What is Binge Eating?  

If you’re someone who struggles with bingeing or if you just feel as though you struggle with your relationship with food and are looking for clarity on what binge eating is, you’ve come to the right place! 

As a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor that helps my clients with bingeing and other struggles with food, I want you to know that you are absolutely worthy and deserving of getting help even if you don’t “fit” into some diagnostic criteria. There are technical criteria for the diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder that we’ll cover in this article, but it does not mean that you need to meet these criteria in order to get support! 

If you’re struggling in your relationship with food and it’s impacting your life in any capacity, you deserve to get help and support.

Be sure to check out the end of this article for some resources to get further support.

Remember: this article is for informational purposes only and may not be the best fit for you and your personal situation. It shall not be construed as medical advice. The information and education provided here is not intended or implied to supplement or replace professional medical treatment, advice, and/or diagnosis. Always check with your own physician or medical professional before trying or implementing any information read here. 

What is Considered Binge Eating?

Definition of Binge Eating

Binge eating is having a large amount of food within a relatively short period of time, and is accompanied with a feeling of loss of control. 

An overview, if you like bullet points like me: 

• Eating a large amount of food
• Relatively short period of time
• Feeling of loss of control 

This may even leave you with some more questions. What is a large amount of food? What’s a relatively short period of time? How do I know these things are what’s happening? I get it, it’s confusing! 

In my approach to helping folks overcome binge eating, I believe that if you are feeling out of control with food in any way that’s something we’d want to work to understand more and learn strategies to overcome it. 

Don’t worry too much about getting caught up in the technicalities of it all, although we dive into them a little more below so you can have a bit more clarity about what binge eating is. 

Examples of Binge Eating 

Binge eating can look quite different for each individual, and even different on any given day for the same individual. Here are some examples of how this could potentially show up in your life: 

• You get home at the end of a long, stressful day of work and you’re starving. You accidentally skipped breakfast and didn’t really have anything substantial to eat for lunch. You’re so hungry that you can’t wait until dinner. You start raiding the cupboards for anything. With the stress of the day layered on, you’ve found yourself non-stop eating even though you feel like you should stop.

• Your partner is out for the evening. Now you know it’s your chance to eat all the “bad” foods secretly while they’re not around. Even though you know that doing this doesn’t make you feel well later on, you can’t help yourself. You hide the wrappers under things in the garbage so they don’t find out.

• You find yourself standing in the kitchen just mindlessly grabbing anything you can, it continues on and on. Until you end up feeling sick to your stomach. You think, “Oh no, what have I done?” You’re not even sure what just happened or why. All you can sense is the feeling of guilt and how uncomfortable you feel physically.

• You’re out alone and drive by a Mcdonald’s. You have the urge to pull in and just can’t pass up the opportunity to get these “off-limits” foods while you can. No one else will know. You pull into the drive-through and order more food than what you’d typically eat at a meal. You sit in the parking lot while you eat it all, even though you already feel full. 

No matter what your experiences are, they’re completely valid and you deserve to overcome them. 

What is Binge Eating Disorder?

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is a type of eating disorder that is mainly characterized by recurring binge episodes. As I mentioned earlier, binge eating involves having a large amount of food within a relatively short period of time, and is accompanied with a feeling of loss of control. 

Individuals with BED also often experience guilt, shame, and distress about their eating behaviours. In the United States, BED is the most common eating disorder in adults.

Diagnostic Criteria of Binge Eating Disorder

*The technical stuff* 

Now, please remember what I said at the beginning of this article. I am going to share with you what the diagnostic criteria for BED are, but it does not mean that you need to meet these criteria in order to reach out for help!

Criteria for Binge Eating Disorder is defined by the DSM-5, which include: 

• Recurring episodes of binge eating, which means having a large amount of food within a distinct period of time with loss of control. 
• Meeting 3 or more of the following criteria in relation to binge eating episodes:
  • Eating much more rapidly than normal
  • Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
  • Eating large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
  • Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating
  • Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating
• Distress regarding binge eating behaviours is present 
• Binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for 3 months
• The absence of compensatory behaviours (i.e. purging)

What Causes Binge Eating?

The causes of binge eating can be complex and are unique to each person who struggles with it. These “triggers” can come from a wide variety of biological, psychological and sociocultural factors. 

A very common initiating factor for binge eating is dieting. Yup, dieting. The same thing that society pressures many of us to do can actually be very harmful to our relationships with food and overall well-being. This is because when on a diet, whether that be a formal diet or just some restrictive ‘rules’ about how you eat, you could very likely end up undereating, developing a lot of shame around your food habits, and much more that feeds into binge eating behaviours. 

