Treat The Day Like Any Other Day
Be sure to eat three balanced meals at the appropriate times on the holiday, just as you would any other day, to ensure that your body is well nourished, Weatherston-Yarborough advises.
Many people, even those without eating disorders, skip other meals on Thanksgiving Day and plan to just have Thanksgiving dinner, she says. But eating throughout the day and following your meal plan if you have one is an important step toward reducing your likelihood of using eating disordered behaviors, says Weatherston-Yarborough.
Ideally, those struggling can come up with a specific meal plan for the day with an eating-disorder-informed dietitian, she adds.
Knowing The First Steps To Take
If youve been noticing signs that suggest your teen is struggling with binge eating disorder, take the following steps manage the situation and helping your teen:
1 Have a conversation with your teen. Let your teen know that you are genuinely concerned regarding the behaviors youve been observing. Assure him or her that you want to help in any way you can, and that youre there if he or she wants to talk about anything.
Expect the wall to go up. Individuals with eating disorders are often either in denial or highly reluctant to admit they have a problem. Your teen may become defensive. Instead of reacting, strive to avoid criticizing, shaming, or judging our teen in any way, as those tend to make things worse. If your teen does disclose symptoms that strongly suggest an eating disorder, strive to remain calm.
2 Set up an appointment for an evaluation. Your teens pediatrician or your family doctor can do an initial evaluation, including a physical examination to rule out any underlying medical issues that may be causing or contributing to your teens disordered eating.
3 Get your teen into treatment. Early intervention is crucial with eating disorders, as they become increasingly difficult to successfully treat if treatment is delayed.
Eating disorders are often addressed with a multi-faceted approach that often includes a combination of:
Bed & Bariatric Surgery Or The Sleeve
Countless individuals struggle with Binge Eating Disorder throughout our nation though many suffer in silence due to the fears and stigmas that surround this painful disorder. A common physical effect that can result from BED is obesity, which can result from consuming a greater amount of food than is needed over time.
Also Check: Which Organization Sets The Standards For Diagnosing Eating Disorders
What Is Binge Eating And What Is Causing It
Put simply, binge eating is eating uncontrollably. There are two types of binge eating episodes: objective binge eating and subjective binge eating1Fairburn CG. Overcoming binge eating. London, UK: Guilford Press 2013..
With more than one in 20 people engaging in binge eating, this isnt a problem affecting just a few.
Eat Breakfast Every Day
Starting each day off with a healthy breakfast might reduce the risk of binge eating later in the day.
Several studies have found that maintaining a regular eating pattern is associated with less binge eating and lower levels of ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates feelings of hunger .
Plus, filling up on the right foods can keep you feeling full to curb cravings and reduce hunger throughout the day.
For example, one study in 15 people found that eating a high-protein breakfast reduced levels of ghrelin to a greater extent than eating a high carb breakfast .
Meanwhile, eating fiber- and protein-rich oatmeal was shown to improve appetite control and promote fullness in another study in 48 people .
Try combining a few fiber-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, or whole grains, with a good source of protein to avoid overeating.
Summary Eating a fiber- and protein-rich breakfast can prevent cravings and keep you satisfied throughout the morning.
Also Check: What Is A Depression On A Topographic Map
Defining Binge Eating Disorder
Binge eating disorder is a behavioral disorder in which an individual had episodes of eating large amounts of food in a short period. This is usually done alone or in private, and normally away from regular mealtimes. While people without the disorder will overeat from time to time , BED causes these binge eating sessions to be both regular and compulsive. Over time, the brain becomes dependent on the releases of dopamine and serotonin and the binges become involuntary.
The DSM-V defines it as the following:
Because the amounts of food eaten tend to be large and there are no compensatory purging efforts, binge eating disorder recovery must take into account the health needs associated with obesity.
Start Hitting The Gym
Studies indicate that adding exercise to your routine could prevent binge eating.
For instance, one 6-month study in 77 people showed that increasing weekly exercise frequency stopped binge eating in 81% of participants .
Another study in 84 women found that pairing cognitive behavioral therapy with regular exercise was significantly more effective at reducing the frequency of binge eating than therapy alone .
Plus, other research suggests that exercise can decrease stress levels and enhance mood to prevent emotional eating .
Walking, running, swimming, biking, and playing sports are just a few different forms of physical activity that can help relieve stress and reduce binge eating.
Summary Studies show that exercising can reduce the risk of binge eating and decrease stress levels.
You May Like: Can You Be Bipolar And Have Bpd
Psychological And Psychiatric Symptoms Of Binge Eating Disorder
The psychological aspects of binge eating disorder are the main focus of treatment. Therapists work with clients to understand the root causes of the disorder, an essential step toward correcting their behavior. Connected issues with body image, self-esteem, and interpersonal relationships are central points of binge eating therapy they each factor in as causes of the disorder and triggers for episodes.
