Compulsive overeaters
Encyclopedia
Compulsive overeating, also sometimes called food addiction, is characterized by an obsessive/compulsive
relationship to food. Professionals address this with either a behavior-modification model or a food-addiction model. An individual suffering from compulsive overeating disorder engages in frequent episodes of uncontrolled eating, or binge eating
, during which they may feel frenzied or out of control, often consuming food past the point of being comfortably full. Binging in this way is generally followed by feelings of guilt and depression. Unlike individuals with bulimia, compulsive overeaters do not attempt to compensate for their binging with purging behaviors such as fasting, laxative use or vomiting. Compulsive overeaters will typically eat when they are not hungry. Their obsession is demonstrated in that they spend excessive amounts of time and thought devoted to food, and secretly plan or fantasize about eating alone. Compulsive overeating usually leads to weight gain and obesity
, but not everyone who is obese is also a compulsive overeater. While compulsive overeaters tend to be overweight
or obese, persons of normal or average weight can also be affected.
In addition to binge eating, compulsive overeaters can also engage in grazing behavior, during which they return to pick at food throughout the day. These things result in a large overall number of calories consumed even if the quantities eaten at any one time may be small. When a compulsive eater overeats primarily through binging, he or she can be said to have binge eating disorder
.
Left untreated, compulsive overeating can lead to serious medical conditions including high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease
, hypertension
, sleep apnea, and major depression. Additional long-term side effects of the condition also include kidney disease, arthritis
, bone deterioration and stroke
. Other negative effects may include the amount of money that is wasted on food and the feelings of low self esteem that comes as a result of binging.
metabolism in the brain of binge eaters that triggers the addictive process. This is in line with other theories of addiction that attribute it not to avoidance of withdrawal symptoms, but to a primary problem in the reward centers of the brain. For the Compulsive Overeater, the ingestion of trigger foods causes release of the neurotransmitter, serotonin
. This could be another sign of neurobiological factors contributing to the addictive process. Abstinence from addictive food and food eating processes causes withdrawal symptoms in those with eating disorders. There may be higher levels of depression and anxiety due to the decreased levels of serotonin in the individual.
There are complexities with the biology of compulsive eating that separate it from a pure substance abuse analogy. Food is a complex mixture of chemicals that can affect the body in multiple ways, which is magnified by stomach-brain communication. In some ways, it may be much more difficult for compulsive overeaters to recover than drug addicts. There is an anecdotal saying among Overeaters Anonymous
members that "when you are addicted to drugs you put the tiger in the cage to recover; when you are addicted to food you put the tiger in the cage, but take it out three times a day for a walk."
The physical explanation of compulsive overeating may be attributed to an overeaters' increased tendency to secrete insulin
at the sight and smell of food, though medical evidence supporting this is controversial. Some researchers also attribute it to excessive neurological sensitivity in taste and/or smell.
Fatty foods may cause cocaine-like addiction. Taking drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Eventually the pleasure centers "crash," and achieving the same pleasure—or even just feeling normal—requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.
) is a serious problem and can result in death. However, with treatment, which should include talk therapy, medical and nutritional counseling, it can be overcome. Several Twelve Step programs
designed to help members recover from compulsive overeating and food addiction exist today.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Obsessive–compulsive disorder is an anxiety disorder characterized by intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry, by repetitive behaviors aimed at reducing the associated anxiety, or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions...
relationship to food. Professionals address this with either a behavior-modification model or a food-addiction model. An individual suffering from compulsive overeating disorder engages in frequent episodes of uncontrolled eating, or binge eating
Binge eating
Binge eating is a pattern of disordered eating which consists of episodes of uncontrollable eating. It is sometimes as a symptom of binge eating disorder. During such binges, a person rapidly consumes an excessive amount of food...
