Why You Can't Stop Binge Eating
Why Can’t I Stop Binge Eating?
“I don’t know why I keep binging!”
“My binge eating is out of control!”
“Why can’t I stop binging?!”
Do these thoughts sound familiar? People often feel very confused and overwhelmed when they are struggling with binge eating. It can feel like binge eating comes out of nowhere. It can feel like binge eating has complete control over you and you have no control over the binge eating. However, there are reasons for why the binge eating keeps happening. Binge eating does not just come out of the blue. Binge eating is the product of one or more of the following.
Dietary Rules Lead to Binge Eating
Having dietary rules is a precursor for binge eating because when you have dietary rules, you inevitably break them. When you break a dietary rule, you then abandon all forms of self-control. You fall into the “F it” mentality and go wild with food. This cognitive restraint around food and eating is the most common reason people binge eat. Dietary rules are risky because no one can always adhere to them. You need to stop rigid rule-based eating and learn how to eat from a more intuitive or plate by plate approach. Dietitians are so helpful here in helping you figure out what you need to be eating. Common dietary rules include:
Calorie limits for meals or days
Only allowing yourself to eat during certain times
Eating the same foods
Eating the lowest calorie foods
Not eating in front of others
Not eating food you consider unhealthy
Never eating sweets or desserts
Not using condiments
Not drinking anything with calories
Not eating or drinking anything unless you know the exact calorie content or ingredients
Restricting your eating if you plan to eat out
Not eating out at all
Not eating certain food groups (e.g., carbs, fats, proteins, dairy, etc.)
Not eating food prepared by others
Needing to leave a certain amount of food on your plate
Never having seconds
Never eating leftovers
Not eating unless you’ve exercised a certain amount,
Not eating while cooking
Establishing a fixed number of pieces of food to eat
Only eating small portions
Undereating naturally leads to binge eating
Undereating leads to binge eating because if you are persistently or intermittently undereating you are putting your body under strong physiological pressure to eat. Many people have a positive perception of undereating and dieting. They believe undereating makes them “strong” “disciplined” “someone with will power” “in control” and “clean.” Therefore, they value undereating and having dietary rules. However, undereating and dieting are very problematic.
For one, undereating and dieting play a central role in maintaining binge eating. And two, undereating and dieting have major adverse effects which include:
Keeping you preoccupied and constantly thinking about food and eating
Making eating an anxiety-provoking and stressful experience
Limiting the ways you can eat which often leads to social withdrawal and isolation
Influencing what you eat during a binge (people tend to binge on foods they are attempting to avoid in their diet)
Temporary weight loss or the maintenance of a lower weight and this has some major negative consequences
The “success” rate of dieting is often defined as people keeping off weight loss for 1 year (research suggests only about 20% of people meet this definition). And what happens to people after 1 year? Most diets don’t share data about that. Why? According to one meta-analysis of intervention studies, dieters regain, on average, more than half of what they lose within two years. Therefore, dieting leads to weight gain in the long term.
Also, research shows about 80% of people do not even maintain their weight loss at 1 year. There are research articles purporting weight loss has benefits but what is often not talked about is the serious harm yo-yo dieting can do.
A pattern of recurrent weight gains and losses is called weight cycling or what is more popularly known as “yo-yo dieting.” What are some of the negative effects of yo-yo dieting?
Increased cardiovascular risk and mortality risk for women
Increased cardiovascular risk and mortality risk for individuals with type 2 diabetes
Increased risk of developing diabetes
For these adverse health consequences, and all the reasons stated above, undereating and dieting have some very negative consequences and they simply keep you stuck in the binge / restrict, deprive / devour cycle.
Prohibiting yourself from honoring your desires, preferences, and cravings
People who binge often prohibit themselves from eating what they actually desire. If they are eating out with friend and they want a fried chicken sandwich but their friend orders a salad, your client might think “I should get a salad too.” What happens later in the day? They drive to Chick-Fil-A and scarf down 5 fried chicken sandwiches in the parking lot. People will sometimes deprive themselves in public to avoid weight stigma (e.g., looks of disgust from others) and negative commentary from family members (e.g., “I can’t believe you are eating that, you need to be eating healthier and should be ordering a salad”).
Being drunk or high can make it harder to manage urges
Being under the influence of alcohol or other substances leads to binge eating because alcohol and other substances disinhibit you. They impact your ability to control your behavior and your eating. Basically, you get “the munchies” especially if you have dietary rules and have been undereating
Eating can offer emotional comfort and escape
Being triggered by a negative situation or mood state can sometimes lead to binge eating as a means of coping with the negative event or mood state. For example, many people binge eat when they are lonely or bored or after a fight with their significant other. Therefore, by becoming more aware of the situations and moods that trigger binge eating, you can learn to apply other strategies and skills to cope with those situations and emotions.
Seeking pleasure and reward through food
Enjoying aspects of binge eating can make it hard to stop. If you like some aspects of binge eating (e.g., enjoyment of eating, a sense of relaxation, an experience of dissociation), it’s important to be aware of that as well as the disadvantages of binge eating (e.g., expense, secrecy, self-criticism, physical discomfort).
Not having consistent access to food
Food insecurity means the condition of not having access to sufficient food, or food of an adequate quality, to meet one's basic needs. For example, parents in food insecure families might have enough food to feed their children, but might experience hunger themselves. Food intake naturally decreases during periods of scarcity and insecurity and then it usually dramatically increases during times of availability. This process is what leads to binge eating or make-up eating. I prefer to use the term make-up eating because whenever you restrict what you eat, either intentionally or unintentionally, your body physiologically drives you to eat more to make up for what you have gone without.
If you are looking for binge eating help in San Francisco, you can contact me here for a free 15 minute intro call to determine if we would be a good fit. I’m licensed in California, Oregon, and Arizona so can meet with clients virtually who reside in those states.