Compulsive Overeating and the Dangers It May Bring

One of the eating disorders prevalent among both males and females is compulsive overeating. This malady is characterized by a lack of control over an individual's eating patterns resulting in a dramatic increase in body weight.

Compulsive overeating is usually developed during the childhood years when a person's eating habits are being formed. People who never learned how to deal satisfactorily with stressful situations are observed to be more prone to acquire this malady than those who have the ability to face their problems head-on. Recent studies show that affected individuals make use of food to thwart negative feelings and emotions. In other cases, food may also serve as an avenue for a person to deal and cope up with everyday stress, personal problems and emotional distress.

Some affected individuals feel that the more body fat they acquire, the more they can be protected from the personal evil, which haunts them. This is especially true in the case of those who suffered from sexual abuse. They might feel that the bigger and fatter they are, the less attractive they will be. Hence, an increase in weight might prevent abuse of the same nature from happening again.

Compulsive overeaters suffer from alternating episodes of overeating followed by feelings of guilt and depression. Among the warning signs that might tip off whether a person is suffering from this condition are the following:

. Eating a large amount of food even when a person does not feel physically hungry
. Eating at a faster pace than usual
. A person may already feel uncomfortably full but lacks the willpower to stop eating voluntarily
. Unusual preference of eating alone to hide his/her excessive eating habits from others
. Feels depressed or disgusted after each bingeing episode
. Has a history of marked weight fluctuations
. Usually withdraws from group activities due to embarrassment with his or her own weight
. Blames personal failures on weight
. Tries many different diets in an effort to control weight gain
. Weight and dieting becomes a central figure in the person's life

Compulsive overeating may trigger several health complications. It can prompt the onset of hypertension or high blood pressure, heart abnormalities, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, arthritis, sciatica, embolism and hiatal hernia (an abnormality wherein a part of the stomach sticks out through the esophagus and up to the chest). It may even cause toxemia or preeclampsia during pregnancy, which might endanger the lives of both the expectant mother and her unborn baby.

There are several other complications associated with this condition. The consequent weight gain resulting from this condition might aggravate the formation of varicose veins. It might also cause mobility problems. Overweight people are known to tire very easily and experience shortness of breath after even moderate physical activities. At worst, compulsive overeating may lead to cardiac arrest and death.

Like bulimics, compulsive overeaters are often aware of the abnormality of their eating habits. However, since the condition is not taken seriously at present, most sufferers are either directed to health spas and diet centers instead of being treated properly.

Compulsive overeating is more than a problem with food and the individual's eating habits. Rather, it is an indication of a more serious problem which may be hidden beneath layers and layers of false symptoms.

People suffering from compulsive overeating need help. They desperately need our support. So if you, or anyone you know, are showing signs typical of this malady, please seek professional counseling today. Do not wait for tomorrow. It may then be too late.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Eating Disorders

 

Ending Compulsive Eating: Quick & Easy Way

End Compulsive Eating

You're minding your business when suddenly a delicious looking cake, muffins, or some other yummy treat appears. You weren't hungry but now that you've seen food you're suddenly ravenous. You jump up and rush to get some before it's all gone. A few minutes go by and then visions of muffins start dancing in your head. Your stomach is complaining, you're checking the time, "Isn't it lunch yet?" You see muffins, you want muffins. The see food eat food cycle begins:

"I want another muffin." "No, I shouldn't, everyone will think I'm a pig." "But I really want one, they tasted great. No one will notice if I visit the lunchroom on my way to the copier. I better hurry or they'll be gone."

"What about my diet?"

"I don't care. I'm getting another muffin, I'll start my diet tomorrow."

And off you go. Frustrating, yet so familiar. Since you know this is going to happen from time to time it's best to have a plan. The cycle begins when you see food, want it, eat it, then become angry with yourself for eating it, so you want something to make yourself feel better, and you see food, you want it ... and so it goes, round and round. Wouldn't you like to stop this cycle? You can. Read on ...

Stop the Compulsive Eating Cycle

The following approach works in forestalling the immediate see food/want food response when you jump up and rush to get some, before it's too late. It's something else to do just long enough to give a moment to think, then decide. Realizing you want a treat is okay, deciding to have a treat is fine, but if you want to lose a few pounds, stopping the "I see food, I must eat food" pattern is a good first step.

Changing the See Food/Eat Food Response

When the urge to eat first hits, do a quick round of EFT (see resource box below to learn EFT). Use the desire itself, "I want to eat" or the specific food, "I want chocolate" to form your statement. Keep in mind, the words you use don't matter, so don't get hung up on needing to say the right words. Think of the problem, and the EFT will do it's magic.

Here are a few suggestions to get you started. State first the issue, "Even though ..., and end with a positive such as "I deeply and completely accept myself."

