Lets talk about BED

Binge Eating Disorder, or BED for short, is fairly self explanatory. The sufferer regularly ‘binges’ or overeats in a short amount of time and feels that they have no control over their food intake i.e they can’t stop eating. It is one of less talked about of the eating disorders and carries the largest stigma.

It’s not difficult to see why it carries such a large stigma when the media is constantly bombarding us with the dangers of overeating and how obesity is costing the tax payer such a large amount of money. Even in the eating disorders support community BED sufferers are seen as outsiders. I know I for one until maybe 6 months ago saw BED as very gluttonous and undisciplined compared to my very strict form of eating disorder which controlled exactly how much I ate, with whom and where.

There is no need for this stigma though. The psychological signs of BED really aren’t that different to any other eating disorder:
-Low self esteem
-Body dissatisfaction
-Letting food and eating control your life.
-Depression and anxiety
A person suffering with binge eating disorder feels a very similar way to a sufferer of anorexia even though the two disorders are physically very different.

I feel in recent years that we as a society have come a long way in understanding anorexia and bulimia and accepting those who suffer with it. It is great progress but I feel that a similar level of understanding and acceptance needs to be extended to those suffering with binge eating disorder. So go forth and look up BED. It is best that we all try to understand it.