Don’t Believe the Lies: 12 Myths about Binge Eating
Did you know that binge eating disorder is the most common type of disordered eating (it is three times more common than anorexia and bulimia combined)? Were you aware that it is perhaps one of the most misunderstood?
Nowadays, many people have at least a basic understanding of what anorexia and bulimia are thanks to things such as campaigns to raise awareness, along with multiple movies and TV shows about the topics. But nobody really talks about binge eating disorder much. Many in the general public, and unfortunately many medical and mental health professionals, too, don’t understand it very well and often hold on to misperceptions about who has it, what it really is, and how to address it. And the sad reality is that there are those who will empathically encourage individuals struggling with an eating disorder, if it manifests as anorexia or bulimia, to seek help, but then those same people will look with scorn at the person whom they feel has lost control with food (which they believe to be the case with binge eating disorder).
One result of the many fallacies surrounding binge eating disorder is that it is common for the condition to come with a heavy dose of embarrassment, shame, distress, and despair for those dealing with it. Those who struggle with binge eating are often left to feel as if it was a mere moral failing, and a lack of sufficient self-control, rather than a legitimate mental health concern. They are led to believe that a “capable” person would know how to stop and that their “out-of-control” eating means they’re simply inadequate and a failure – and most certainly not someone worthy or in need of professional therapy and care. They are encouraged to think they just need to diet harder and should just stop being so lazy. This misunderstanding, the associated humiliation, and the social stigma surrounding the condition, means a person struggling with binge eating may go years (sometimes decades) before finally asking for help – although unfortunately many never seek help, they instead suffer in silence.
The persistence of a multitude of myths about binge eating disorder leaves far too many feeling discouraged about themselves and their situation. They fail to recognize that they have a treatable condition. The myths keep them from seeking appropriate care, and the lies many believe about binge eating results in them being treated poorly by not just strangers, but friends, family, and the medical professionals they rely on.
An important step in ending this is to call out the lies about binge eating disorder.
Do you believe any of these 12 myths about binge eating?
Myth 1: Willpower will help you stop binge eating
There are varied reasons why someone may find themselves struggling with binge eating. But in all cases, more willpower is never the answer.
Binge eating is a sign that something (or perhaps multiple somethings) is amiss. There could be physical, environmental, social, and cultural factors at play. Bingeing can become habitual. It can be a response to stress and challenging emotions. It can be a coping mechanism. It can be a form of self-harm.
If someone tells you “just stop!” or “why don’t you just eat like a normal person?” it simply isn’t that simple for you. You’re not weak. You don’t need to keep trying harder. You’re not irreparably flawed.
The sad reality is that there are those who will empathically encourage individuals struggling with an eating disorder, if it manifests as anorexia or bulimia, to seek help, but then those same people will look with scorn at the person whom they feel has lost control with food (which they believe to be the case with binge eating disorder).
Remember - there was a time in your life when you did not binge eat. So something, somewhere along the way, changed. Figuring all this out, and addressing what is really going on, will be important for helping you get through this, not willpower.
Many individuals with binge eating disorder are successful, determined, competent people. This disorder says nothing about your character, your personality, or your worth. You can have a lot of drive in many areas of your life and still battle binge eating.
Myth 2: Binge eating disorder isn’t a real thing and it certainly isn’t dangerous
This myth, that binge eating disorder isn’t dangerous, could get you in a lot of trouble health wise, both emotionally as well as physically.
Binge eating disorder is often accompanied by other mental health conditions including depression and anxiety. It can impede your motivation, hinder your focus, hurt relationships, negatively impact your work productivity, lower your energy levels, and reduce your self-esteem.
Further, there are many physical ailments associated with binge eating disorder such as diabetes, heart disease, GI problems, metabolic syndrome, non-alcoholic fatter liver, cardiovascular issues, gallbladder disease, etc.
And as for whether this is a real thing?
Some people might claim that it’s fake. They’ll say it’s just some excuse for eating too much. Not true at all. This is a very real disorder. And binge eating is nothing to be ashamed of. Binge eating is officially listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
It’s a thing, it’s serious, and if it’s your thing you have every right to reach out for help and support. It is not okay for anyone to shame or dismiss you.
