in the United States, where as many as 4 million adults struggle with it. It is more prevalent among women than men in the U.S. and afflicts individuals from all racial and ethnic groups. The condition is found more often among people seeking weight-loss treatment than in the general population. About 15 percent of the mildly obese, including those who try to lose weight on their own or with commercial products, are thought to have the disorder.

Contents
  • Symptoms
  • Causes
  • Treatment

Symptoms

The primary symptom of binge-eating disorder is recurrent episodes in which someone eats, within a 2-hour period, an amount of food that is significantly larger than what most people would eat under similar circumstances. Per the DSM, this episode should be characterized by a feeling that one lacks control over their eating behavior. In addition, the episode should be characterized by 3 or more of the following:

  • Eating more quickly than normal
  • Eating until the point of uncomfortable fullness
  • Eating when not physically hungry
  • Eating alone due to embarrassment about the amount of food one is eating
  • Feeling guilty, depressed, embarrassed, or disgusted with oneself

In order to meet the criteria for binge-eating disorder, the binge-eating episodes must occur, on average, at least once a week for three months. The diagnosis is can be categorized as mild, moderate, severe, or extreme based on the number of binge-eating episodes per week.

  • Mild: 1-3 binge-eating episodes per week
  • Moderate: 4-7 binge-eating episodes per week
  • Severe: 8-13 binge-eating episodes per week
  • Extreme: 14 or more binge-eating episodes per week

The condition typically begins in adolescence or young adulthood, but can begin in childhood or later adulthood.

How does binge-eating disorder differ from bulimia nervosa?

Binge-eating behaviors may also occur in individuals who have the eating disorder bulimia nervosa. Yet binge-eating disorder is distinct from bulimia nervosa, because people with bulimia often perform some activity to keep from gaining weight after they overeat. They may purge by vomiting or using diuretics; they may fast, not eating for long periods of time; or they exercise strenuously. Individuals with binge-eating disorder do not engage in these behaviors after a binge and thus tend to gain weight as a result of the condition.

What are the possible social consequences of binge-eating disorder?

People who compulsively overeat sometimes isolate themselves from public gatherings because of their embarrassment and depression over the disorder. They may miss work or school. Their ability to hide their habits may become so good that often even the people closest to them don't know they have the disorder; this can further increase feelings of isolation and may stop them from seeking treatment out of shame.

 

What health conditions are associated with binge-eating disorder?

Depression is frequently associated with binge-eating disorder. It’s also common for binge eaters to become clinically obese, which can increase the risk for developing medical conditions or exacerbate existing conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, gallbladder disease, heart disease, and certain types of cancer.

What is the link between binge eating and depression?

Binge-eating disorder and clinical depression frequently co-occur; some evidence suggests that as many as half of people who binge eat also have a mood disorder such as depression. The disorders may develop concurrently, perhaps due to a genetic vulnerability. It's also possible for one disorder to precede the other; binges can be an attempt to numb the painful feelings of depression, for example, while binges can themselves worsen self-esteem and lead to chronically low mood. 

Causes

The causes of binge-eating disorder are largely unknown. The disorder appears to run in families, which may reflect a genetic predisposition to developing eating disorders or a familial preoccupation with food or weight. Similarly, some experts suspect that psychological factors such as low self-esteem, poor body image, a penchant for yo-yo dieting, or stress can trigger or exacerbate episodes of binge eating. On a neurological level, the neurotransmitter dopamine is thought to play a role; some studies have found that people who engage in binge-eating behaviors may have abnormal levels of dopamine in their brains, though further research is needed to solidify this connection.

What psychological factors can trigger a binge-eating episode?

The most common antecedent to an episode of binge-eating is negative emotion. Other triggers include interpersonal stressors, feeling hungry or restricted by an overly strict diet, negative feelings related to body image, and boredom.

