Binge Eating Disorder

Do you sometimes feel that your kids might eat you out of house and home? It can feel like that at times, especially during the teen years. They grab a handful of cookies here, a bag of chips there, and finish last night's leftovers in a flash. They're growing like weeds, of course, so you figure all that eating is OK. Most of the time, it is.

But sometimes, heavy snacking isn't what it seems to be. If kids eat unusually large amounts of food — and feel guilty or secretive about it — they could be struggling with a common eating disorder called binge eating disorder.

About Binge Eating Disorder

Lots of people find comfort in food. After all, it's often at the heart of our happiest celebrations. Birthdays can mean cake with friends; Thanksgiving often means turkey and stuffing with family. Most people will sometimes eat much more than they normally do on special occasions.

But people with binge eating disorder have a different relationship with food — they feel like they've lost all control over how much they're eating, like they can't stop. They also binge more frequently — at least twice a week for several months.

For people with binge eating disorder, at first food may provide feelings of calm or comfort, but later it can be the focus of strong guilt and distress. A binge usually involves eating unusually large amounts of food quickly and feel completely out of control as they do it. These behaviors become a pattern of eating and can alternate with dieting.

Binge eating disorder is more common in people who are obese, but it affects people with healthy weights as well. However, there's little information on how many kids and teens are affected because the condition has only recently been recognized, and some may be too embarrassed to seek help for it.

And because most binge eating is done alone, even if their kids may be gaining weight, parents might not be aware that it's due to bingeing.

While most people with other eating disorders (like anorexia and bulimia) are female, an estimated third of those with binge eating disorder are male. Adults in treatment (including 2% of adult Americans — roughly 1 million to 2 million people) often say their problems started in childhood or adolescence.

Signs and Symptoms

Kids and teens who sometimes eat a lot don't necessarily have binge eating disorder. Kids can have huge appetites, especially during growth spurts, when they need more nutrients to fuel their growing bodies. So it can be difficult to determine whether a child has binge eating disorder. But several signs distinguish someone who binge eats from someone with a "healthy appetite."

Parents and other family members may first suspect a problem when they notice large amounts of food missing from the pantry or the refrigerator, though it's hard to imagine one child could have eaten so much.

Other signs include:

• a child eating a lot of food quickly
• a pattern of eating in response to emotional stress, such as family conflict, peer rejection, or poor academic performance
• a child feeling ashamed or disgusted by the amount eaten
• finding food containers hidden in a child's room
• an increasingly irregular eating pattern, such as skipping meals, eating lots of junk food, and eating at unusual times (like late at night)

People who binge eat may also experience feelings that are common to many eating disorders, such as depression, anxiety, guilt, or shame. They may avoid school, work, or socializing with friends because they're ashamed of their binge eating problem or changes in their body shape and weight.