Binge eating for most folks typically looks like eating larger quantities of food (and usually not celery sticks!) in isolation, in a rapid fashion and with intense guilt and shame. It is marked by a sense of feeling ‘out-of-control,’ as if someone has hijacked you. One may feel disassociated, like an out of body experience. There is a compulsive quality as well, it’s like you must do this or else kinda feeling. It feels like you have no agency to stop. These cycles repeat themselves over time until one finally wakes up and realizes, ‘What in the holy heck is going on here? How did I get here and how do I get out?
Our dominant diet and wellness culture will offer you plenty of strategies to break free from binge eating. Many of these are likely harmful in that they focus too much on food and weight control. These solutions bypass the real issue and keep you locked into the cycle.
Instead of a food and weight centric perspective, I will offer you a weight neutral perspective and discuss three common myths about binge eating so you can finally begin to find some relief.
1. Myth: People with Binge eating just need more willpower, discipline and self-control.
FALSE: Binge eating stems from a complex interplay of emotional, psychological, and physiological factors. It can be a response to stress, trauma, or other underlying issues, rather than just a simple matter of willpower, discipline and control. Understanding the root causes can help in addressing the behavior more compassionately and effectively.
This misconception suggests that if you could just exercise more control over your food choices, you’d be able to stop bingeing and make the right “healthy” choices, lose weight etc.
Our diet obsessed culture loves to blame the individual and diet culture will remind you that you need more discipline, will power or self control. Diet culture also profits off this misconception because this often results in you getting back on The Plan- a new diet, etc. one that will make the system a lot of $$$. The idea that you just need more discipline, willpower and control perpetuates weight stigma as well as the stigma of having an eating disorder.
Binge eating disorder is a diagnosable mental health condition, much like depression or anxiety. It’s not simply a matter of choice, willpower or needing more discipline. Healing from binge eating involves time and professional support, such as working with an eating disorder dietitian and therapist.
Treatment approaches are individualized but will most typically address these areas:
-
- Establish regular eating patterns: Develop a structured meal plan to promote regularity with eating to stabilize blood sugar, and reduce the likelihood of binge episodes.
- Identify emotional and environmental triggers and what to do when sh*t hits the fan.
- Break out of destructive thought patterns: Cognitive behavioral (CBT) strategies to challenge negative thought patterns and beliefs associated with food, body image, and self-worth. From here we create a new non-judgmental way of relating to food, body, eating and movement.
- Intuitive eating and body trust practices: Introduction of the basics of IE, body trust and mindfulness practices to increase awareness of hunger/fullness cues and self-compassion.
- Coping skills within a harm reduction framework: Find your own unique way to cope differently with difficult emotions and stressors so that food is not your only way to cope with life difficulties.
- Nutrition education: Learning and unlearning what you know about nutrition in this system of toxic health and wellness messages. Find your own way of eating that is pleasurable and one that sustains your energy and promotes your definition of “healthy.”
- Body image concerns: Address deeper layers of body image by use of the decoding method which helps clients to discover for themselves the unmet intrinsic needs the behaviors are attempting to fulfill. These insights lead to greater access to self-compassion and healing. Getting to the root of what this “problem” is really about. Hint: It’s never actually about ‘bad body image’ or having a smaller body.
- Finding community in a broken system. Healing happens when we find community of like minded warriors who are also fighting the same battle against a toxic and oppressive system.
Remember that its not your fault you are struggling with binge eating. And, its not about needing to have more discipline, willpower or self control. Often the shame and isolation from having this will make it harder to get the support you need. Your deserve to life a life free from constantly thinking of food 24/7. You deserve to life a life where you can take up as much space as possible without having to apologize or feel the need to be silenced.
2. Myth: Only people in larger bodies struggle with binge eating.
FALSE: Binge eating affects people in all shapes and sizes. This myth stems from weight bias and weight stigma (discrimination). Our culture (again) does a great job of perpetuating harmful stereotypes of fat bodies through the media, magazines and just about everywhere in our environment.
