About 3.5% of women and 2% of men have binge eating disorder in America, making it the most common eating disorder. Binge eating is an eating disorder where a large amount of food is eaten in a short amount of time and occurs uncontrollably. Following the binging episode, a wave of shame and guilt usually occurs, resulting in decreased self-esteem and self-worth. Binging is not the same as overeating. Overeating occurs when you enjoy the food you are eating, so the act is out of pleasure. Binge eating occurs from a state of intense urge, and many times those who binge may eat foods that they don’t find super enjoyable. The episodes are explained as an unconscious act, where there is no choice involved in eating the large amounts of foods. Additionally, the eating continues until the person feels so stuffed and sick that they become immobile due to the large mass of food consumed. Origins of binge eating are vast, making it a complex disorder to treat. Regardless of if you are diagnosed with the disorder or if you find yourself relating to the description of a binge eating episode, there are steps to follow for what to do after a binge day.

In today’s society, many people only know how to eat when they are following a diet or meal plan. With so much misinformation and cherry-picked sources, companies have been able to profit off the average American’s little education on nutrition by selling diet pills and meal plans. Over the years this diet culture and weight loss services have built up an empire industry of $2.6 billion in market size. One would hope such a large industry would benefit the population. Unfortunately, this is not the case with diet culture because it actually causes you to have a worse relationship with food, your body, and your health.

Keto, Atkins, paleo, juice cleanses, OMAD (one meal a day), IIFYM (if it fits your macros), Jenny Craig, and Weight Watchers are all some of the most popular fad diets that people fall victim to trying. It is estimated that 45 million Americans go on a diet each year. The common denominator between all of these diets is that they all make you eat a lower amount of calories by restricting types or amounts of food you eat to promote a calorie deficit. They are usually backed by a small amount of science without many long-term trials. You know these diets because most of them have a large social media presence to make them trendy. Think about a time where you or someone you know has tried one of these diets, how long could they stick to it and keep the weight off? Were they satisfied with the diet? The truth is, we are not meant to eat only foods based on a strict diet plan with no flexibility.

Many people try these fad diets and see a small amount of progress which leads them into a downward spiral of excessive dieting and combining food rules to have quicker results. The problem is that excessive restriction of certain types and amounts of foods is a sign of disordered eating. Over time this can do more harm than good. Here we talk about long term health effects caused by fad diets and disordered eating patterns.

9% of the population is affected by eating disorders worldwide, and most of them start from ‘harmless’ diets which are actually rooted in disordered eating habits.

Common signs of disordered eating include:

Habitually counting calories

Viewing foods as either good or bad

Excessive food restriction in type or quantity

Spitting out food because you do not want the calories

Over exercising to burn off calories

Obsessive thoughts about food

Avoiding social event because you are afraid of eating fun foods

Wanting to lose as much weight as possible

It is important to be aware of these signs so that you can take action to dismantle your disordered eating habits. Many people do not know the harm that disordered eating can actually do to your body, which is what will be discussed further here.

In today’s society, many people only know how to eat if they are following a diet or meal plan. With so much misinformation and cherry-picked evidence, many companies have been able to profit off the average American’s little education on nutrition by selling diet books, pills, shakes, and meal plans. All of these without any professional unbiased review. Over the years, the diet culture and weight loss services have built up an empire industry of $2.6 billion in market size. One would hope that such a large industry would be in business to benefit the population. Unfortunately, this is not the case with diet culture because in reality, it causes you to have a worse relationship with food, your body, and your health. Diet culture is bad and it can and will take over one’s sense of self and their own health.

In today’s society, many people only know how to eat when they are following a diet or meal plan. With so much misinformation and cherry-picked sources, companies have been able to profit off the average American’s little education on nutrition by selling diet pills, meal plans, juice cleanses, and workout programs. Over the years, this mega focus on needing to be as thin and toned as possible has turned into a society full of diet culture. These services have built up an empire industry of $2.6 billion in market size. One would hope such a large industry would benefit the population. Unfortunately, this is not the case with diet culture because it actually causes you to have a worse relationship with food, your body, and your health. To learn how to get out of diet culture you need to adopt the principles of intuitive eating. This is an eating pattern that allows you to eat based on your own intuition and hunger levels. Diet culture is so restrictive, so it is necessary to let go and return to your innate way of eating, intuitively. Here we will discuss 7 of the principles in the Intuitive Eating Book by Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole to help you learn how to get out of diet culture.

Intuitive eating is a style of eating that became popularized by two dietitians Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole, who wrote the book called Intuitive Eating. In the book, they created 10 major principles which are to be followed in order. They are listed as:

Reject Diet Mentality

Honor Your Hunger

Make Peace with Food

Challenge the Food Police

Feel Your Fullness

Discover the Satisfaction Factor

Cope with Your Emotions

Respect Your Body

Exercise-Feel the difference

Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition

This eating style in short is: eat when you want, what you want, and however much you want all based on listening to your body intuitively. Now it is a lot more complex than what it seems like because learning to listen to your body can be a pretty hard skill to pick up especially if you are coming from a past of disordered eating. Intuitive eating is not mindless eating and it is not a diet. There is no restriction in intuitive eating. This eating pattern is created to be utilized every day over a life span. Everyone is invited to follow intuitive eating, and this eating pattern is meant to benefit all people. Here we will discuss all the benefits of intuitive eating.

Your relationship with food is how you think, see, and eat food. Food is necessary for life, but it should not take over our life or our headspace. We need it for survival, but we also use food for celebration, socializing, and culture. Food is an integrated part of our lives so we need to have a healthy way of interacting with it. Poor relationships with food usually originate from diet culture and false nutrition information in the media. The constant pressure to be thin is never-ending, leading women into a dark tunnel of excessive dieting, bad body image, and obsession with food. The relationship you have with food and your body image is very tightly correlated together. Over time a bad relationship with food can lead to an eating disorder, weight cycling, imbalanced hormones, weakened immune system, and increased risk for heart disease.

Your relationship with food is how you think, see, and eat food. Food is necessary for life, but it should not take over our life or our headspace. We need it for survival, but we also use food for celebration, socializing, and culture. Food is an integrated part of our lives so we need to have a healthy way of interacting with it. Poor relationships with food usually originate from diet culture and false nutrition information in the media. The constant pressure to be thin is never-ending, leading women into a dark tunnel of excessive dieting, bad body image, and obsession with food. The relationship you have with food and your body image is very tightly correlated together. Over time a bad relationship with food can lead to an eating disorder, weight cycling, imbalanced hormones, weakened immune system, and increased risk for heart disease.

Bored eating is another kind of emotional eating that originates from not paying attention to hunger cues. You eat to pass the time between classes, or you are having a lazy day at home and just eat while watching a movie. Bored eating is not inherently wrong, but it is just important to be aware that we are bored eating. When we eat out of boredom, we disconnect from our true hunger and fullness signals, which leads to us not knowing when to start and stop eating. Think about the last time you were bored eating, eating just out of enjoyment when you weren’t hungry, while you watched TV. How full did you feel after? Was it uncomfortable? Did you question how you mindlessly ate so much? If you answered yes, then it is time to dig deeper and discover how you can overcome bored eating. Reminder that eating just for pleasure is not bad, and it is actually normal, but it is important to be more aware of how our eating habits make us feel physically. Eating should not be our first strategy to experience pleasure and satisfaction.