Treatment

There are several options for people who want help controlling their tendency to binge eat. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) teaches people how to keep track of their food consumption and change unhealthy eating habits; it also helps people alter the way they react in difficult situations. Interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) helps people to look at their relationships with friends and family and make changes in problem areas that could be triggering bingeing behavior. Drug therapy, such as stimulant medications or antidepressants, may be helpful for some people.

While CBT, IPT, and medication are effective, researchers continue to search for more helpful therapeutic strategies. Other potential avenues include dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which helps people regulate their emotions; drug therapy with the anti-seizure medication topiramate; exercise used alone or in combination with cognitive-behavioral therapy; and self-help strategies—self-help books, videos, and groups such as Overeaters Anonymous have helped some people control binge eating.

Weight loss surgeries, such as gastric bypass, may be used to help someone manage their weight. However, if the underlying psychological problem is not properly treated or monitored, such procedures can be dangerous for those who binge eat. It's critical that individuals disclose their binge eating behaviors before surgery—some with BED stay quiet out of fear that disclosing will disqualify them from receiving the procedure—and discuss the pros and cons of surgical interventions with all members of the treatment team, including therapists and dietitians. Post-surgery challenges may lead to relapse of binge-eating behaviors.

Exact treatment needs will vary from individual to individual. It is important for anyone struggling with an eating disorder to enlist a trusted health professional in coordinating and overseeing care.

What does treatment for binge-eating disorder usually look like?

Many people with eating disorders respond to outpatient therapy, including individual, group, or family therapy, as well as medical management by their primary care provider. Support groups, nutritional counseling, and psychiatric medications taken under careful medical supervision have also proven helpful for many individuals.

What medications are used to treat binge-eating disorder?

The ADHD medication lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (sold under the brand name Vyvanse) is also FDA-approved to treat binge-eating disorder. Vyvanse may help increase dopamine in the brain, overriding the need to increase dopamine with food.  Like many stimulant medications, it can also lead to decreased appetite as a side effect. Other medications used to treat binge-eating disorder include weight loss medications or antidepressants, especially if binge-eating behaviors co-occur with depression.

Is in-patient care ever necessary in cases of binge-eating disorder?

Hospital-based care (including inpatient, partial hospitalization, intensive outpatient, and/or residential care in an eating disorders specialty unit or facility) may be necessary when an eating disorder results in physical problems that may be life-threatening, or when it is associated with severe psychological or behavioral problems, such as suicidality. 

References

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition.

National Institutes of Health.

Conti, C. , Lanzara, R., Scipioni, M., Iasenza, M., Guagnano, M. T., & Fulcheri, M. (2017). The Relationship between Binge Eating Disorder and Suicidality: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in psychology, 8, 2125. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02125

Last updated: 04/01/2022

The Psychology Behind Binge-Eating And How To Avoid It

Found yourself binge eating again? There is actually a reason behind it. Find out in this post along with tips & alternatives to prevent it.

We’ve all been there. That point where you are comfortably full and you could push the plate away and be fine. That fine line where you know if you take another bite you’re going to feel a bit too stuffed but you do it anyway. That one bite that turns into another.

More sauce. More texture. Better flavor.

Your goal went from eating until you are full to finishing everything on the plate… And then some. You’re eating faster then you were before, as if the food may disappear if you don’t devour it immediately. You want more flavor but you aren’t really tasting anything. You aren’t even really thinking about the food anymore. Just eating it until your plate is finished and then you’re left still wanting more.

It’s no longer about the food. It’s about filling your body.

 

What Binge Eating Is Really About

You see it’s not about food- it’s about the stimulation the textures and flavors are giving your mouth.
It’s about satisfying an oral fixation, stuffing your body until you feel numb.
You aren’t even sure why you’re eating at this point, and you already know you’re going to regret it. You feel sick and part of you really wants to stop, but the other half just doesn’t care.

Binging is never really about the food. It’s about the emotion.