It’s impossible to escape how pervasive fat phobia and weight stigma are in this culture.
This misconception hinges on the idea that body size reflects dietary choices. The real problem is the supremacy and dominance within diet culture equates status with the pursuit of health (i.e. thinness) while diminishing key social determinants of health. The real contributors to ill health are oppression, trauma, stigma, discrimination and social location. Body size variation is largely due to a range of factors beyond diet, including genetics, socioeconomic status, geographic location, access to food, and other social determinants of health.
It’s no surprise that weight bias and fat phobia are particularly prevalent in healthcare settings. Binge eating disorder is frequently misunderstood and many healthcare providers make erroneous assumptions about eating behaviors based solely on body size. They make an assumption that folks in larger bodies must have an overeating or binge eating problem, just as they would never suspect that a person in a larger body can actually suffer from anorexia (which is another blog for another day) based solely on the size of their bodies. Unfortunately for folks in larger bodies, they may avoid getting health care as a way to avoid further stigmatization and shame from their providers. I can’t tell you how many times my client’s have shared when they went to the doctor for a complaint about their migraine or neck pain and they were told they needed to lose weight.
3. Myth: Binge eating can be cured by dieting.
FALSE: One of the biggest myths about binge eating disorder is that it can be treated simply by dieting. The idea of “eat less, binge less” sounds straightforward, but it’s actually far more complicated that that. The truth is, dieting also known as food restriction is often the cause of binge eating. Restriction of food or even thinking of restricting or depriving oneself of food will most always be a set up to get back into the restrict-binge cycle.
Dieting triggers a state of energy deprivation in your body, regardless of your size. This deprivation leads to obsessive thoughts about food, heightened cravings, and an overwhelming preoccupation with eating. When you eventually allow yourself to eat, your body goes into overdrive, interpreting the situation as a chance to “stock up” due to anticipated deprivation. This often results in a binge. The aftermath of this binge is typically intense guilt and shame, which prompts further restriction in an attempt to make up for the binge, fueling the cycle further.
The reality is that one of the most effective ways to overcome binge eating disorder is to give yourself unconditional permission to eat a variety of foods and avoid restrictive eating patterns. While having a structured approach to eating can be beneficial, it’s equally important to challenge any food rules you may have around eating. For example, you give yourself permission to not skip breakfast but you are still avoiding carbs out of fear of losing control. Although this approach may seem counterintuitive initially, allowing yourself to eat whatever you want, without shame or guilt, is a crucial step toward healing from binge eating.
It’s important to challenge these myths so that we can create a more compassionate world where all bodies (but especially larger bodies) feel safe to exist. There are so many unhelpful and harmful myths about fatness in general and this is what drives the 80 Billion dollar diet industry. We all deserve to live a life free from these toxic and shame based systems that are designed to keep us feeling small, unworthy and unacceptable.
Binge eating often is a very isolating experience for so many. Most folks that suffer also live in secrecy and in hiding, feeling as if they are the only ones who suffer and that the rules about body positivity apply to everyone else but themselves. You are not alone my friend and you deserve to enjoy freedom from this cycle.
As a former chronic dieters myself, I understand the shame and isolation very well. It’s hard to reach out and ask for help. You might feel that this is the one thing in your life that you just can’t figure out or maybe it’s the only thing in your life that’s all yours, that is, no one can take it away from you!I get that!
The good news is that I have a roadmap to get you out from under this suffering. If you are feeling pulled to reach out, I would be honored to hear your story, Book a free 30 minute call with me here
In love and solidarity, and for peace and liberation for all bodies!
Much love,
Karen Louise
Your Intuitive Eating Dietitian & Body Trust provider since 2005
As a Nutrition Therapist and Certified Intuitive Eating Coach with a background in both nutrition science and psychology, I guide people to find their own philosophy of eating which results in freedom and empowerment around food and weight issues. 