Even though seeing those muffins made me hungry, I deeply and completely accept myself." OR "Even though I'm suddenly starving, ..."

"Even though I want some ________ (fill in the blank), ..." "Even though I know once I start eating I'll never stop eating, ..." "Even though that muffin is going to taste great, ..." "Even though I'll wreck my diet by eating that cake, ..."

EFT is not Positive Affirmations

Before you decide EFT is not for you because this seems to fly in the face of all the positive affirmations you've been doing, stop worrying. EFT is not positive affirmations and has nothing whatsoever to do with affirming your desire for a goal. EFT is different than any other approach you may have tried. It is something to address the electrical impulses firing in your brain when you think a thought. Thought impulses can be changed easily with EFT.

Use this technique directly on whatever it is that's first and foremost on your mind which means your desire to eat the cookies, or whatever it is you are wanting. Focus on what you want, make it as big as possible. Bring it to an even higher level of desire, if possible. Think of how great it's going to taste, how much you want it, how smooth it'll be, crunchy ,whatever. EFT will address and change that desire if you really think about it while you do the EFT exercise.

When you think of how much you want the cookies, your brain is linking up all the other times you enjoyed cookies, all the good feelings, memories, it's all linked up. That's how the brain works; it makes connections and associations. So while you think about your issue, the EFT process is simply knocking the signal off it's familiar path, effectively changing it.

Analysis Paralysis or Just Drive

I don't know how my car's engine works, but I can drive. I get where I want to go, and I don't need to analyze how that happens. Do the same thing with EFT. You don't have to understand or analyze every nuance of EFT or why it works. Just use it and see if it's helpful for you. (For info on learning EFT see resource box).

After one round, think again about what you wanted to eat and see whether your desire is the same. Is it higher, lower? Don't try to make the desire different, just figure out whether you think it has changed. If it has lessened, but not by much, then do a second round, stating "Even though I still want to eat ..., I deeply and completely accept myself." EFT only takes a moment to do, so do it as often as you need, until you get that desire reduced.

Sometimes it happens so quickly people can't believe it was the EFT. "I just changed my mind," they'll say. "I didn't really want the cookies after all." We tend to need to rationalize everything that happens, and it's no different with EFT. When something works so easily to simply change your desire from wanting something very much to suddenly not wanting it at all, there's no way you aren't going to try to from some reasonable explanation. Go ahead and decide that it wasn't the EFT, but because you said you didn't want to eat the cookies. Then just smile and know you can have the cookies later, if you want, but for now, you just don't want them.

Kathryn Martyn Smith, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, Weight Loss Coach and owner of One More Bite Weight Loss is the author of "Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss."

Learn to use Kathryn's One More Bite Approach with The Daily Bites: Mini lessons in using EFT for weight loss http://www.OneMoreBite-WeightLoss.com/getnews.html

 

Diary of a Fat Bastard: Backsliding to Bulimia

I have started to lose my way. I can't point to any one event or train of thought, just a general feeling of laziness mixed with a want to avoid the physical pain of dieting. The pattern is usually the same; I start of very well throughout most of the day, eating healthy and drinking tea. But yesterday I was too busy with work to prepare supper in advance, and conveniently forgot to pick up something quick and healthy when I did groceries later that day. i figured I earned the right to treat myself, and I would work out later on anyway, so as to minimize the damage. Well, cheat I did. Workout? I did not. I didn't even have the heart to update my blog since I would feel like a phony if I dispensed any advice or good-natured thoughts on the benefits of losing weight. But it didn't end there. My Saturday was pretty good, with a bowl of Vector cereal for breakfast, and a sensible lunch. My wife and I went out to a movie and I only ordered tea, so things were looking pretty good. But along comes supper. I tried to eat relatively healthy. I made some steamed rice, broccoli and carrots to go with a stir fry chicken I did with a new sauce (if you read my earlier blogs, I am not on a diet per say, as much as just living a healthier lifestyle). My supper plate was not overly packed with food either, as I measured out the amounts of each food with a tablespoon. The problem began when I got of for a 2ND helping of chicken and rice. What I was thinking when I got up a 3rd time to go back to the kitchen, I can't tell you. I think I purposely blocked any thought from my head, so as not to discourage me from that delicious supper, and with my wife and son both out, I was really all alone. Would I have gotten on my elliptical machine had I not felt an extreme amount of guilt over the amount of supper, I will never know. I do know that I did get on that machine, and did my 60 minute routine (40 minutes of cardio and a spread out of 3 sets of 10 reps of weights over 20 minutes). To my loyal readers, I do have a confession to make. Maybe it was because of watching the show intervention recently, or maybe it was just that sick feeling I got from eating too much, but the thought of "losing" my meal crossed my mind a lot as I finished up my cardio. I kept thinking how easy it would be to throw up those extra calories, especially since all I kept doing during my exercise was burping. While I will not preach through cyber space, my personal experiences has led me to believe in a higher power. I believe the word "coincidence" is only used by those who can't see the hand of God touch their lives, and I believe I was touched again tonight. As I went upstairs to go to the bathroom to attempt a truly desperate act, I heard the sound of my wife's car alarm being turned on. She normally comes back much later on Saturday nights, so I was surprised, and surprisingly relieved that she was back home early. I really wanted to try it, just once, since I would never go back to binging again. That is what I tried to make myself believe, but truly never know what could happen. Now, I am not saying that God made her came home early, nor would I presume that He would continue to prevent me from doing bad things, but I do believe that God does try to warn us, and some point during a path we may take to destruction. For the lucky, it may be in the beginning, but some of us need to go through hard times in order to get the strength to become better people. For people that may go through what I am going through, but weren't as fortunate so as to be stopped before they start, make sure to seek help.

