Eating disorders are no longer the elephant in the room. In this day and age, thanks to social media, people are honest and open about their struggles to help and inspire others with the same issues. While scrolling through TikTok, I can’t tell you how many accounts appear on my “For You” page created by people in recovery who created a new style and are looking to show others it gets better and eating disorders are beatable.
I couldn’t help but notice the amount of eating disorder recovery stories about anorexia or bulimia but saw nothing about Binge Eating Disorder. Binge Eating Disorder is the most common eating disorder in the United States.
Binge Eating Disorder is consuming an excessive amount of food very fast to the point of physical discomfort in one sitting. After someone binge eats, they often feel so guilty they try not to eat for long periods after that, resulting in another binge eating episode.
It’s more than continuing to eat when you feel full, it’s having an emotional connection to food and loss of control over your eating. It’s eating when you feel sad, mad or stressed because it’ll make you feel better. It’s eating so fast like the food could be gone any second and you’ll never be able to eat again. It’s feeling physically sick after a binging episode where you have to throw up to relieve physical discomfort and pain. It is eating all of the food on the table even when you are already uncomfortably full simply because it’s there.
Binge eating disorder is never talked about because it’s the one eating disorder where you gain weight instead of losing it. Not everyone understands that you don’t have to be skinny to have an eating disorder.
I wasn’t aware that I had an unhealthy relationship with food until I was 21-years-old. I thought that everyone would go downstairs and eat an entire bag of potato chips because it made them feel better when they were sad. I thought that everyone would reward themselves with junk food in bed with any excuse they could. I thought that everyone would continue to eat no matter if they were no longer hungry.
I thought that everyone’s current state and emotions were based on food. I thought that everyone was constantly thinking about their next meal. Holidays were always the hardest. Since it was food I only ate a couple of times a year, I would feel the need to eat so much and eat everything. This past Thanksgiving, I dieted for two weeks before because I wanted to allow myself to go crazy on Thanksgiving. Besides all the appetizers, entrees and desserts, I ended up eating two full bags of potato chips at three in the morning and had such stomach pain I had to throw up to be able to sleep.
Being honest and admitting that you have a problem is your first step in getting better. Recovery is understanding and believing that you are still allowed to eat junk food as long as you create a healthy and balanced diet. Recovery is understanding that healthy food is necessary to fuel and support the body that supports you all day long.