Categories of Emotional Eaters - 1

The last few days I have been discussing the alarming results from Self's poll on disordered eating. The next few days I will be discussing the six categories of disordered eating from Self magazine. 

Category 1: "Calorie Prisoners are terrified of gaining weight, tend to see food as good or bad and feel extremely guilty if they indulge in something that's off-limits."

My comment: There is nothing wrong with monitoring your weight (once or two times a week) but when you are obsessive about it all the time it's unhealthy.  In general, foods should not be classified as "good or bad." Obviously when you are trying to lose weight you don’t want to consume unhealthy and high calories foods every day. In fact a small indulgence now (include it in your actual food plan) and then is probably a good thing. Just learn moderation.  Excessive guilt should not be attached to it.

Category 2: "Secret eaters binge on junk food at home, in the car—wherever they won't be found out."

My comment: This relates to the issue around binging and the shame around it. Hiding food intake only adds to the whole premise of disordered eating. The more secret your eating is the more likely the burden evolves around compulsive eating. An expression I like is "Share it or wear it." In other words if you don’t share your feelings about "what's eating you" (or the eating itself) the more likely you will continue to eat over situations. When you are binging, it's not about the food!

Tomorrow I'll continue to cover the other categories listed from Self's survey.