Binge Eating Disorder: What it is and How to Recognize It

Eating disorders are an unfortunate but common existence in the lives of millions of men and women all over the world. In the US alone, it is estimated that more than 7 million women may be stricken with some form of eating disorder or another. The cause of these nightmarish conditions are varied as are their effects but one thing is certain; they must be diagnosed and treated at all costs.

Of the many types of eating disorders that have been identified, one of the most common is called binge eating. This is not to be confused with bulimia which is an eating disorder that often includes binge eating as one of its characteristics. Binge eating is simply the act of one who will consume enormous amounts of food at one sitting.

Now, if those who were suffering from binge eating always did their eating in public, it would be easy to recognize it but this is often not the case. Most people with eating disorders do their best to cover them up because they feel shame about their situation. Instead, they find creative ways to hide their activities and often act as if they are completely healthy and normal. No matter how well they try to hide the disorder, other people that are close to them can often recognize the signs and this is certainly true with binge eating.

The first and most obvious sign of binge eating is the disappearance of large quantities of food. You may discover that from one day to the next entire gallons of ice cream or jars of peanut butter have mysteriously disappeared. When questioned, the person with the disorder will often provide some excuse that simply does not sound plausible. In addition, the crafty individual may try to go out and purchase the same food that they have just eaten and replace it so that no one will be wise, but purchasing different brands of food, or replacing half empty packages of food with full ones will surely tell you that something is up.

Another sign is the existence of empty food packages in around the persons belongings be it their room, their car, or their desk at work. As the condition progresses, they may become sloppy in their hiding of the condition at all.

An obvious sign of binge eating is weight gain and if a normally weight stable person begins to gain enormous amounts of weight very quickly, then it can be quite likely that binge eating is the culprit. This is not always the case, however, because of the tie-in with the condition known as bulimia that we mentioned before.

Those suffering from bulimia will force themselves to vomit after certain meals so as to avoid the possible weight gain from the calories ingested. Those suffering from bulimia that also binge eat may not show any significant weight gain at all making diagnosis of the problem all the more difficult.

Because of the harmful effects and even death that can occur from eating disorders, be sure to watch for the signs above in your loved ones if you think an eating disorder may be present. If so, do your best to get help immediately as these conditions are almost always progressive and can lead to extremely negative consequences.