Binge Eating Disorder: The Most Common Eating Disorder (May 2012)
When it comes to the holidays and special occasions over-eating has become “normalized” as part of the American culture, but for those who struggle with binge eating disorder (BED) their relationship with food has evolved into a way of numbing out or escaping from reality usually dealing with unpleasant feelings.
According the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), BED is more common than anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN). Did you know that BED occurs in 1 in 35 adults in the U.S.? This is equivalent to 3-5% of women (About 5 million) and 2% of men (3 million) who seek treatment.
Binge Eating Disorder is a set of behaviors that are used to protect and serve as coping mechanisms for the individual. These include having a large amount of food in a short period of time, often times being isolated and with high levels of shame, guilt and distress about binging in the first place. The disorder is not only rooted in genetics, but environmental factors may also play a role. Food is used to deal with stress, poor self-esteem, personal issues, weight issues and bullying. They can also coincide with un-treated and treated psychological issued such as depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc.
Binging often becomes an everyday occurrence/ritual with especially having increased discussion around “body talk”; holidays can increase the anxiety for the individual which are often seen as triggers.
BED will be recognized as a separate and distinct eating disorder in the DSM-V publication beginning 2013 as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa have been recognized.
When an individual is focused on losing weight, recovery is not able to be sustained since the core issues are not being addressed. It is important to create a treatment team amongst a psychologist and a registered dietitian (also known as a nutrition therapist) (the client may be seeing a psychiatrist and of course their physician). A nutrition therapist is a registered dietitian (R.D.) who helps individuals work with their thoughts and feelings centered on food. They will help the individual create a road map and/or a meal plan in which they feel as if they are consuming their safe foods while being able to learn how to listen to their hunger and fullness cues. The client will also learn how to eliminate food rules, diets and counting calories with being able to address mindfulness and desires around food. He or she would ideally be able to use their intuition and knowledge to make food choices confidently and eat without experiencing shame.
Resources: www.bedaonline.com & www.something-fishy.org
