Have you ever heard about compulsive overeating disorder? Do you know the importance of this disease? Are you suffering from it without even knowing?
For you that haven’t heard about this condition before, it indicates people who have it what is characterized as a big addiction to food in general. These people use food as a way to hide their feelings and skip expressing their everyday emotions. Compulsive overeating works as a “stress releaser”, but many people probably don’t know the real risks hiding behind this common-looking disease.
The risks
Some of the main risks compulsive eating disorder holds are:
Heart disease
Diabetes
High blood pressure
Stroke
Kidney disease
Depression
High cholesterol
Sleep apnea
Bone deterioration
Usually, people who are suffering from compulsive overeating are overweight and most of the time are completely aware of their wrong eating habits. One of the biggest issues this disease holds is the fact it isn’t simple to overcome since the society has already stereotyped overweight people as something wrong and unpleasant and doesn’t accept it as a normal thing to happen.
How to understand if you really have compulsive overeating?
Well, eating “too much” now and then is completely normal. Every one of us has experienced days that have made us return home super hungry or tired/upset. These are the most common cases that create the perfect conditions to overeat.
But, if you often find yourself compulsively overeating and find the use of food as the perfect solution to cope with negative emotions, and then, you feel guilty for doing that, you probably need to consider a visit with your doctor. Unfortunately, having a negative body image can play a very big role on this disorder.
How can you control it and prevent its progress?
Ask help
Sometimes, in many cases, it might be hard to stop overeating on your own. Especially if you have put yourself into this condition through your emotional issues. If you decide to work with a counselor or a dietitian, the recovery process will become much easier. Eliminating the factors that trigger these negative overeating actions, is the first step to be taken.
Change perceptions
The second step should involve your perceptions and actions. Try to avoid labels! The ones that indicate that you might be a “bad” person, or an “unstable” one, are completely wrong. Don’t live by these kinds of labels and accept your emotions, body and beliefs as they are. Trying to put your self down will only do you harm. The same thing goes for labeling the foods you eat. Don’t divide them as “good” or “bad” foods. Phycologists agree that doing this may only lead you to more eating mistakes.
Don’t diet
Many experts agree that overeating and restrictive eating can many times deliver you the same results. Deprivation of certain foods may only lead you to eating more and more as soon as you get the chance. Trying to lose weight or look and feel good about you through a restrictive diet is never the right solution. If you really want to start the recovery process right, change your food ideology. Eating healthy, small meals and often, allow you to eat even the type of foods that you might have been considering as “bad” ones! Take a little time to study the nutritional values of different kinds of foods in order to get all the necessary elements without overeating. If you start enjoying the making-process of your healthy meals, you will find overeating in certain occasions as something not as necessary as you used to think…
