Binge and Emotional Eating

Binge eating is typically accompanied by an unfortunate amount of shame or guilt. It is sometimes driven by dieting or not eating enough, and it can also be perpetuated by food rules and restraint around food. More often than not, there is an element of emotional dysregulation- in other words, it is about the food, and it's also not about the food at all!

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Emotional eating differs from binge eating in that it is any eating driven by an emotional state (boredom, fatigue, loneliness, stress, anger...), but there may not be an objectively large amount of food consumed or the same level of distress as a result. Yet, it can still be very stressful and cause a sense of feeling compulsively driven to eat to soothe emotions. It can also cause unwanted weight gain when done frequently which exacerbates the urge to diet or restrict and may also influence poor body image. 

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Not all emotional eating is problematic. Increasing awareness around our motivation to eat and opening up permission can be very helpful in healing the relationship with food.

 

Binge eating is defined as eating an abnormally large amount of food in a short period of time (like 2 hours, for example) and feeling out of control. There is often a sense of disassociation that occurs and it may be habitual or planned. 

 

 Binge eating is diagnosed as Binge Eating Disorder if it is occurring once a month for 3 months, has marked distress, and no other compensation is present.

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There is often a cycle of emotional eating and restriction that takes place, and these eating behaviors fall along the disordered eating spectrum. 

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Joanna has a great deal of experience helping clients heal from emotional and binge eating. She's developed an approach that addresses the root cause of binge eating behaviors in 5 steps.