I was a compulsive eater for over 20 years.
For me, binging meant that I ate WAY BEYOND the comfortable place of feeling full – eating to the point of pain sometimes after eating so much food.
Binge eating was frenetic, agitated behavior for me, where food became the main focus and everything else was ignored. A binge can last anywhere from 1 to 4 hours and during that time everything, including food, becomes a blur. All I had on my mind was eating another bite of something I considered a “forbidden” food, like chocolate, or caramel, or high-calorie, full-fat Haagen Dazs ice cream, or deep-dish pizza, or French fries, or nachos with lots of cheese.
If you are wondering if you might be a compulsive eater, answer the following questions:
Do you choose to eat when you are not hungry?
Do you overeat or binge eat when you feel stressed?
Do you binge eat when you’re bored?
Do you eat food as a form of comfort?
Do you eat well past the point of comfortable fullness?
Do you hide the food wrappers so that no one sees what you have eaten?
Do you eat alone so no one can see the food you eat?
Do you feel bad or guilty after binge eating?
Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Do you feel compulsive to eat? Like you’re forced to eat ALL of something, like a whole box of chocolates or a whole container of ice cream?
Do you feel like you are always thinking about food?
Do you plan and wait for times when you can eat alone?
Do you hide food?
Do you eat like a normal person when you are with others and then binge in private?
Do you plan binges and go special shopping at the grocery store for the sole purpose of obtaining special forbidden “binge” foods?
Are you worried that you are out of control with food?
Do you eat to escape your daily pressures?
Do you think that dieting never really works for you and that it makes you even more drunk?
Are you miserable with your relationship with food?
Do you feel like your eating problems control your life?
Is your weight having an overall negative effect on your life?
If you answered yes to three or more of these statements, you most likely have a problem with binge eating or are on your way to creating an emotional binge or overeating problem in your life.