  • Boredom
  • Loneliness
  • Frustration
  • Anger
  • Stress

That is the reason we binge.

 

The Excuses You Tell Yourself

The excuses we make for ourself to binge are truly incredible. Like really, where did we come up wit this creativity?

I’ll start your healthy diet tomorrow, you tell yourself, as convincingly as a robber caught red-handed.
You don’t care, you fall for the white lie that’s made you on your 2nd piece of white cake, that one you got for the guests coming tomorrow but told yourself you wouldn’t eat.. Oops.

“You know what, I work so hard,” you tell yourself, “ I deserve this,” you justify.

You think of every excuse why this gorge-session is totally tolerable.

It’s been a tough week.

You ate healthy today.

Last time you went out to dinner, you didn’t have dessert.

All excuses that you pretend to fall for as you fall deeper into your cabinets, searching for something to eat to satisfy that undying craving.

 

The Reason We Binge

The reason we binge is because  we want to fill our bodies when our souls feel empty. We are literally putting food into our stomachs, where the solar plexus chakra is located, signaling an imbalance. The solar plexus chakra governs our sense of identity and power.

When we feel out of control with our lives, we fixate on our eating habits because it’s the one thing we always have control over. While some people assert this power by undereating, others deal with this imbalance by overeating. They are very different responses coming from the same feeling- that you aren’t whole already.

 

Why we Undereat vs Overeat

When you undereat, you’re asserting the power of your mind over your body. By denying your body of its most basic need- nourishment- you feel a sense of strength because in a way you have “beat the system” by overcoming hunger, our most natural instinct. This is a Vata Imbalance

When you overeat, you are trying to fill yourself up with some sort of emotion– love, fulfillment, community, purpose. There is a void inside of you that you are trying to replace with food. This is a Kapha imbalance, as Earth energy makes us feel more dense, heavy and dull. 

 

Saying Screw You

Often times, our binging habits go back to childhood. Perhaps a parent denied you from junk-food and you had to secretly go behind her back. Eating the “wrong” food was a way of you getting back to your parents.  You may have felt like you were “beating the system” by gorging on cupcakes when no one was looking. You think, If no one heard the tree fall, then did it really make a sound? 

However, what began as a “screw you” to your parents, became a habit. You realized the only person you are hurting by binge eating is yourself, but now it’s too late to stop.

That’s because eating has become more than the food- it’s an experience. It’s a form of rebellion. It’s maybe one of the only times you have to yourself alone.

Perhaps as a child, the only time you had to yourself was late at night in the kitchen, getting lost in a box of cookies. Though you knew you weren’t supposed to, it felt so satisfying to do it anyway. Most of us didn’t practice meditation growing up, but eating was a time of pure mindfulness. It was the only time of the day we felt in our bodies, which is an addicted feeling. Eating makes us feel alive. It activates our senses.

When we binge-eat, we are in a way searching for that feeling of aliveness that food gives us. It’s a primitive urge that fuels us to feed and feed and feed. In fact, it’s biological. Our bodies were designed to store as much fat as they can on us to keep us alive. It’s a method of survival. That’s why it feels so good to stuff your face with carby and fatty foods. It’s your brain rewarding you for storing excess calories.

However, we aren’t living in the ice-age. There is no need to store enough fat on your body to last you through the winter. Your parents aren’t telling you you can’t eat the Halloween Candy but you’re doing it anyways. You are now an adult. Your body is your decision. And it’s benefits are yours to experience and no one else’s. You aren’t getting away with anything just because no one saw it. You are only hurting yourself.

 

Socializing and Food

For others of us, we only binge when we are in the company of others. Birthdays, weddings, company events, all full of sugary foods and salty snacks and things that we would never let ourselves have at home. So we binge while we can.

Many of us feel like if we didn’t spend money on food, it doesn’t really count as calories. Just because the food isn’t in your kitchen, it still counts.

 

We binge in social settings for a number of reasons.

1) We are excited.

