Umm... What is Binge Eating?
If I were to explain it as a friend
It's that feeling in the middle of eating when everything escapes your brain… all the tools, techniques, and the desire to eat better, what's on TV… you can't control your arms and hands, and it's like this overwhelming feeling that you just need to eat this as quickly as possible before "the demons come back."
The professional explanation….
Binge eating is when you eat a large amount of food in a relatively short period of time and feel like you don’t have control over your eating while it’s happening. It may feel hard to slow down or stop, even if you’re already full or weren’t physically hungry to begin with.
During a binge, some people eat much faster than usual, eat until they feel uncomfortably full, or eat alone because they feel embarrassed about how much they’re eating. Afterward, there may be feelings of guilt, shame, regret, or frustration. Having an occasional episode of overeating—like eating more than usual at a holiday or celebration—is not necessarily binge eating. A key part of binge eating is the feeling of losing control over the eating, not just how much food was eaten.
How to test for it at home
While you are eating, ask yourself:
“Do I feel like everything else has faded away and I have to keep eating as fast as I can, even though part of me wants to slow down or stop?”
Another simple test is: “Could I pause for two minutes right now?” If stopping feels almost impossible, your hand feels like it is moving automatically, or you feel driven to finish the food before an overwhelming feeling returns, that may be a sign of loss of control during eating.