« Healthy Thanksgiving in 08 | Main | Eating and Body Image Disorders - Muscle Dysmorphia »
Eating and Body Image Disorders - Overeating
By Christina | November 26, 2008
I never realized that overeating could be characterized as an eating disorder. I figured overeating was just a bad habit gone awry. Compulsive overeating is defined as having an addiction to food and using food as a way to hide emotional issues. Compulsive overeaters tend to eat to hide their feelings and to cope with stress by turning to food. I must know a hundred people with this pattern and so again, never realized it is a disorder.
Most people I have met say they use food as a means to an end. In our culture food is used for get-togethers, celebrations, sports events, consoling one another, holidays. Think about it, no matter the occassion food is there. We go to a coffee shop to talk to friends, the local burger joint for a quick chat, an intimate dinner for two to discuss life plans. Food is a way of life. That sounds so obvious but not if you relaize that food really is a vital part of life for sustaining our energy, it doesn’t have to be a comfort in times of loss or a prize for a job well done.
When my daughter was a baby and she would fall or hurt herself I would give her a candy to ease the pain. At the doctor’s office after a shot there is typically a lollipop waiting at the exit door. We condition children to eat to comfort themselves.
Sadly, telling a Compulsive Overeater to stop eating and go on a diet is like telling an Anorexic to start eating. The real issues are not the food they are the emotional despair and damage that must be dealt with before healing can begin.
Topics: Exercise, General, Nutrition, Personal Training |