2) We aren’t being mindful.

3) We are more forgiving of ourselves.

4) It brings us closer to those around us.

 

Food is actually meant to be consumed socially. In countries around the world, social gatherings revolve around food. Families share dinner nightly. Nobody eats alone. It’s considered rude to eat without waiting for the rest of your tribe. Today, however, we often eat at our desks or on-the-go or in front of our laptops.

So when we do see friends, it’s for a meal. And we go HAM.

Think about it: when you want to spend time with someone, you most likely ask them if they’d like to meet for lunch, dinner or even just coffee and pastries. It’s rarer to hear someone say, “Let’s get together sometime under this lovely tree and enjoy each others company.” Though very lovely.

Subconsciously, we have connected socializing with food. We relate the positive memories of birthdays, dinners, movie nights and sleepovers with the food we ate during them.

Because we are so hungry for social connection, we confuse that hunger so something that fills us more immediately- food.

Our minds and bodies are connected. When we are stressed or lonely, our mind wants to go back to that happy place and our body remembers that it was eating food, hence signals hunger cues. What we really were craving was something so much deeper.

 

Eating as a Distraction From Work

Our fixation for food isn’t only for the social gatherings we cognitively relate it to- it’s also for those moments you have with yourself. When working, we often get cravings for snacks. When I’m working on something hard, every 10 minutes the kitchen calls me to satisfy another craving, which I avert with tea.

It’s not because we are hungrier when we are working- it’s because we subconsciously relate food as a break. We rarely take breaks for anything besides eating or going to the bathroom, therefore when our minds want a break from this stressful state we’ve put it in, our body says, “I know what will get her away from that desk- food. Cue hunger signals.”

Notice if your cravings arise when you have a tough task at hand. If so, that’s your body’s way of saying, “I don’t want to be here right now.” Instead of denying your body, listen to it- by giving it a break, not “easing” your stress with sugar, which will actually make you feel worse.

What your body needs isn’t a cookie- it’s time to rest and repair itself. Take a walk outside, do some yoga, jump in place, do some hip circles, get the blood flowing. Beat the stagnation not by walking to the fridge but by waking the rest of your body, which has been neglected and is asking for some attention.

 

How To Avoid Binge Eating

By Assessing the Emotion Behind Your Binge Eating

Behind every binge is an emotion.

Pay attention to when you binge and ask yourself the following questions.

  1. Am I tired?
  2. Am I thirsty?
  3. Does my body hurt?
  4. Am I working on something hard that I’d rather not be doing right now and just need a break?

If the answer is YES to any of the above. Then give your body what it needs.

 

Tips To Avoid Binging

  1. Stay hydrated! Keep sipping room temperature to warm water throughout the day, taking a sip every 20 minutes
  2. Get enough sleep! Even lying on a mat during a lunch break could give you the pick-up you need
  3. Stretch your body! A stiff body = a stiff mind! Loosen those shoulders and hips up!
  4. Give yourself a healthy break! Take a walk, make it to a lunchtime workout class, do some jumping jacks, shimmy your hips and shoulders.
  5. Drink tea! It gives you that flavor you may be looking for without adding any calories.
  6. Keep away from the coffee. It will cause a rise and crash in your energy levels, making you crave more food later on in the day.
  7. Do hip circles. Binge-eating is related to our sacral and root chakras. By moving energy in this area, we can release the tension we are holding onto.

 

Free Printables:

 

 

In Psychology of Binge-Eating Part 2, I’ll tell you WHY most binges take place at night and what you can do about it.

In Psychology of Binge-Eating Part 3, I’ll explain how our chakra balance is related to our relationship with food and how a root chakra imbalance may be the cause of your binges!

I would love to hear in the comments: do you have a history of binge-eating? In what setting? What did you do to overcome it?

