What are the causes of compulsive overating and more generally the causes of eating disorders?

Working for years with people suffering from compulsive eating disorders and binge eating disorders, I realized that the need for food is so anchored in their mind that the causes of compulsive overeating had to come from a very deep place.

1. Indeed, eating is one of the first things we learn, along with breathing... At a very early age we associate pleasure and love with eating, especially as babies when fed by our mom.
2. Also, we know and feel instinctively that our natural state is to feel good. So when we don’t feel good, one way to counter a negative feeling that we learn at a very early age and which works on a consistent basis is to eat. Eating changes our physiology and our chemistry. Eating food literally changes the way we feel.

So, if you really want to understand what causes binge eating and the causes of compulsive overeating, you need to realize what prompts people to overeat. People overeat because it is pleasurable and it helps them to change the way they feel.

The causes of eating disorders, whether it is through a:

1. Compulsive overeating disorder
2. Binge eating disorder
3. Bulimia eating disorder

are not about food itself. Overeating is merely a mean available and easily accessible to cope with stressful thoughts and negative emotions.

Causes of eating disorders and more specifically causes of compulsive overeating or binge eating disorder.

These causes of eating disorders have two levels:  a superficial and a deeper one.

Superficial level: Behaviors

People believe that they are triggered by the food itself whether they see it, hear about it or smell it...

For example:

1. Cause eating disorder #1: Passing by a bakery or an ice-cream store will trigger the desire for that specific food the store offers
2. Cause eating disorder #2: Going to a party where everybody eats
3. Cause eating disorder #3:Talking about food, pressure from family or friends
4. Cause eating disorder #4:Watching commercials
5. Cause eating disorder #5: All you can eat restaurants

These are external cues to overeat. If you suffer from an eating disorder you are at risk of engaging in an overeating behavior as opposed to someone who has no eating disorder who waits to be hungry to eat and stops when feeling sateity.

These external cues are the first binge eating disorder causes  or causeds of compulsive overeating. 

Deeper level: Programming

Overwhelming thoughts and emotions triggering a binge eating episode are generally perceived as unbearable. The sufferer cannot face them. They are an internal cue to overeat. Most of the time they are “negative” cues, like stress, anxiety, loneliness, anger or fear… But for some, binge eating can be triggered during a “good day”. At this point binge eating constitutes the main way to deal with emotions whether they are percieved as good or bad.

1. Cause eating disorder #6: A fight with a family member or a friend
2. Cause eating disorder #7: Missing an appointment or a plane
3. Cause eating disorder #8:Failing a test or not closing a contract
4. Cause eating disorder #9: Money problems
5. Cause eating disorder #10: Health issues

These are situations which are generally considered as the causes of the eating disorders. In facts its the overwhelming thoughts and emotions associated with these situations, in other words, the interpretation of these events which are the causes of any eating disorder. This interpretation constitutes your programming. So, your programming is the underlying cause of your eating disorder whether we consider:

1. Compulsive overeating disorder
2. Binge eating disorder
3. Bulimia

It is essential for you to be aware of the two different levels of binge eating disorder causes because the solution to your binge eating disorder will have to take into account both aspects to be efficient and to assure permanent results.

Learning about solutions

Why is it so hard to stop binge eating?

A binge eating disorder is not only a behavior you are compelled to yield to, it is the manifestation of your thinking. It is a direct reflection of the way you deal with your life. Telling you to stop your binge eating disorder is like telling you to stop dealing with your life. You just can’t do it all at once. It is part of the way you process, the way you function. Years of working with my clients demonstrated that stopping a binge eating disorder is not a question of will power. To stop binge eating, you need to first address and work on that which triggers you to overeat before you change your eating pattern. There is no way around it.

That is what we focus on! 

Click HERE to learn about our binge eating solutions