There are 3 main eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder. These 3 eating disorders have distinct and clear definitions and criteria that have to be met by the person suffering. Even though anorexia and bulimia nervosa are the most well known, binge eating disorder is the most common. It is actually more common than the other two together. However, my experience is that most people are confused, because they don’t fall into any of these categories and yet they feel that their relationship with food or their body image is hard. They feel as if something is wrong. They think about food constantly, or almost constantly. They compare their bodies with that of other people. They go into never ending cycles of binge eating or overeating and then a diet, that is followed by more episodes of binging or overeating. Or they never seem to binge, but they eat emotionally. Every time something happens that upsets them, overwhelms them or creates any difficult emotion, food seems to be the solution to it.
Whatever, your experience is you don’t have to have a diagnosed eating disorder to ask for help. Asking if you have an eating disorder will not necessarily give you the answer that you are looking for. It’s more important that you recognise the difficulty that you have around food and your body and evaluate how much it is affecting your life. Are you isolating because you have to follow a strict meal plan or a dinner out with friends sounds terrifying? Are you avoiding activities, places or people because you feel ashamed of how your body looks? Are you feeling stress, shame, guilt, fear around food or meal prep? Are you finding it hard to eat without feeling overwhelmed? Are you feeling like you are often eating even though you are not hungry and you don’t know why? Is food your only emotional coping mechanism?
If any of the above sound familiar, even if you are not suffering from an eating disorder, it sounds like you are having a disordered relationship with food.
First step is understanding if the problem is nutritional, psychological or both. Many times after highly restricted diets it’s common to see increased binge eating or overeating episodes, as the body is trying to make up for the energy it has lost. However, if you have reached this point something is telling me that part of your problem is also psychological. In this case it is important to see how much of the problem you are aware of. First question you should ask yourself is if you know when and why you are overeating. Does your episode make sense to you? If not, you might need some guidance at this point. If you do, then ask yourself what other coping mechanisms you have to deal with the feeling or the cause of the problem and/or what changes you might need to make. Sometimes, when the changes that are needed are hard or seem impossible to make, it might take time and support, so be kind to yourself.