There is also a higher percentage of co-occurring psychiatric diseases such as:
- Depression
- Bipolar Disorder
- Obsessive-compulsive Disorder
While all these physical symptoms are commonly treatable, the continuation of binge eating episodes without specialized binge eating disorder treatment can slow the recovery down. Its important to coordinate binge eating disorder recovery between a specialized facility and your doctor. In some cases, a family practitioner may not be aware of the acute symptoms of BED so, its best to contact specialized treatment experts as well.
How Is Binge Eating Disorder Treated
Your doctor may refer you to a team of doctors, nutritionists, and therapists who will work to help you get better.
Treatment plans may include one or more of the following:
- Psychotherapy. Sometimes called “talk therapy,” psychotherapy is counseling to help you change any harmful thoughts or behaviors. This therapy may focus on the importance of talking about your feelings and how they affect what you do. For example, you might talk about how stress triggers a binge. You may work one-on-one with a therapist or in a group with others who have binge eating disorder.
- Nutritional counseling. A registered dietitian can help you eat in a healthier way.
- Medicine, such as appetite suppressants or antidepressants prescribed by a doctor. Antidepressants may help some girls and women with binge eating disorder who also have anxiety or depression.
Most girls and women do get better with treatment and are able to eat in healthy ways again. Some may get better after the first treatment. Others get well but may relapse and need treatment again.
Also Check: What Are The Three Stages Of Schizophrenia
Tackle Your Food Anxiety
Do you have tasty forbidden foods? Why do you have a forbidden food list at all? After all, no food in isolation causes weight gain.
Perhaps its because these foods are binge-eating trigger foods that cause you considerable grief and anxiety.
Gradual exposure to these foods and reintroducing them into your diet will help get rid of the anxiety around certain foods and their potential to trigger a binge.
How to do it? Create a list of your forbidden foods. Rank them in order from most forbidden to least forbidden. Slowly reintroduce the foods from the least forbidden list into your diet.
For example, if cereal is on your least forbidden food list , put a small handful of cereal in your regular breakfast smoothie. Gradually, youll realise that nothing catastrophic happens if you eat the cereal.
Youll have proven your irrational belief that eating cereal causes weight gain!
The anxiety around that food may diminish and you could start to enjoy a more rounded diet and life!
Keep it up for the other foods until theres no more anxiety. They wont be a binge eating trigger for much longer.
Remember, this will take time. Dont expect success overnight. But you will start to notice that you have less anxiety as you gradually reintroduce foods. I promise.
Interpersonal Psychotherapy For Eating Disorders
A 2018 study confirmed that people with binge eating disorder have significantly more interpersonal problems than those without binge eating disorder, regardless of weight. These interpersonal problems can lead to greater psychological distress.
These interpersonal problems may begin before binge eating disorder develops, or happen as a result of binge eating disorder. Regardless of onset, these problems help maintain the problem behavior that comes with binge eating disorder.
IPT for binge eating disorder can take place in either a group or individual format. It is administered in three phases over the course of approximately 20 weekly sessions.
Phase One
- Identifying specific interpersonal problem areas
- Choosing which of these areas to focus on for the remainder of treatment
The four typical interpersonal problem domains are:
- Role disputes
- Unresolved grief
Phase Two
- The therapist encourages the person to take the lead in making changes in the area of interpersonal skills
- The therapist keeps the person focused on the problem areas, clarifies issues raised, and encourages change
Phase Three
- Maintenance of interpersonal gains
- Relapse prevention
A 2015 study comparing CBT-E with IPT showed improvement for people with binge eating disorder in both treatment categories, but CBT-E was more effective than IPT.
At the end of treatment, 65.5% of the CBT-E participants reached remission compared with 33.3% of the IPT participants.
Recommended Reading: Can You Go To Urgent Care For Panic Attacks
How To Help Someone With Binge Eating Disorder
Since binge eaters often try to hide their symptoms and eat in secret, it can make it tough for family and friends to spot the warning signs. And you cant always identify a binge eater by appearance, either. While some are overweight or obese, others manage to maintain a normal weight.
The warning signs that you can spot include finding piles of empty food packages and wrappers, cupboards and refrigerators that have been cleaned out, or hidden stashes of high-calorie or junk food. If you suspect that your loved one has binge eating disorder, bring up your concerns. It may seem daunting to start such a delicate conversation, and the person may deny bingeing or become angry and defensive. But theres a chance that he or she will welcome the opportunity to share the struggle.
If the person shuts you out at first, dont give up it may take some time before your loved one is willing to admit to having a problem. And remember: as difficult as it is to know that someone you love may be have an eating disorder, you cant force someone to change. The decision to seek recovery has to come from them. You can help by offering your compassion, encouragement, and support throughout the treatment process.
