If you use food, food thoughts, dieting, and/or a weight obsession to distract from thoughts, feelings, or life situations you’d rather not tolerate, you need professional help. So says Ellen Shuman, Life Coach, Vice President of the Binge Eating Disorder Association and the Co-Chair of the Academy for Eating Disorders.
As I was researching this topic, I clicked on Ellen’s incredible website, A Weigh Out. There is a caption at the top of the site that says, “Freedom from Emotional Eating and Weight Obsession.” That’s just the beginning.
The Mayo Clinic defines binge-eating disorder as follows:
“Binge-eating disorder is a serious eating disorder in which you frequently consume unusually large amounts of food. Almost everyone overeats on occasion, such as having seconds or thirds of a holiday meal. But for some people, overeating crosses the line to binge-eating disorder and it becomes a regular occurrence, shrouded in secrecy.
When you have binge-eating disorder, you may be deeply embarrassed about gorging and vow to stop. But you feel such a compulsion that you can’t resist the urges and continue binge eating.
Although binge-eating disorder is the most common of all eating disorders, it’s still not considered a distinct psychiatric condition. But if you have binge-eating disorder symptoms, treatment can help you.”
Ellen also has personal experience with emotional eating and binge-eating disorder and has shared her story on The Oprah Winfrey Show:
“Because of my own decades of struggle with emotional eating and a binge eating disorder, I know first hand what most visitors to this website are experiencing! Like many people, I blamed my problem on what I (and society) labeled ‘a lack of willpower’.”
“But even before I knew I had an eating disorder, that didn’t make sense to me because I had lots of stick-to-itiveness, even hyper vigilance in some other areas of my life. So why couldn’t I stop my compulsive over eating?”
“When I was finally diagnosed, therapists called what I had, “atypical bulimia” because I binged but I didn’t purge… and they didn’t know what else to call it back then. Today it has a name of it’s own and those of us in the binge eating disorder field are working hard to get this Binge Eating Disorder the recognition that it, and those of us who struggle with it, deserve!”
Thanks Ellen for sharing your story and helping many people with these struggles!
I have many workout books to help you burn fat and get healthy. I don’t have any food addiction and binge-eating disorder books to help you…..Ellen does.
If you need help or know somebody who does, visit A Weigh Out today!
Mark Dilworth, BA, PES
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