Binge Eating Diagnosis

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The majority of bulimics binge in secret and resort to self-induced vomiting or purging. A typical binge averages 4,000 calories, lasts an hour, and occurs twice a day.

Diagnostic criteria include recurrent episodes of binge-eating; awareness that the eating pattern is abnormal and fear of being unable to stop voluntarily; and depressed mood and self-deprecating thoughts after binging.

If you answer yes to one or more of these questions, then you should:

  • Do you feel out of control when you’re eating?
  • Do you think about food all the time?
  • Do you eat in secret?
  • Do you eat until you feel sick?
  • Do you eat to escape from worries or to comfort yourself?
  • Do you feel disgusted or ashamed after eating?
  • Do you feel powerless to stop eating, even though you want to?

A binge is usually described as an event where:

  1. eating until feeling uncomfortably full.
  2. eating large quantities of food when not even hungry.
  3. eating noticeably faster than is considered normal.
  4. eating alone due to embarrassment of over eating.
  5. feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt after a binge.

On average, binge eating takes place twice weekly, and has done so for 6 months.

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