Compulsive Overeating And Binge Eating Disorders

While most people that become overweight will decide to go on a healthy diet, there are certain eating disorders that afflict obese people. Even if these individuals decide to go on a diet, they oftentimes end up gaining more weight because of the frustrations with trying to lose weight. These eating disorders also occur because the people afflicted cannot handle stress, deal with their feelings, cannot handle emotions and fear rejection. They use food as their escape and find that they cannot help themselves, even when they are aware of what they are doing. The causes of eating disorders are not an exact science as there are many different reasons a person might have one. The best course of action is to seek medical help through a qualified individual and support groups.

Compulsive overeating is an eating disorder where the person afflicted will eat almost constantly. You will notice that this type of person snacks throughout the day and will still eat a full meal. Compulsive overeaters rarely consume extremely large quantities of food in one sitting. Rather they graze on food throughout the entire day. This type of eating disorder is similar to a person that is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Compulsive overeaters find it difficult to go without food and may go into a panic attack if food is withheld from them.

Binge eaters on the other hand are where afflicted persons will consume large amounts of food, quickly in one sitting. They will eat well beyond when their bodies tell them they are full. They might feel afraid that they may not get to eat for quite some time and stuff themselves. Unlike bulimics they do not purge the food from their bodies. However, they can still have feelings of guilt for consuming so much food in a short amount of time.

Both of these types of eating disorders result in people gaining weight because they are not eating healthy. Since they are eating large amounts of food in excess of what the body needs, the body stores this as fat. If left untreated, these disorders can lead to heart attack, stroke or even death.