Binge Eating Disorder Medical Complications
Today, a full 25-30% of Americans struggle with emotional eating. Emotional eating is when a person consumes food for other reasons than physiological hunger or participation in cultural events. People with emotional eating problems eat as a way to regulate unpleasant emotions. Emotional eating may include eating when not hungry, eating foods perceived as “forbidden”, grazing, eating to soothe or forget feelings, and other emotional uses of food.
When emotional eating reaches an extreme, it may become Binge Eating Disorder. Binge Eating Disorder occurs when a person binges uncontrollably on large amounts of food, often consuming thousands of calories at a time. This condition differs from bulimia because the individual does not subsequently purge after the binge. Studies show that more people suffer from Binge Eating Disorder than anorexia and bulimia combined. As much as 3-5% of Americans, both males and females, have Binge Eating Disorder.
Emotional eating and binge eating are very hard on a person’s body. These practices can, and often do, lead to obesity, which is now epidemic in the US. The medical complications can be severe. They include:
- Heart disease
- High blood pressure
- High cholesterol levels
- Type-II diabetes
- Gallbladder disease
Many of these medical complications can improve once a person changes their behaviors. And for those medical issues that don’t resolve, the sooner a person seeks treatment, the less severe the complication will be.
If you or someone you know is struggling with an emotional eating problem, please call Remuda Programs at 1-800-445-1900.