Psychotherapy To Treat Binge Eating Disorder
Psychotherapy can be done in individual as well as group sessions, which will help one in learning to accept healthy habits in exchange of the unhealthy ones. This may further help in reducing the binging episodes. Some examples of psychotherapy as a treatment to tackle Binge Eating Disorder are as follows:
You May Like: Can You Be Bipolar And Have Bpd
Other Kinds Of Eating Disorders Are Still More Well
When eating disorders are portrayed in the movies and TV, binge eating disorder is nowhere to be seen most of the time. Even documentaries and news shows, when doing a story on eating disorders, normally dont mention binge eating disorder. Instead, the conversation goes to more dramatic eating disorders. Anorexia nervosa, with the extreme weight loss it can come with, and bulimia nervosa, with the self-induced vomiting that accompanies that disorder, are normally given a larger share of the spotlight. Binge eating episodes are sometimes even dismissed as simply occasional overeating.
Of course, those disorders are serious mental health conditions and should not be ignored. However, because its symptoms are less well understood and it doesnt involve weight loss, people with binge eating disorder can often go underserved. Even medical professionals can be underinformed about the commonality and severity of binge eating disorder. This means millions of people potentially are not getting the critical mental and physical healthcare that they need.
Identify Your Boundaries Before You Arrive
Before gathering with family and friends, it can be empowering to plan how you want to respond if a triggering topic or comment comes up, says Weatherston-Yarborough.
Boundaries are intensely personal decisions related to a persons individual values, she explains. Theres no right or wrong you are setting them to help you avoid situations that are stressful to you. Boundaries to consider setting include knowing that you:
- Can move your seat if being next to a certain person brings up negative emotions for you
- Change the subject or leave a conversation that makes you uncomfortable, such as those about diets, exercise, or body shapes and sizes
- Say no firmly to someone who is pushing you to eat a particular food
- Shorten how long you stay at the gathering if youre feeling uneasy
Its helpful to determine ones boundaries in advance of these challenging interactions, whether in self-reflection or with the support of a trusted other, Weatherston-Yarborough says.
Also Check: What Are My Chances Of Getting Schizophrenia
Focus On Eating Mindfully
Mindful eating means being present and noticing whats going on around you at the Thanksgiving table, explains Susan Zilberman, a certified mind-body eating coach who works with people who are trying to improve their relationship with food.
Ways to practice mindful eating include:
- Focusing on the people with whom youre sharing your meal
- Noticing the aromas, colors, textures, and presentation of the meal
- Pausing before eating to be truly thankful about where your food came from, including all the people who invested their time, effort, and talent to prepare it
- Carefully choosing what you want and need to eat
- Setting your fork down between bites to let the flavors and experience linger before you take your next bite
- Noticing as the food gently fills your stomach. Pause for several minutes in the middle of eating to reconnect with your hunger, satisfaction levels, and enjoyment of the meal.
- Remind yourself to avoid all or nothing thinking. If youre already full, theres no need to eat more now and feel uncomfortable. You can eat more later or at another meal.
Create A Supportive Environment
- Identify your triggers: What situations often lead to binging? How can you avoid them?
- Get rid of “binge foods”: If you tend to binge on certain foods, don’t keep them in the house. If they aren’t readily available, it is easier to avoid them.
- Meal-plan: Plan healthy meals and snacks ahead of time, and stick to your list when grocery shopping. Your meals shouldn’t be restrictive or unsatisfying, but rather well thought out. A dietitian may be able to help you with this task.
- Ditch the scale: If you find that you weigh yourself frequently, and have a difficult time limiting weigh-ins to about once a week, consider getting rid of your scale and leaving the weight checks to when you visit your healthcare provider or dietitian.
Read Also: Pristiq Medication Side Effects
What If My Gp Is Focused More On Weight Loss Than On The Thoughts And Feelings Behind The Illness
Binge eating disorder is a mental illness, and the weight gain you might experience is a symptom. While sometimes people mention unrelated weight changes as a factor in them developing an eating disorder, its very unlikely that this would be the sole and direct cause. Simply focusing on weight loss doesnt address the root of the illness.
The NICE guidelines state that weight loss isnt the intended goal of the therapies recommended to treat binge eating disorder. In fact, NICE recommends that therapy should involve advising against trying to lose weight during treatment through methods such as dieting, because this can make people feel the urge to binge eat. Treatment for any eating disorder should always address the underlying causes and the thoughts and feelings that cause issues around food and eating.
Remember, you have a right to good quality treatment. If youre struggling to get it, its okay to ask if you can see a different GP. You can also look into self-referral in your area.