Binge Eating? 8 Tips to Help You Stop

In the past three months, you have binged on food at least 12 times. You hate that you do it and always feel guilty after, but something inside you compels you to do this (A binge is when you consume a lot of food in a short period of time). Well, you are not alone. About 3% of the US population does this, and qualifies for the diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder (BED). And according to the The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, as many as half of all binge eating patients have a history of depression! Here is why: When you binge eat, you gain weight. So you feel out of control with your eating, you gain weight and get depressed over your body shape and weight. Then you binge again and feel even worse, heightening the depressed feelings. It’s a bit of a vicious cycle. And for some people, depression led them to binge eat in the first place. Here are helpful tips to help stop those binges.

Written by Dr. Linda Mintle. Read her Beliefnet blog, "Doing Life Together," where she discusses love, marriage, faith, and family.