How Anxiety Can Lead To Binge Eating
Being human means you will, inevitably, experience some degree of anxiety in your life. Sometimes mild anxiety might feel like excitement, or motivate you to take action. However, for many people anxiety can become overwhelming and begin to interfere with their day-to-day life. The latter can be far more difficult to cope with, leading to certain behaviors to soothe or distract from anxiety overwhelm; for example, a person struggling with anxiety might turn to food and binge eating.
A diagnosis of Binge eating disorder (BED), depending on the frequency and intensity of these binges, may develop over time as a response to anxious feelings. Such behavior(s) can be challenging for you to understand on your own, and even more difficult to address without the support of a therapist or registered dietitian.
Oftentimes, a person who is struggling with binge eating does not understand why such a chaotic relationship with food has become part of their life. (At Kindful Body, we work with many clients who suffer from chronic stress and anxiety, and eating disorders).
Read on to learn about disordered eating, and how anxiety can lead to binge eating.
Anxiety
Did you know . . . “anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concern in the United States. Over 40 million adults in the U.S. (19.1%) have an anxiety disorder. Meanwhile, approximately 7% of children aged 3-17 experience issues with anxiety each year. Most people develop symptoms before age 21.”
Anxiety is chronic and interferes with your day-to-day life. Depending on the severity, anxiety can make it difficult to leave the house or accomplish tasks. Anxiety symptoms can look like:
Exhaustion from constant worry
Recurring intrusive thoughts and concerns
Feeling restless, wound-up, or on edge
Difficulty concentrating or your mind goes blank
Disrupted sleep patterns
Trouble being in the present moment
Physical symptoms of anxiety can include any of the following:
Sweating
Trembling
Dizziness
Rapid heartbeat
Increased blood pressure
Digestive problems or changes in appetite
Headaches
Muscle tension
Binge Eating Disorder
It’s both natural and normal to seek comfort in food. However, binge eating is different from simply “‘eating your feelings.” Someone who is struggling with binge eating is at high risk for developing a Binge Eating Disorder (BED). What is BED?
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by intense feelings of guilt, shame, and disgust. These binges usually happen in secret. People who have a binge eating disorder may hide food from others in their bedroom, office, car, or another part of their home. In addition, someone with BED tends to lose control over their eating, which spirals into eating a very large amount of food in a short period of time. Unlike other eating disorders (bulimia or anorexia), a person who struggles with BED does not attempt any purging or excessive exercise after bouts of binging.
People experience a loss of control when binge eating.
They often eat until they are uncomfortably full and are no longer able to enjoy the food. Binging is not about any specific foods, even when someone binges on one particular food repeatedly. Binges do not even have to involve food you may categorize as “unhealthy.”
A common trigger for binge eating is a dietary restriction, resulting in becoming uncontrollably hungry, and binge eating, This is known as the binge-restrict cycle, which is common in eating disorders, especially BED.
According to the DSM-5, binge eating disorder involves:
Rapid Eating
Eating until feeling uncomfortably full
Consuming large amounts of food when not feeling physically hungry
Eating alone because of being embarrassed by how much one is eating
Feeling disgusted with oneself, depressed, or very guilty after overeating
Binge eating at least 1 day a week for 3 months
Binge eating disorder is the most common eating disorder in the U.S. and affects people of all sizes. You don’t have to live in a larger body to struggle with binge eating. Like any eating disorder, binge eating is not about numbers or appearance, instead, it is about the feelings behind the disordered eating behaviors.
Anxiety Can Lead To Binge Eating
Disordered eating is a way of coping with life stressors, trauma, along with other mental health issues, like anxiety. Identifying and treating these co-occurring disorders is key to eating disorder recovery. We have to address the ‘root’ rather than just the eating behaviors themselves. Otherwise, these behaviors are likely to continue.
According to Marcella Cox, Founder of Kindful Body and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist, and Supervisor, “Many of the clients that we work with at Kindful Body struggle with clinical anxiety as well as a disordered relationship to food. We see two patterns when it comes to this dual diagnosis. The first is clients turning to food to cope with the emotional dysregulation of anxiety, and the second is increased anxiety symptoms due to the shame, guilt, secrecy, and feelings of loss of control that occur with binge eating. In either case, therapy can help with reducing anxiety and healing from Binge Eating Disorder.”
If you are wondering how anxiety might play a role in your binge eating, practice checking in with yourself by asking a few questions.
Ask Yourself
What thoughts and feelings lead you to binge eat?
When do you feel the urge to binge? Think about patterns in the types of situations that lead to a binge.
What feelings might you be trying to numb or avoid by binge eating?
What fears or worries might you be seeking comfort for?
Begin Anxiety Treatment and Therapy for Binge Eating in San Francisco, CA
Can you remember the last time you felt calm and peaceful? Is being overwhelmed and stressed out your new normal? Do you wonder if you will ever feel relaxed and in the flow of life again?
You don’t have to spend every day exhausted by racing thoughts and worries and feeling out of control around food. Kindful Body offers online therapy for anxiety and binge eating. Our team would be happy to offer support from our San Francisco, CA-based practice and across the state. You can start your therapy journey by following these steps:
Contact us to schedule a consultation.
Meet with one of our caring relationship therapists
Start improving your relationship with food!
Other Therapy Services Offered With Kindful Body
Additionally, our clinicians provide eating disorder treatment for students and adolescents, emotional eating recovery, brain spotting for eating disorders, trauma therapy,low self-esteem issues, and relationship therapy. We also provide support groups for those who need a little extra support in addition to their current therapy.
Contact our eating disorder therapists in California to find out how we can help adults and teens throughout California and whether we'd be a good match to work together.
We offer free 15-minute consultations to all new clients.