, during which they may feel frenzied or out of control, often consuming food past the point of being comfortably full. Binging in this way is generally followed by feelings of guilt and depression. Unlike individuals with bulimia, compulsive overeaters do not attempt to compensate for their binging with purging behaviors such as fasting, laxative use or vomiting. Compulsive overeaters will typically eat when they are not hungry. Their obsession is demonstrated in that they spend excessive amounts of time and thought devoted to food, and secretly plan or fantasize about eating alone. Compulsive overeating usually leads to weight gain and obesity
Obesity
Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
, but not everyone who is obese is also a compulsive overeater. While compulsive overeaters tend to be overweight
Overweight
Overweight is generally defined as having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is a common condition, especially where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary...
or obese, persons of normal or average weight can also be affected.
In addition to binge eating, compulsive overeaters can also engage in grazing behavior, during which they return to pick at food throughout the day. These things result in a large overall number of calories consumed even if the quantities eaten at any one time may be small. When a compulsive eater overeats primarily through binging, he or she can be said to have binge eating disorder
Binge eating disorder
Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the United States affecting 3.5% of females and 2% of males and is prevalent in up to 30% of those seeking weight loss treatment...
.
Left untreated, compulsive overeating can lead to serious medical conditions including high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
, hypertension
Hypertension
Hypertension or high blood pressure is a cardiac chronic medical condition in which the systemic arterial blood pressure is elevated. What that means is that the heart is having to work harder than it should to pump the blood around the body. Blood pressure involves two measurements, systolic and...
, sleep apnea, and major depression. Additional long-term side effects of the condition also include kidney disease, arthritis
Arthritis
Arthritis is a form of joint disorder that involves inflammation of one or more joints....
, bone deterioration and stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
. Other negative effects may include the amount of money that is wasted on food and the feelings of low self esteem that comes as a result of binging.
Signs and symptoms
- Binge eating, or eating uncontrollably even when not physically hungry
- Eating much more rapidly than normal
- Eating alone due to shame and embarrassment
- Feelings of guilt due to overeating
- Preoccupation with body weight
- Depression or mood swings
- Awareness that eating patterns are abnormal
- Rapid weight gain or sudden onset of obesity
- Significantly decreased mobility due to weight gain
- History of weight fluctuations
- Withdrawal from activities because of embarrassment about weight
- History of many different unsuccessful diets
- Eating little in public, but maintaining a high body weight
- Very low self esteem and feeling need to eat greater and greater amounts.
Addiction
During binges, compulsive overeaters may consume from 5000 to 15,000 food calories daily, resulting in a temporary release from psychological stress through an addictive high not unlike that experienced through drug abuse. In bulimics, this high may be intensified by the act of purging. Researchers have speculated there is an abnormality of endorphinEndorphin
Endorphins are endogenous opioid peptides that function as neurotransmitters. They are produced by the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus in vertebrates during exercise, excitement, pain, consumption of spicy food, love and orgasm, and they resemble the opiates in their abilities to produce...
metabolism in the brain of binge eaters that triggers the addictive process. This is in line with other theories of addiction that attribute it not to avoidance of withdrawal symptoms, but to a primary problem in the reward centers of the brain. For the Compulsive Overeater, the ingestion of trigger foods causes release of the neurotransmitter, serotonin
Serotonin
Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine is a monoamine neurotransmitter. Biochemically derived from tryptophan, serotonin is primarily found in the gastrointestinal tract, platelets, and in the central nervous system of animals including humans...
. This could be another sign of neurobiological factors contributing to the addictive process. Abstinence from addictive food and food eating processes causes withdrawal symptoms in those with eating disorders. There may be higher levels of depression and anxiety due to the decreased levels of serotonin in the individual.
There are complexities with the biology of compulsive eating that separate it from a pure substance abuse analogy. Food is a complex mixture of chemicals that can affect the body in multiple ways, which is magnified by stomach-brain communication. In some ways, it may be much more difficult for compulsive overeaters to recover than drug addicts. There is an anecdotal saying among Overeaters Anonymous
Overeaters Anonymous
Overeaters Anonymous is a twelve-step program for people with problems related to food including, but not limited to, compulsive overeaters, those with binge eating disorder, bulimics and anorexics...
members that "when you are addicted to drugs you put the tiger in the cage to recover; when you are addicted to food you put the tiger in the cage, but take it out three times a day for a walk."