Gary Whittaker is the subject of www.projectgary.com, a blog that will chronicles his challenge to lose 100 pounds, 20 pounds at a time.

Common Bulimia nervosa

Bulimia nervosa, is an eating disorder, which is often times confused with Anorexia Nervosa. Although the two "Nervos's", are similar Bulimia involves binge eating before intentionally starving the body by excessive excercise, laxatives, and more commonly vomiting.

Due to the fact that Bing eating, and excessive excercise for example can be on a broad spectrum, there is a set of criteria that has been set out as a guideline for a patient to be diagnosed with bulimia. The criteria is listed below: - The patient is of normal weight or overweight. - The patient does not meet the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa. - The patient feels incapable of controlling the urge to binge, even during the binge itself, and consumes a larger amount of food than a person would normally consume at one sitting. - The patient purges him or herself of the recent intake, resorting to vomiting, laxatives, diuretics, exercising, etc. - The patient engages in such behavior at least twice per week for three months. - The patient is focused upon body image and the desperate desire to appear thin.

Although the end result in Bulimia involves food habits, the initial cause is due to a psychological issues and lack of self control. "Binge" and "purge" sessions are often times severe, and in often cases are only stopped when the individual is interupted by another person. The frequency of Bulimia varies by the individual, and can range from daily to weekly,etc. If you or someone you love is affected with Bulimia it is recommended that you take immediate steps to start getting control back, and eliminating the disorder.

Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the article, this caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.

Ryan Fyfe is the owner and operator of Bulimia Area - http://www.bulimia-area.com, which is the best site on the internet for all bulimia related information.

Eating Disorders - Bulimia Nervosa Treatment

In this article we're going to cover treatments for Bulimia Nervosa. These treatments actually apply to most eating disorders as they are more or less caused by the same emotional problems.

While eating disorders stem from emotional issues in a person's life they are nevertheless still serious health conditions that can do great physical harm to the person as well as the emotional harm that has come before it and will continue long after. Early diagnosis gives a person suffering from an eating disorder a better chance for recovery. Eating disorders can become chronic, debilitating, and even life-threatening. Early treatment is critical.

The only really effective and long lasting treatment for an eating disorder like Bulimia Nervosa is some kind of psychotherapy or counseling. This along with attention to both medical and nutritional treatments proves effective in getting a person through this terrible disease. Of course the treatment is going to vary from individual to individual because of the emotional nature of the disease and the severity to which each person is suffering.

Treatment usually involves some form of psychological counseling where the therapist must not only address the eating disorder itself but the underlying reasons for why the person is behaving in this manner. This behavior is usually caused by psychological, interpersonal, and cultural influences and forces. Peer pressure is one of the most common causes of this kind of behavior; the feeling that one has to be thin to fit in with the crowd. That is why this disease targets mostly young girls. The person performing the actual counseling can be a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, nutritionist or even a primary care physician. However in extreme cases a psychiatrist will most likely be needed. Whoever does provide the care should be experienced with treating eating disorders or greater harm than good can be done.

Nutritional counseling is also needed to make sure that the person suffering from this disease is getting a well balanced diet and that the person's progress is monitored such as weekly weighing. Charts should be kept to make sure the person does not backslide.

Many people with eating disorders respond very well to outpatient therapy where they are allowed to go home after each session. This gives them a feeling of security being in a home environment for most of their treatment. Of course with this type of program it is important that the family carefully monitor the person while they are at home to make sure there is no bingeing and purging. Knowing what to look out for now, this becomes a lot easier.

However, in extreme cases inpatient therapy is required. This is usually necessary when the person is in the later stages of the disease and is already showing serious physical symptoms that are on the verge of becoming life threatening or when the psychological factor has become so strong that the person can no longer rationally function in a home environment. Inpatient therapy usually needs to be followed by a period of outpatient therapy as well until the person is able to function on their own.

