Understanding Binge Eating

Words: 1881
Pages: 8

It was once said by Anna Thomas that we all eat and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly. To understand binge eating it is necessary to first need understand normal eating. The general understanding of normal eating is giving thought to the food which would not be restrictive in terms of factors like choice, access, how it would make an individual feel etc. Normal eating thus would be nothing special as it wouldn’t require efforts and would not serve as way of control.
It’s not about an individual’s normal way of eating, but it’s about how they think about it. It is about the feelings associated with the way they eat which could also include other factors like the quantity, the number of times one eats etc. rather than just
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For instance if an individual eats two ice creams instead of one, or takes two servings of dinner or has an entire large pizza to themselves, it wouldn’t make them feel that they are eating a lot or binging. Whatever would be eaten would have no bearing on their thoughts or emotions, it would mean nothing.
On the other hand, in binge eating behaviour it would not be about what and how much we eat but about how we feel about the eating and that would determine our behaviour of binge eating. Thus, binge eating would happen when we cross that line of not feeling normal . Every binge is different, different for each individual and at different times. During the binge the individual would feel like he/she doesn’t have the control while eating and once they indulge in it they feel ‘powerless’ to overcome the urge to resist eating.
Binge eating can be classified as a measurable and distinct pattern which has become part of the individual’s life. Here, something of significance would become predictors of this binge behaviour i.e. what caused the individuals to binge eat. If these predictors come into light, it can be tried to establish control over the binge eating behaviour. Thus the current study tried to determine these predictors using theory of planned