When it comes to what can cause binge eating and causes for binge eating disorder, there are complexities.
Read on to see 4 simplified reasons for binge eating!
1st Thing That Can Cause Binge Eating:
Restriction
Societal pressure to conform to a certain body type or weight can lead to disordered eating patterns, including binge eating. Women may feel pressure to meet unrealistic beauty standards and may use restricting food as a means to try and keep up with the latest body type that is popular.
Ultimately, the body will fight back to survive. Meaning, it will try to make up for the missing calories, which primes us for a binge eating episode.
2nd Thing That Can Cause Binge Eating:
Lack of Healthy Coping Mechanisms
Consuming food is shown to trigger dopamine in the brain, a feel-good neurotransmitter. Some women may not have healthy ways to cope with difficult emotions, situations, or trauma responses and they may turn to food as an easy and accessible coping mechanism to quickly experience dopamine’s effects. They may not know other ways to deal with the emotional stressors in their life and find comfort in binge eating.
Women may also use restriction as a means of coping which, as described above, can lead to binge eating as well.
3rd Thing That Can Cause Binge Eating:
Genetics or Biology
Some research suggests that binge eating may have a genetic component, and some women may be more predisposed to binge eating due to their biology. This could mean that certain individuals have a greater sensitivity to hunger or reward signals in the brain, making them more vulnerable to engaging in binge eating behavior.
4th Thing That Can Cause Binge Eating:
Anticipatory Binge Eating
An intriguing phenomenon I’ve noticed in my work with clients is the “why even try” mentality that further encourages binge eating behaviors. For example, if they know they will be on vacation next week and their self-control has historically been horrible on vacations, then they won’t even try to start creating healthy habits before the vacation… so they binge because they know they’ll binge later on.
How To Stop Overeating
The good news is that all of these causes for binge eating can be reversed!
If you want to get off the roller coaster of starting over Monday just to fall of the wagon by Friday, apply for my group coaching program to eat the foods you love without dieting!