Dr. Linda Mintle

Tag: binge eating

  • Signs of Compulsive Overeating

    Julie is frustrated with her weight. She has been steadily gaining for months and can’t stop bingeing on candy. The more her weight goes up, the more depressed she becomes. Every night Julie promises herself that she’ll be “good”. Tomorrow she’ll start a diet and get control of her eating. But tomorrow turns out like today–she eats compulsively.

    It’s hard for Julie to tell the difference between physical hungry and eating out of boredom or stress. She hates feeling this out of control and won’t look at her body in the mirror.

    Julie is a compulsive overeater who doesn’t binge eat but “grazes” all day on food. She picks a little here, a little there, until she has grossly overeaten and gained weight. The compulsion to eat is emotionally based but adding physical pounds to her 5’2” frame. Julie reports she can’t get control, vows daily to diet and fails.

    Compulsive overeaters usually:

    · Overeat due to emotional issues and stress, not because they are hungry

    · Diet often because of guilt and weight gain

    · Feel out of control when eating

    · Feel disgusted with their bodies because they are overweight

    · Binge eat or overeat throughout the day

    Another type of compulsive eating is called binge eating. Binge eating is similar to bulimia because the person experiences uncontrolled eating episodes (binges). The difference is that compulsive binge eaters don’t purge. They eat until they are uncomfortably full. Most binge eaters are obese and struggle with weight fluctuations. About 2% of people are binge eaters with about one-third of those people involved in medically supervised weight control programs.

    Look for these signs if you think you may be a binger:

    · Recurrent episodes of binge eating

    · Feel out of control during a binge

    · Eat fast and feel uncomfortable

    · Eat large amounts of food when you are not physically hungry

    · Eat alone because you are embarrassed by how much you eat

    · Feel disgusted, guilty or depressed by the way you eat

    · Are distressed by the above

    · Binge at least 2 days a week for a 6 month period

    · Don’t purge to get rid of the food

    The tell tale sign of compulsive overeating is usually overweight or obesity which can have serious medical consequences. If you or a loved one struggles with compulsive or binge eating, get help now. There are no magical shortcuts but you can get control over food and learn to eat healthy.

  • Male Eating Disorders

    Not much media attention is given to men and eating disorders. One in ten males suffer.

    Not much media attention is given to men and eating disorders. One reason may be that these disorders are disproportionately female. In recent years, however, the number of males afflicted has risen from one in twenty, to about one in ten. Approximately one-third of adolescent boys report bingeing with food.

    Men, like women, are affected by cultural media stereotypes that promote a fit and buffed body as signs of attractiveness and success. But men are more concerned about their shape than weight. Men also are affected by other sociocultural factors such as the pressure of a demanding job market and the changing view of masculinity and gender roles.

    Exercise appears to be a common entrée into symptom development. Dieting plays a role related to playing sports, past obesity, gender identity conflicts, and avoidance of feared medical illness. Boys may begin to diet to lose a few pounds, exercise to lose more weight, and then refuse to eat normally. Exercise is usually the chosen route for weight loss.

    Like women, certain subgroups of men are more at risk. For example, male wrestles have a high proportion of eating disorders. In addition, men who develop eating disorders are more likely than women to have been obese.Clinical symptoms are similar with the obvious exception of amenorrhea.

    Onset of a male eating disorder can begin at preadolescence, adolescence and young adulthood, or adulthood. Men benefit greatly from treatment and are often happy to find someone who appreciates their concerns. They typically have more alcohol related problems and obsessional thinking than female eating disorders. Female eating disorders are more afflicted with mood disorders in addition to eating problems.

    Why are these disorders more typically female? One thought is that males don’t diet as often to control weight. In addition, males increase muscle during puberty and are less concerned about fat than girls. Males want to be bigger and taller. It also may be that eating disorders in males are under diagnosed and underreported since they are known as female disorders.

    Whatever the reasons, it is important to know that males do use food to cope with emotional difficulties. For more information about eating disorders in general, refer to other articles in this section.