The physical explanation of compulsive overeating may be attributed to an overeaters' increased tendency to secrete insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
at the sight and smell of food, though medical evidence supporting this is controversial. Some researchers also attribute it to excessive neurological sensitivity in taste and/or smell.
Fatty foods may cause cocaine-like addiction. Taking drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain, according to Paul J. Kenny, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute, in Jupiter, Florida. Eventually the pleasure centers "crash," and achieving the same pleasure—or even just feeling normal—requires increasing amounts of the drug or food, says Kenny, the lead author of the study.
Management
Compulsive overeating is treatable with counseling and therapy. Approximately 80% of sufferers who seek professional help recover completely or experience significant reduction in their symptoms. According to Dr. Gregg Jantz of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources in Edmonds, WA; less than 2% of morbidly obese clients ever recover. Many eating disorders are thought to be behavioral patterns stemming from emotional struggles that need to be resolved in order for the sufferer to develop lasting results and a healthy relationship with food. Compulsive overeating (along with anorexiaAnorexia nervosa
Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by refusal to maintain a healthy body weight and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. Although commonly called "anorexia", that term on its own denotes any symptomatic loss of appetite and is not strictly accurate...
) is a serious problem and can result in death. However, with treatment, which should include talk therapy, medical and nutritional counseling, it can be overcome. Several Twelve Step programs
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
designed to help members recover from compulsive overeating and food addiction exist today.
See also
- Binge eating disorderBinge eating disorderBinge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the United States affecting 3.5% of females and 2% of males and is prevalent in up to 30% of those seeking weight loss treatment...
- Bulimia nervosaBulimia nervosaBulimia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating and purging or consuming a large amount of food in a short amount of time, followed by an attempt to rid oneself of the food consumed, usually by purging and/or by laxative, diuretics or excessive exercise. Bulimia nervosa is...
- Eating disorderEating disorderEating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual's physical and mental health. Bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating disorder are the most common specific...
- Eating disorder not otherwise specifiedEating disorder not otherwise specifiedEating disorder not otherwise specified involves disordered eating patterns. EDNOS is described in the DSM-IV-TR as a "category [of] disorders of eating that do not meet the criteria for any specific eating disorder".- Characteristics :...
- Food Addicts in Recovery AnonymousFood Addicts in Recovery AnonymousFood Addicts in Recovery Anonymous is a twelve step program, based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. Its members are people who could not control their eating behavior or were obsessed with food....
- Food Addicts AnonymousFood Addicts AnonymousFood Addicts Anonymous is a twelve-step program for people with a bio chemical food addictions, patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous. The program is based on the premise that some people are addicted to refined high-carbohydrate foods and need to abstain from those foods in order to avoid...
- HyperalimentationHyperalimentationHyperalimentation refers to a state where quantities of food consumed are greater than appropriate. It includes overeating, as well as other routes of administration such as in parenteral nutrition....
- Overeaters AnonymousOvereaters AnonymousOvereaters Anonymous is a twelve-step program for people with problems related to food including, but not limited to, compulsive overeaters, those with binge eating disorder, bulimics and anorexics...
- GluttonyGluttonyGluttony, derived from the Latin gluttire meaning to gulp down or swallow, means over-indulgence and over-consumption of food, drink, intoxicants or wealth items to the point of extravagance or waste...
Further reading
- "Eating Awareness Training" Molly Groger, copyright 1983 "...reclaim (your) 'birthright', the right to eat without compulsion, obsession, or suffering. ...what the body wants, as much as it wants, whenever it wants." from the Preface by Thomas Lebherz, M.D.
- C. Brownlee, "Food Fix: Neurobiology highlights similarities between obesity and drug addiction", Science News, Vol. 68, No. 10, 9/3/2005
- The Food Farce "FOOD ADDICTION | The Perils of Processed Foods in America’s Diet"