Myth 3: If you want to stop binge eating you just need to work on your “childhood trauma” and your emotions
Looking at and exploring these topics can absolutely be helpful and be a component of your care. There can be great value found in exploring some root causes and many of your deeply held core beliefs about yourself are formed during your childhood. What you think about yourself, your core beliefs, is certainly an aspect of the situation which could be worth talking about more - with the idea that we cannot change what we don’t acknowledge. Increased insight can help facilitate change. And, too, it can helpful to get into a conversation about emotions. Often, binge eating becomes a coping tool, albeit a maladaptive one, which we cling too when we are faced with distressing emotions. You maybe have become accustomed to avoiding your emotions. Perhaps healthy emotional expression was never taught to you, never modeled by your caregivers. It can be assistive to get in touch with any emotions you’re feeling and learn how to express and deal with them in ways which are more productive for you.
But just talking about stuff won’t be sufficient. Care will also need to include exploring and adjusting your eating behaviors, for example. It isn’t about one or the other. Treatment needs to be comprehensive. We won’t just sit and talk about your eating habits, we want to actively work on changing them, too.
Myth 4: Dieting can stop binge eating
Actually, the exact opposite might be what happens. Strict calorie restriction, skipping meals, eliminating foods or food groups – all of this can just make things worse. Your brain and body can become poised for a binge since you’ve been holding back via your “diet”. All systems are craving what you’ve deprived yourself of.
This does not mean that you can never make sustainable changes to your body composition such as gaining lean muscle mass and/or reducing bodyfat levels if that is an appropriate goal which you choose for yourself. (hint: common fad diets are really not a good way to alter your body composition) Rather, this myth targets unsustainable diet patterns. They tend to be a trigger for binge eating. It can help to remember that stopping binge eating goes beyond simply looking at what or how much you’re eating. If you seek therapy for binge eating, food will be part of the conversation, but treatment for binge eating disorder goes beyond this and counseling sessions won’t be consistently hyper-focused on food.
Myth 5: Binge eating and overeating are the same
Many people will apply the word “binge” whenever they feel they’ve eaten a bit too much. It might be a holiday meal, or just a night of watching tv on the couch – they eat a lot, feel overly full, and call it a “binge.”
But binge eating disorder is not the same as overeating (which, by the way, is a normal behavior we all tend to indulge in now and again). In other words, if you eat too much at a birthday party, it does not mean you have binge eating disorder. Binge eating goes beyond a single meal. A primary way to differentiate between the two involves control – the person with binge eating disorder feels they cannot control their eating behaviors. During a binge eating episode you may feel you want to stop, but you’ll find stopping isn’t that easy.
How do you know if you might have binge eating disorder? You might experience all or some of these:
Eating a quantity of food which is larger than what most people would eat in a similar period of time and under similar circumstances
Feeling like you have no control over what or how much you’re eating
Eating faster than you normally would
Eating even after you’re feeling uncomfortably full
Eating a large amount of food even when you’re not actually physically hungry
Eating by yourself because you’re embarrassed by what or how much you’re eating
After you’re done, feeling disgusted, depressed, and/or guilty
Feeling distressed and upset over your eating
Feeling desperate to control your weight and eating habits
Feeling stress and tension which you feel is only relieved by eating
Hiding food which you plan to eat later in secret
Feeling numb while you’re bingeing, as if you’re on autopilot
Eating normally around others, but gorging when you’re alone
Myth 6: You can’t have binge eating disorder unless you are overweight
Not true at all.
It is impossible to determine whether or not someone struggles with binge eating based on appearances or body weight. Yes, recurrent binge eating may certainly result in weight gain, but this isn’t always the case.
What may actually be the case is that individuals who have not gained weight (they might even be underweight) may not identify with having an eating disorder and healthcare providers are very apt to not assess them for one. Someone in a larger body doesn’t necessarily have binge eating disorder. And just because an individual lives in a smaller body, it does not mean they don’t binge eat.
Don’t let your weight guide you on this one. Anyone of any size can struggle with binge eating. You can struggle with binge eating at every size. Binge eating can exert an influence on your weight, but it isn’t itself a “weight” problem.
Myth 7: You can stop binge eating by eating less, eating “right",” and practicing portion control
This is likely what you’ll hear from friends and family members, maybe even your doctor. It’s sadly what some mental health professionals will say, too (I know one therapist who told their client to “just eat more broccoli” with your meals so it will fill you up and you won’t binge.) These professionals mean well, and believe they are serving you. But things just go far deeper than a slight adjustment to your meal plan could ever possibly fix. Eating nutrient dense food, and being mindful of your hunger levels, aren’t bad things. Such concepts are valuable and helpful. They just aren’t the answer in this case.
Hint: binge eating disorder is not strictly about physical hunger and so just changing the food you eat, or filling up on more veggies, is likely not going to be a solution which works effectively for you - and, that said, it may be helpful to seek out a therapist who is more familiar with how to address this condition.
Those who struggle with binge eating are often left to feel as if it was a mere moral failing, and a lack of sufficient self-control, rather than a legitimate mental health concern.
