Have you binged? page

[Knifegill]

I mean, have you actually binged? I don't mean, "Oh, my! I finished this whole box of wheat thins to myself!" binged, I mean, "As of now I'm cold, shaking and dizzy because instead of stopping when I was full (eating real food, etc.) I've consumed over a pound of candy and honestly think I might go into a coma." binge. I keep seeing these people talking about a binge, and then they go on to describe a typical lunch or snack. Who are these people in real life? Do they weight 25 pounds and normally eat photons?

[YogaBare]

What is this, a competition on who can eat more?

I think a binge is characterised by the feelings (distress, desperation, anger etc) that fuel the consumption. A binge for an anorexic could be 3 apricots.

[Neanderthal Betty]

Binging is different for everyone, and shouldn't be classified by the physical act as much as it should be classified by the emotional/psychological response to ones relationship with food.

[Knifegill]

But if you start calling a normal dinner or snack a "binge" then you're going to starve to death. It's always better to eat more than it is to eat less.

[YogaBare]

But if you start calling a normal dinner or snack a "binge" then you're going to starve to death. It's always better to eat more than it is to eat less.

Eureka! He's found the cure to all EDs

Seriously dude.

[Knifegill]

Just giving a moon to your sun. I know first-hand how entangling eating disorders can feel, I was likely pre-diabetic for a while there having to eat every few hours and always craving soda after soda. So I've been physically dependent on food, more than just for nutrition, and know it's horrible to have to think about it. I also remember my ritalin years where I ate nothing but cereal in the AM for four years straight and food was more of a threat than a treat.

But a human body under-fed and undernourished will fall apart much faster than a body overfed and +/-adequately nourished. As a skeleton I remember being insanely weak, my teeth were rotting out and I didn't grow for those four years. I weighed 82 pounds from the age of ten to the age of 14! I was just a ribcage with sticks tacked on when a neighbor intervened and snapped my parents out of their delusions. And I gained 100 pounds in one year. I sure as hell didn't do that by thinking I was binging. I ate to grow, to survive and to put meat on my bones. And to this day, even though I'm made mostly of lean muscle, it still pays to overeat more than it ever did to undereat. Perhaps bingers should be made proud of their ability and eat as much real food as they can possibly tolerate, like I do? That's how I lost weight and restored my health, having a daily binge of real, Primal food and being proud of it.

[Drumroll]

I can eat over a pound of dried fruit in one sitting which is why I never allow myself to eat it anymore. That much fructose just CAN'T be good for our livers, "but it's a primal food" be damned!

And yes, I have done this on multiple occasions in the past which is why I eat so carefully now.

[Knifegill]

Yeah, box of dates sitting right - oh, it's empty.

[YogaBare]

Thanks for sharing that Knife. And look, I hear what you're saying but I don't agree with your assessment because binging is not about the food. It's about the act and the escape from reality that it provides. It affords people a distraction from their inner turmoil by allowing them to focus on something physical. It's an addiction.

An alcoholic is not an alcoholic because of the quantities that he drinks.

[AshleyL]

I remember this one night, we had spaghetti for supper... I was laid out on the couch because my body couldn't bend afterwards. I was so utterly stuffed and miserable and just waiting for it to disperse a bit. I guess that would be called a binge. I used to never feel any more satisfied after a meal than before. Very miserable. But I didn't eat to "escape" or whatever. I ate because I was freaking hungry and liked food a lot. Only time I'd eat that wasn't just hunger was if I was anxious.

Much better now although I could still eat a rediculous amount of food- I'm just not driven to.