With gratitude,

Psychological causes of overeating | Psychological center PsyQ.ru

Who is warned…

The first signs of overeating should not be neglected. As long as they are small, you can easily fix the situation. Over time it will get harder. The need for food will begin to arise automatically, overeating will become habitual. This is how a psychological dependence on food is developed. We must remember that we do not get better in one day. Excess weight creeps up on us imperceptibly and gradually. Already now you need to watch what you eat, where you eat and how you eat.

How to eat?

Eat regularly, little and often. Proper eating behavior consists of 5-6 meals a day so as not to feel hungry and not to snack.

Eat slowly, chewing food slowly and thoroughly.

Eat only at the table. When you eat standing up or walking, you eat more.

Eat with pleasure. Food should bring joy to life. Enjoy what you eat. Turn your meal into a small celebration.

Don't worry about food. A good mood, a pleasant atmosphere during meals are very important. Don't educate each other at the table.

Eat light, live, natural foods. Remember about proper, rational nutrition.

When you eat, do nothing else. Don't watch TV, don't read, don't work. But a leisurely conversation over food does not hurt. It will help you pause between meals.

How to start?

If the problem of excess weight already exists, then, first of all, you need to understand its cause and only then apply the most appropriate method. Often, the negative emotions caused by the consciousness of one's fullness prompt one to look for different ways to lose weight, including the encouragement to follow a diet. All this, in turn, can provoke new negative emotions leading to overeating, and the inability to cope with this problem gives rise to more negative emotions and a vicious circle is created.

To get out of this vicious circle, it is important to understand that you need to lose weight only for yourself, slowly and gradually, changing your eating habits. Then the body can get used to the new weight and fix it. Before getting rid of excess fat, kilograms and cellulite, you need to learn to love and respect yourself. Observe yourself and analyze everything that happens to you. It is not enough to lose weight, it is important to understand yourself and the causes of excess weight. It is often difficult to do it yourself. And here you will be helped by experienced psychotherapists and psychologists dealing with the problem of psychological correction of overweight.

Reason #1. Food is a substitute for love

When the stomach is filled with food, other needs are unconsciously blocked and fade into the background. This method is used by people who may lack "body strokes" in the family. They cannot distinguish genuine appetite from gluttony and turn into slaves of the stomach.

The seeds of food addiction are sown in early childhood. Often parents seek to satisfy the child's needs for love, affection, attention through food, and not through conversation, play, etc. Food begins to replace communication with loved ones. In adult life, it is comfortable for a person to contact with others only if there is a feeling of fullness of the stomach with food.

Reason #2. Food is an antidepressant

In stressful situations, we experience internal tension. Our life brings a lot of negative emotions. If things aren't going well at home, or if we're busy with work and in trouble, it's easy to succumb to the temptation to comfort ourselves with food during this difficult period. It turns into the best medicine for mental adversity.

Reason #3. Eating on the run

In everyday life, we often do not eat at home, have a snack in a hurry, eat food between main meals. Snacking at work with a cup of tea, eating sweets in front of the TV is a very common occurrence. Haste in eating interferes with the proper assimilation of food, can contribute to a lack of vitamins and mineral salts in the body. After such a meal, we feel tired. Eating disorders include irregular meals and heavy meals in the evenings. Very often, a strong appetite is played out after a “hungry” and busy day. We overload the stomach with impunity and force the entire digestive tract to work hard.

Reason #4. Overeating out of habit

Sometimes the lack of desire or lack of information about proper nutrition leads to a lack of culture in food. To this day, one can hear the opinion that if everyone in the family is full, well-fed, “look good”, then this is the result of maternal care and love. It is parents who can create bad eating habits in children. Heredity, in this sense, is simply a continuation of some kind of “family tradition”.

Appetizing stress

Men often “drink down their sorrows and misfortunes”, about a third of women “eat” them. During periods of stress and nervous shocks, their appetite greatly increases.

