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What Are Eating Disorders? | Anorexia Nervosa | Bulimia Nervosa | Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating Disorder involves repeated episodes of binge eating without compensatory behaviors. Episodes of binge eating are accompanied by a sense of urgency or lack of control and often result in an uncomfortable level of fullness. Body weight can range from normal weight to morbid obesity.
Characteristics of Binge Eating Disorder include the following:
- Repeated episodes of consumption of abnormally large quantities of food during a relatively short period of time
- Overwhelming feeling of urgency or lack of control when eating
- Feelings of shame, guilt, disgust, and frustration associated with binge eating behavior
- Often binge eating episodes are in private and in the absence of hunger
Checklist for visible characteristics of Binge Eating Disorder
Behavioral Signs
- Bingeing or frequent grabbing of food
- Restriction of activities because of embarrassment about weight
- Going from one diet to the next
- Eating little in public while maintaining a high weight
Physiological and Emotional Signs
- Weight gain
- Weight-related hypertension or fatigue
- Attitude Shifts
- Feelings about self are based on weight and control of eating
- Fantasizing about being a better person when thin
- Feeling tormented by eating habits
- Social and professional failures are attributed to weight
- Weight is the focus of life