What is Binge Eating?
Binge eating disorder (BED) is an aberration of eating behavior, where sufferers often eat in large quantities and it is difficult to resist the urge to eat. Binge eating disorder has the potential to cause serious diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, even heart disease.
Binge eating disorder is an eating disorder with characteristics that are contrary to anorexia.
What is Binge Eating Symptoms?
A person suffering from binge eating disorder usually often eats in very large portions and struggles to stop or has difficulty resisting the urge to want to eat in large quantities. After eating, he will often feel guilty, upset, or depressed due to his eating behavior.
Symptoms of binge eating disorder or BED in a person can be recognized from:
- The way to eat is much faster than usual.
- Eat in large portions, even if you don’t feel hungry.
- Eat a lot until it is too full and makes the stomach uncomfortable.
- Be alone when eating so that others do not know how much food he consumes.
- In some patients, BED may be accompanied by the bulimia.
A person is said to have a BED if the above symptoms appear at least 1 time per week, within 3 months. In mild binge eating disorder, episodes of symptoms appear as much as 1-3 times per week. In severe BED, episodes of symptoms can appear as much as 8-13 times per week. While in very severe BED, episodes of symptoms are experienced more than 14 times per week.
If not treated appropriately, binge eating disorder has the potential to cause some health problems, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. BED can also cause indigestion, such as bloating and constipation, even psychological disorders, such as anxiety disorders and depression.
What is Binge Eating Caused By?
The exact cause of BED is unknown. It is suspected that the interaction of several factors can be the cause of BED such as genetic factors, lifestyle, and psychological factors such as major depression, anxiety and mood disorders, compulsion obsession disorder, post traumatic disorder.
Binge Eating Risk Factors
The BED eating disorder is more commonly suffered by women than men. Although it can attack all ages, BED is more common in the early 20s.
Some factors that can increase a person’s risk of developing BED include:
Family history
Close family history has BED, such as parents or siblings. This indicates that genetic factors play a role in increasing a person’s risk of developing BED.
Diet.
Most people with BED have a history of dieting. Dieting or restricting eating during the day can encourage feelings of eagerness to eat at night, especially for those with depressive symptoms.
Mental Health.
Mental health disorders such as depression or anxiety can encourage a person to eat to feel “comfortable” with their unresolved life problems.
Binge Eating Diagnosis
To determine the diagnosis of binge eating disorder, the doctor may recommend an overall psychological evaluation. This evaluation includes discussing daily eating habits.
Your doctor may also suggest certain screenings to evaluate the health consequences that can arise from binge eating disorder. Such as high cholesterol levels, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and several other health conditions.
In addition to detailed medical interviews, the examinations that can be performed include a direct physical examination, as well as blood and urine examinations.
To determine the diagnosis of binge eating disorder, some of the points listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 (DSM-5) by the American Psychiatric Association are:
- Repeated episodes of excessive consumption of food.
- Feeling unable to control overeating episodes, including the amount of food consumed and the ability to stop eating.
- Overeating episodes are associated with at least three of these factors: eating quickly, eating to uncomfortable satiety, eating large amounts of food despite not being hungry, eating alone out of shame, or feeling humiliated, sad, or guilty after eating food.
- Worry about overeating habits.
- Overeat at least once a week for at least three months.
- Overeating is not followed by actions such as intentional vomiting, or other behaviors for weight loss, such as obsessive exercise or laxative use.
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How To Cure Binge Eating Disorder