It’s important to be mindful of the fact that restriction of food typically only exacerbates binge eating. Many individuals do try this tactic (they take a break from bingeing and go on a diet) and think it will, in fact, be the solution. And it may seem tempting to try what seems to be a simple option, especially when you’re upset at yourself for bingeing yet again. But it usually all falls apart. Instead of breaking free from binge eating, they find themselves stuck in a cycle wherein they may try a very restrictive diet to compensate for their binges, but then end up bingeing because their approach was not maintainable. Swinging to the opposite extreme, and eating too little, usually backfires in a big, bad way.
Strict calorie restriction, skipping meals, eliminating foods or food groups – all of this can just make things worse.
Myth 8: Recovering from binge eating means giving up “trigger” foods forever
You may think that recovery from binge eating looks akin to recovery for an alcoholic – they avoid alcohol for the rest of their life. Well, in this case, it depends.
You might choose to forgo certain “triggering” foods forever. That might feel right for you, that might feel best, and that’s okay. But this won’t be the case for everyone. For others, it is helpful to avoid certain foods for a while. Then, once they’re recovered, they feel confident that they can reintroduce those foods.
How to tackle this is a personal decision you’ll get to make.
Myth 9: Weight loss surgery will cure binge eating
Why do you binge eat? It’s unlikely surgery will address the “why” and so this won’t be an appropriate solution. The reason(s) you binge will still be there, and once your body adjusts post-surgery you may find the problem resurfacing. You could end up right where you started. Or, in some cases, you might find the unresolved problem that led you to binge shows up in a new way such as substance abuse, alcoholism, gambling, excessive shopping, etc.
Disappointingly, upwards of 70 percent of those who choose surgery, particularly laparoscopic banding and similar procedures, find that they will regain some or even all of the lost weight in just a few years following surgery. Certain patients may not lose much weight at all following surgery. This is important to keep in mind. Also, it’s critical to be mindful of the risk of malnutrition which could arise if you are forced to severely limit your intake. Nutrition deficiency is common post-surgery and this can result in other physical and mental health problems.
And there is, of course, the risk of death resulting from surgery – reported mortality rates for individuals undergoing bariatric surgery runs as high as five percent of patients dying a year after the procedure (this number could actually be higher as a result of underreporting).
Notably, there is evidence of increased risk for binge eating following surgery. It is so common that researchers have proposed a new diagnosis - “bariatric binge-eating disorder.” This is seen in upwards of thirty-nine percent of patients post-surgery.
If you’re considering surgery, you may feel you have tried and failed at everything. But it’s far too common that individuals with binge eating disorder have not had proper support and opportunity to address the underlying problem(s). Following surgery, the eating issues may become worse. Before undergoing such a procedure, it would be best to first undergo treatment with a qualified therapist to address eating disorder symptomology, one who does not have any vested interest in your decision to have surgery.
Myth 10: Doctors know how to treat binge eating
Medical schools don’t typically place much emphasis on eating disorders, meaning your physician may not be well suited to help you with binge eating disorder. Your doctor may be able to assist with any physical ailments which result from the condition, but they are not apt to have the expertise (or the necessary time) to treat you. Be mindful that binge eating is actually classified as a mental health condition and so a therapist is likely to be a better fit. Ideally, you will want to seek a therapist who has insight into the condition. There are mental health therapists who are specialized in treating eating disorders, including binge eating.
Myth 11: Once diagnosed with binge eating disorder, it will be a lifelong problem
With treatment and support, this is not a life sentence. Recovery does take time and effort. It will probably take a good deal of your attention for a while. Then, it might demand some attention to a much lesser degree at later points in your life. But it won’t be the burden it felt like when you first seek help – it can become a choice you consciously make rather than a weight that you feel crushed under.
Myth 12: You can only have binge eating disorder if you eat lots of higher fat foods
The type of food involved will vary from person to person. Some people have cravings for certain foods. Some will binge on foods they wouldn’t otherwise eat or food they wouldn’t normally choose. One person may binge eat carbs, while another will be drawn to fattier fare. All food is fair game. It does not matter what you eat. Binge eating disorder is not about the type of food you eat
Truth: You CAN recover from disordered eating
If you find yourself challenged by binge eating, or any form of disordered eating (hint: you don’t need to meet criteria for any particular diagnosis to qualify for help, if food is causing upset in your life you qualify for help) then please consider seeking support.
You don’t have to continue to battle this alone.
You don’t have to keep struggling.
You CAN get better.
Imagine what life could be like if you didn’t spend so much time and energy on all of this.