Just like with alcoholism and drug addiction there is no cure. It is a daily battle fighting an eating disorder like Bulimia Nervosa. But with early detection and proper care and person can go on to lead a normal and healthy life.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Eating Disorders

How To Recover From Anorexia And Bulimia Nervosa

Eating disorders are very serious problems. There are two types: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa and both of them are very dangerous and can have mortal result.

Anorexia is an eating disorder when people starve themselves. Usually, anorexia begins around onset puberty. On this age young girls are very vulnerable and concerned about their body shape. Simple careless word ?you look fat!? may be the reason why girls stop eating. More to say, individuals, suffering from anorexia become very skinny, but think that they are overweight.

Bulimia is an eating disorder, when person eats too much food in a short amount of time and then try to prevent weight gain by purging (throw up or taking laxatives). Bulimia may be very harmful to body: teeth become yellow and sensitive to cold or hot, skin becomes dry, irregular period and etc.

It?s important to find out that person has anorexia or bulimia and give him a professional help. First of all, it is important to recognize the symptoms of anorexia or bulimia in oneself or others around us. It may be difficult to do but you should be very critical if a person loses a lot of weight in a short period of time without any physical disorder. Since people who suffer from eating disorders deny they have a problem it might be very hard to persuade them to get some help. It is very important to admit to the problem if you actually suffer with bulimia or anorexia. There are many self-help books try to find the solution.

There are professional ways to help anorexia and bulimia sufferers. All the treatment methods may be classified into three groups:

1) diet regulation;
2) medications;
3) Psychotherapy -- both individual and family therapy.

Diet regulation is firstly important to anorexics. This method of treatment is usually used in combination with psychotherapy. It is important to increase the number of calories consumed everyday -- starting with 1500 kcal per day up to 3500 ? 4000 kcal per day. Individual as well as family or group therapy might help both anorexics and bulimia sufferers. There are special centers for treatment of eating disorders where anorexia and bulimia sufferers spend 24 hours a day until they recover.

Bear in mind that recovery may take a while since the problems are very deep beneath. To some, eating disorders may persist for years and may reoccur after treatment. However, it is very important to treat anorexia and bulimia, because these diseases may lead to serious physical complications and even death.

The Battle of Bulimia

Copyright 2006 Anne Wolski

In a world where a person's worth tends to be measured by appearance, it is little wonder that we have so many young women falling into the trap of eating disorders. This obsession with achieving the perfect figure has led to one of the most dangerous and life-threatening epidemics of our time.

Bulimia is but one of a growing number of eating disorders recognized in our modern society. It is a serious disorder characterized by binge eating followed by forced vomiting or by purging using laxatives. People with bulimia go through this ritual in order to avoid the weight gain which would normally accompany an eating binge.

Why people get this condition is largely unknown and prone to speculation though it is commonly believed that family and social pressure, as well as unrealistic portrayals of perfect body image in the media, play a significant role. The person is also likely to have intense psychological problems.

Unlike people with anorexia, sufferers of bulimia are not as obvious as they normally remain within about twenty percent of their normal weight range. This makes it difficult for a doctor to diagnose. A person with anorexia has the obvious signs of emaciation but with a bulimia sufferer, it is really necessary to observe the binge eating. Because binge eating is usually carried out secretively, this can create a problem in reaching an early diagnosis.

The person is likely to come from a middle-class or upper-class family who are very controlling and put great importance on achievement. The person is often led to believe that diet and figure are of extreme importance. Thus, the person with bulimia, already suffering from a distorted body image, loses their self-esteem.

Because they suffer from bouts of insatiable hunger, they must then compensate for their binges by removing the food from their body by whatever means they can in order to achieve the image acceptable to the parents and to society in general.

These episodes of induced vomiting and purging bring with them another lot of medical problems. In the case of repeated vomiting, the acid irritates the esophagus and pharynx, leaving them inflamed. The acid also affects the teeth, leaving them sharp and rough. Laxative abuse can cause hemorrhoids as well as chronic constipation. Vomiting and the abuse of laxatives can both cause dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.

Treatment often relies on hospitalization where the person receives psychiatric counseling to try to uncover the underlying causes and to help the person to self recovery through understanding of their own issues. There is often group therapy involved as well.

The physical problems are treated symptomatically and also include a diet regime that can control weight without the dangers that this obsession of bulimia can bring. The person should continue with counseling for quite some time after returning home from hospital.

Although bulimia is a serious disorder, death is rare. By seeking treatment and with the loving support of family and friends, the sufferer can eventually return to normal eating habits and a normal, happy and healthy lifestyle.

Anne Wolski has worked in the health and welfare industry for over 30 years and is also co director of http://www.magnetic-health-online.com which is a health information portal of many interesting articles by people in the medical industry, as well as http://www.pharmacybyweb.com which has online physicians who can answer your medical questions.