Increased appetite is accompanied by intense thirst, drowsiness and a desire to lie in bed as long as possible, preferably not alone. Is it possible to change such a reaction of the body to stress, and why the body sometimes reacts in this way, we asked the doctor of medical sciences, professor of the Moscow Medical Academy. THEM. Sechenov, neurologist Tatyana Gratsievna Voznesenskaya.

Active and passive response

There are two types of response to stress. The described situation is a classic passive reaction to stress. Such women do not try to act and solve existing problems. On the contrary, they stop taking any steps. But the anxiety is there, and it needs to be drowned out somehow. They prefer to be distracted and achieve some stability through alcohol, food, sex, and smoking. This is a kind of removal from stress, switching to another type of activity.

On the other hand, there are some ladies who cannot eat at all during difficult times. These are exactly the situations when a person goes to an exam and, out of excitement, cannot even take a piece of bread in his mouth. In such cases, refusal to eat is combined with nausea and, sometimes, with alcohol intake. But at the same time, insomnia appears, sexual desire sharply decreases and violent emotional reactions are evident. It can be hostility, irritability, aggression, anxiety, tears, a feeling of panic, confusion.

These women are very active. They move too much and sometimes senselessly, cannot sit still, run around the room, fiddle with something in their hands.

With such a reaction to stress, a woman tries to deal with the situation. Success or failure is another matter. However, her body seems to be saying: now is not the time to eat, not the time to sleep. And the time to do something, act and look for a way out of a difficult situation.

In fairness, it should be noted that there are much more such "activists" among women. But there are also those who passively react to stress by eating it. Among them, overweight women are more common. Moreover, as an "antistress" they choose cakes, sweets, pies, buns and other sweets.

Candies and sweets are often taken orally instead of stress medication

Weaknesses of curvy women

There is a special category of people who have disturbances in the work of certain brain systems. They lead to the fact that a person cannot control his appetite. He is not hungry, but still wants to eat. The extreme form is the constant desire to eat something.

Secondly, is a way of life adopted in the families of obese people. As a rule, there is a special relationship with food. They have always loved to eat. The reception of guests was invariably accompanied by plentiful feasts. The most popular were fatty, meat, hearty and sweet flour dishes.

Food was strictly treated in the house. She was never thrown away, and everything cooked had to be eaten. The basic rule is that nothing is left on the plate.

Literally from birth, a child was brought up with a special attitude to nutrition. If he cries, it means that he is hungry; if he is naughty, it means that he needs to be fed.

Thus, food in the mind of a little man is associated with something good. She is always a plus sign for him. And gradually developed a reflex: when he feels bad, you need to eat. Preferably sweet and tasty. Food acts as a stress reliever.

And, having matured, the lady will continue to save herself from all problems with sweets and cakes.

Preventive measures

Stress eating habits can be combated. We need to learn how to deal with stress in other ways. It's difficult, but still real. You should not choose a diet as a new technique. Diets don't help. A person is already uncomfortable, and then there is also the rejection of the usual diet. It is just right not only not to cope with stress, but also to earn a new one - against the backdrop of a diet. Eating a lot is a habit. And habits must be broken slowly and gradually.

1 Ask yourself why?

If you want to eat something and your hand reaches for a bun by itself, first think: why am I doing this? If you want to eat, that's one situation. And if I ate only half an hour ago, and now I just got nervous after an important conversation and really wanted something sweet? Stop and try to relieve stress in a different way. Take a shower, take a walk, or talk to someone.

2 - Tighten access

If you know that you tend to “eat” stress, never keep food on hand. Chocolate in a lady's purse, candy in your pocket - this is not for you. Food should not be available.

3 - Do not try to beat the boa constrictor

Always eat slowly, chewing your food thoroughly. Indeed, under stress, people try to swallow as much as possible and quickly. It affects the unconscious desire to get rid of worries and experiences. Satiety occurs 15-20 minutes after eating. Therefore, it is wiser to stretch your meal for this particular time.

