The Expert Advice On Binge Eating Disorder

Eating disorders are what trouble the overweight people the most because it not only bloats them but also makes them feel guilty as hell for having succumbed to the eating temptation. It, therefore puts two fold guilt feeling in the people who eat disordely. Binge eating disorder is one such disorder.

It is considered to be a psychiatric disorder in which a person fails to exercise control over the consumption of food periodically. This disorder is characterized by one's incessant intake of large amounts of food at a time and during a binge bout, the person eats far more quickly than he or she does normally.

It is different from someone who eats out of hunger, for in binge eating the person is not actually hungry but eats still and keeps eating till the time he is on the verge of bursting. Invariably though, the binge eater feels sad, depressed, disgusted and guilty after the eating is over.

Binge eating is much similar to another eating disorder called bulimia nervosa. It is similar to binge eating because in this disorder too, the person has two bouts of overeating per week. However, in bulimia nervosa the binge eating is followed by extended periods of fasting or excessive exercise. This is their purging session. However, in case of binge eating there is no purging involved. Besides, bulimia patients are mostly normal weight while binge eaters are normally overweight, if not downright obese.

Binge eating disorder is also similar to compulsive eating but is distinct from it in its finer characteristics. For one, the the binge eaters do not feel the compulsion to eat, neither do they constantly fantasize about food. They simply have bouts of eating and start eating uncontrollably.

Quite surprisingly, some of the binge eaters do not harbor positive feeling towards food itself as food does not hold any special significance in their lives. However, people suffering from compulsive eathing disorder have an abnormally strong liking for food. They spend a great deal of time just thinking and fantasizing about food and eating.

All of these disorders are expressive disorders, meaning they are a manifestation of deeper and graver psychological complications. Many experts believe that binge eating disorder is not a separate category of eating disorder but is just a milder form of bulimia nervosa.

However, there are other specialists who insist that binge eating is distinguishable from bulimia nervosa and should thus be treated as a different kind of eating disorder. The final word on it is still to arrive. But for those who are worried about their eating habits must see a doctor so that a strategy to cure the disorder could be devised at the earliest.