ED Information

Restriction: This is by far the most common cause of bingeing in anorexia, bulimia and some forms of EDNOS. When the body is receiving too few calories (less than 500cals below the daily amount needed, so usually >1500cals) the metabolism has a survival instinct which forces the person to hunt down the most fattening foods and eat them quickly so as to gain the maximum amount of weight. These binges are uncontrollable for the majority of people (some individuals, usually anorexics, override the instinct) and therefore it is not a lapse of willpower or a sign of weakness. Smaller binges can also occur from the instinct if a person skips a meal or eats too little on a single day.

The way to solve these binges is to increase calories up to a higher level (with the added benefits of improved physical and mental health and a better metabolism) or to make the environment binge-food-free.

Self-Medicating: Those who are depressed or sad often have chemical imbalances in the brain. The body sets up cravings for carbohydrates causing bingeing and the carbohydrates alter the chemicals in the brain causing temporary happiness. This is a common cause of bingeing in bulimics, those with BED and those with COE.

The way to solve these binges is to start a diet which keeps blood sugar steady, similar to a diabetics diet (look at http://www.radiantrecovery.com/, find out about sugar addiction and sugar sensitivity) and maybe take anti-depressants to alter the brain chemistry back to normal. These binges are also linked to sugar addiction. The binges are often used by the person to make them feel temporarily happier when they experience particular emotions such as sadness, loneliness, guilt and boredom.

Sugar Addiction: Some certain people have a physiological makeup which means they are addicted to sugar, and often alcohol too (which is a similar substance), and react to these in a similar way to heroin. This is a cause of bingeing in those with COE, BED and bulimia. The binges are often used by the person to make them feel temporarily happier when they experience particular emotions such as sadness, loneliness, guilt and boredom.

The way to solve these binges is to start a diet which keeps blood sugar steady, similar to a diabetics diet (look at http://www.radiantrecovery.com/) and maybe take anti-depressants to alter the brain chemistry to be normal.

Lowered Body Weight: If the body is below its set weight (the weight at which your body performs best at and is easy to maintain) the body sets up cravings for fattening foods to return the body to it’s set weight. This is a cause of binges in anorexics, and also low-weight bulimia and EDNOS sufferers.

There is little you can do about these binge-urges but they are controllable and get easier to handle over time. Losing weight slowly makes these binge-urges even easier.

Physiological Abnormalities: Some people’s metabolic systems fail to keep weight steady at the set weight (the weight at which your body performs best at and is easy to maintain) and cause overeating; some peoples hypothalamus is faulty and doesn’t send out proper signals to the body about hunger and fullness causing the person to overeat. This is a cause of binges in some people with COE and BED, and is the cause of overeating in Prader-Willi syndrome.

These types of binges can be helped by seeing a doctor.

Habit: Some people who binge often for one of the reasons above get into the habit of doing it even when the reason behind the binges is no longer there. Some people binge for emotional reasons (without the physiological aspects) and the binges occur due to habit.

If the underlying problem causing the binges has gone, the bingeing habit could be stopped by - changing the daily routine, keeping occupied, finding something different to do in bingeing situations (eg phoning a friend, going for a walk) or entering therapy.

Dieting Mentality: When someone is intentionally restricting their eating to lose weight they tend to think in an ‘all or nothing’ way. Therefore if they eat a little bit of food which isn’t in their plan they are likely to think of their day as “ruined” and they binge.

This can be solved by: make a chart with days divided into sections - for example, morning, afternoon and evening (if bingeing is bad, more sections may be needed, and they may need to be in specific times, like 10am til 1pm). If at the end of the section you have eaten what you were planning and have been ‘good’, mark the section with your favourite colour. If you have eaten something you regret and have been ‘bad’ mark it with your least favourite colour. At the end of the day you can say a certain fraction of your day was ‘good’, and this encourages you to keep any bingeing within one section of the day and therefore binge less.