If you are unable to cope with overeating on your own, it is wise to seek help. Otherwise, close to obesity. Or there may be another extreme - bulimia nervosa. It is characteristic of very thin women or those who have a normal weight. The reason is the same - a reaction to stress. A woman tries to drown out pain or resentment with sweets. Sometimes in huge quantities. Then, frightened that he will get better, he deliberately induces vomiting and gets rid of everything eaten.

So she is quite pleased with herself. On the one hand, she relieved stress, on the other hand, she kept her figure. This is how psychological addiction appears: stress - overeating - getting rid of. For a while, everything seems to be fine. And it won't happen again.

But with the next nervous shock, everything starts all over again. The body "remembers" how good it felt after eating the cake, and demands the same. It's very difficult to resist. Moreover, knowing that later you can get rid of what you eat. Self-management of bulimia is very difficult. If you feel that the situation is getting out of control, do not delay the visit to a specialist.

The psychology of overeating - causes and ways to get rid of

A person who periodically diets or restricts himself in food due to fear of gaining weight balances between restrictive eating behavior and food addiction - a complex psychosomatic disease.


This is a kind of scale. So, you decide to lose weight, you completely exclude all "bad" food, eat exclusively according to the canons of the current diet, try to reduce portion sizes to a minimum, behave "correctly". From the deprivation of everything that you love, the scales with deprivation rise to the very top. Sooner or later you give in to temptation and eat something forbidden. After all, you have been behaving “correctly” for so long, and there will definitely be no harm from a small portion of delicious food. And it really will not happen if a person does not have problems with eating behavior. In a food addicted person in such a situation, a sense of guilt grows for the deviation from dogmas, portions of forbidden food increase.

Then inevitably follows the stage of withdrawal from food restrictions and rampant overeating. This is a physical deprivation, but it also has a psychological aspect. Those who lose weight chronically as a result of constant food restrictions lose sensitivity to biological signals of hunger. After small dietary indulgences, a rapidly growing sense of guilt and a feeling of own weakness lead to the fact that a person literally pounces on forbidden food. The deprivation is over, but the feeling of guilt increases dramatically.

How to deal with overeating?

One of the most important pieces of advice is that there is unconditional permission. You are free to eat whatever you want! You can choose any food! Unconditional permission to eat means that you no longer have the forbidden food. In nature, there are no such foods and dishes from which you will inevitably lose weight or gain weight, so dietary thinking loses its significance.

Don't think that if there are no prohibitions, you won't be able to stop. Only at first it is possible that you will eat more than you need. If for many years you have deprived yourself of much that seemed tasty to you, then you should not be surprised at the response of the body.
Just remember to eat based on your hunger and satiety signals. Also, don't lose sight of the pleasure principle. Eat slowly, thoughtfully, savor. Think about what you want to eat here and now. Do you really enjoy it.

How to get rid of overeating - tips

To make friends with food and yourself, you can do the following:

  1. Make a list of foods and dishes that you most often crave
  2. Then divide the list into those foods that you eat regularly and those that you consider especially harmful, taboo and try to avoid.
  3. Give yourself permission to eat one food or one dish from the last "forbidden" group of the list. Then buy this food, order it in a cafe, bring it home and let this “harmful” product be in your most prominent place.
  4. Watch how you feel when you eat this food. Do you think this “forbidden” food is as delicious now as you expected? If yes, then allow yourself to use it every time the desire arises.
  5. Make food that you have tried to avoid in the past always available to you. It is advisable to ensure its presence in the kitchen in sufficient quantities. You should know that you can always eat what you are drawn to.
  6. As soon as you notice that eating a "forbidden" dish or product no longer causes you negative feelings or feelings of guilt, you can consider that you have made friends with this food. This is an indicator of progress.
  7. Move on to the next taboo item on your list and deal with it in exactly the same way.
  8. If you have too many similar products and dishes, then it is not necessary to establish good relationships with everyone at the same time.
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