If your body is not getting enough energy from food, it’s survival instincts to turn on a ‘starvation-like’ response may kick in. Those instincts can drive you to seek more food in order to maintain an adequate energy intake for your body’s needs. Diets also can increase feelings of guilt and shame when you have ‘broken’ the food rules that you try so hard to follow, which can trigger a binge. If you struggle with feeling stuck in the diet-binge cycle, you may know that feeling all too well. 

Other common triggers include but are not limited to: not being able to cope with intense emotions (i.e. sadness, anxiety, loneliness, anger, etc.), adverse or big life events/changes, stress, boredom, trauma, and other mental health concerns. 

What to do Next if You’re Struggling With Binge Eating 

A systematic review (fancy research talk for a comprehensive summary of multiple research studies done on the same topic) of the health-related quality of life of those who lived with an eating disorder it was found that eating disorders, including Binge Eating Disorder, have a serious impact on an individual’s health-related quality of life. What is interesting to note – even though these individuals have a greater risk of health-related problems, many individuals from these studies rarely got any treatment specific to their eating disorder. This just goes to show how important it is to seek treatment and care if you’re struggling with your relationship with food.

Let’s go over a few different ways you can take action if you’re struggling with binge eating and want to move toward more of a life of peace with food for yourself! 

Get Support

Reaching out for support from a professional can be a pivotal point in your journey. Although it may be scary, trust that there are many professionals out there who deeply understand what you’re going through. We truly want to support you to be able to live the life you desire for yourself. A life without stressing over food or all the shame that comes along with these struggles with food. 

I offer a comprehensive binge eating coaching program, Embodied Food Freedom. This program has helped many others transform their relationship with food and their lives over the years. If you’re interested but potentially feeling nervous about signing up for something like this, please feel free to book your free discovery call here. On this free call, we will chat about if this program would be a good fit for you or not! I’d absolutely love to support you in embodying your version of food freedom.

Some other lovely places to look for additional support include:

• National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC)
• National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA)
• Eating Disorder Hope

Tell a Loved One

Because of what binge eating is, it is often filled with a lot of feelings of shame. Because of this shame, so many people struggle in secret. Trying everything they can to hide these behaviours from others in their lives. Many of my clients share with me that I was the first person they told about their struggles with food. No one else in their lives knew. 

If you’re not quite ready for professional support yet, telling someone you trust that is close to you about what you’re going through can be a wonderful step to take. Even though this may be scary, having someone else in your corner who is willing to support you is powerful.

Know You’re Not Alone

Like I mentioned in the last point, so many folks struggle with binge eating in silence. Because of this, there may be many others around you may have similar struggles to you… And you probably don’t even know it. I’ve also been there before myself too. So please don’t feel alone in this, you are so not alone! AND you deserve to overcome these struggles and find peace with food. 

Free Why Do I Binge Eating Quiz

I created a free Why Do I Binge Eat Quiz that you can take right now. And it only takes a couple of minutes to get your results! This free quiz will allow you to figure out what’s keeping you stuck in the binge cycle and holding you back from food freedom the most at this time. You’ll get a personalized action step that you can do today. So you can get a little bit closer to food freedom!

Binge eating can truly impact your entire life. And the quality of how you’re living your life. If you are or think you may be struggling with binge eating, you deserve to heal. Please seek support, have faith that you can improve your relationship with food, and never give up! I’m rooting for you.  

References 

Ágh, T., Kovács, G., Supina, D., Pawaskar, M., Herman, B. K., Vokó, Z., & Sheehan, D. V. (2016). A systematic review of the health-related quality of life and economic burdens of anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorder. Eating and Weight Disorders – Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 21(3), 353–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-016-0264-x

Berkman, N. D., Brownley, K. A., Peat, C. M., Lohr, K. N., Cullen, K. E., Morgan, L. C., Bann, C. M., Wallace, I. F., & Bulik, C. M. (2015, December 1). Table 1, DSM-IV and DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for binge-eating disorder. Www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK338301/table/introduction.t1/

Binge eating disorder. (n.d.). Nedc.com.au. https://nedc.com.au/eating-disorders/eating-disorders-explained/types/binge-eating-disorder/

Hudson, J. I., Hiripi, E., Pope, H. G., & Kessler, R. C. (2007). The Prevalence and Correlates of Eating Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Biological Psychiatry, 61(3), 348–358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.03.040

National Eating Disorder Information Centre. (2022). Binge Eating Pamphlet. https://nedic.ca/media/uploaded/31469_NEDIC_Binge_Eating_Pamphlet_-_2022_-_Online_Version_-_Fillable.pdf

National Eating Disorders Association. (2018, February 22). Binge Eating Disorder. National Eating Disorders Association. https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/learn/by-eating-disorder/bed