Do you sometimes suspect everything around you is not what it seems?
If you feel as though you are surrounded by myths, half-truths and bald-faced lies, rest easy.
You aren’t alone in your crowd.
As Shakespeare once said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”
The lies around us extend all the way to the psychology of eating. There is a concerted effort to warp the public’s perception of eating disorders including compulsive eating.
These are the top five compulsive eating myths everyone should know.
Compulsive Eating Myth #1: Compulsive Eating Only Occurs in Extremely Skinny Women
There is a common misconception that eating disorders are limited to frail or obese women.
People of all walks of life can be saddled by compulsive eating. This disordered eating pattern is characterized by the consumption of significant amounts of food in a brief window of time.
Oftentimes, life events such as the loss of a loved one or a traumatizing experience cause people to become compulsive eaters. Men, women, kids, seniors and those in between can become compulsive eaters.
The bottom line is everyone has the potential to turn to food as a coping mechanism after a life setback. Though eating disorders occur more commonly in women, this behavior transcends both sex and age.
Even some of those at normal body weights can be compulsive eaters. Everyday people can easily develop a phobia or pathology about body weight, leading to a distorted body image. Such a pathology can also lead to obsessive thoughts about how to lose or gain weight.
Even more intriguing is the fact that one of the leading contributing factors to this unique food disorder is a harsh calorie restriction throughout the day.
Such stringent calorie restrictions often cause individuals to stray from mindful nourishment, sliding into “rebounding” in which they binge eating late at night.
Compulsive Eating Myth #2: Compulsive Eating is the Result of Lifestyle Choices
In reality, this eating disorder is not a matter of one’s lifestyle. No individual consciously chooses to become a compulsive eater. Rather, the disorder typically develops in response to trauma.
In other instances, individuals develop a reasonable plan to become healthy, using diet and exercise. Sadly, that effort has the potential to lead to the development of compulsive eating that threatens one’s life.
Personal agency matters most during the road to recovery.
An individual saddled with compulsive eating must consciously choose to change his or her ways. Our food psychologist in Basking Ridge is here to help.
As an example, some enjoy success by replacing the coping mechanism of compulsive eating with another habit.
For some, the new habit is exercise. For others, it is chewing gum, listening to music or playing video games.
Compulsive Eating Myth #3: A Child who Becomes a Compulsive Eater Will Never Recover
If you know or suspect your child is a compulsive eater, don’t panic. There is a road to recovery.
It starts with a New Jersey food psychologist. Take your daughter or son to an eating psychology specialist, engage in an honest dialogue and the path to recovery will take shape.
With the guidance of a food psychologist, your child will likely make a full recovery. Though you can do your part by providing support and love, recognize it only goes so far.
What matters most is that your child has the opportunity to engage in an ongoing constructive discourse with a professional food psychiatrist.
An eating psychologist in Basking Ridge will center the focus on healthy eating for achieving or maintaining a healthy mind and weight. The proper nourishment of the brain makes the assistance of a food psychologist that much more effective.
With timely attention and intervention, an eating psychologist in New Jersey will help your son or daughter return his or her relationship with food back to normal.
Time is of the essence.
Schedule an appointment with our Basking Ridge food psychologist today and you’ll rest easy knowing you’ve done everything in your power to help your child.
A constructive dialogue with an eating psychiatrist will help your adolescent, tween or teen better understand his or her reasons for compulsive eating. It is this open and honest discourse that makes headway toward recovery.
The alternative is to succumb to the disorder, assuming it cannot be overcome due to an engrained behavior or genetics. Such a mentality is defeatist and not rooted in reality.
In some situations, it only takes a couple weeks or months of talk therapy sessions with a food psychologist in NJ for kids to decrease the frequency of compulsive eating. In some cases, patients end their compulsive eating altogether thanks to the advice provided by an experienced eating psychiatrist.
Compulsive Eating Myth #4: Compulsive Eating is Just a “Phase”
Compulsive eating is not a phase that youngsters go through. This eating disorder is very serious and should not be ignored. Unless addressed by a food psychologist, compulsive eating is likely to worsen.
Granted, many eating disorders tend to develop during the teenage years of life. Tweens and teens often turn to food to cope with the challenges of personal development and peer pressure. In some instances, the struggle to establish identity or gain independence from one’s parents manifests as an eating disorder.
Every compulsive eater needs targeted treatment provided by an eating psychologist. This approach is highly effective, hastening recovery. The alternative is to do nothing and suffer significant social, emotional or physical consequences.
If compulsive eating is viewed as merely a phase one goes through, that unfortunate soul is likely to suffer one or several negative outcomes including:
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
Compulsive eating can also lead to depression, low self-esteem and isolation from others.
Some such individuals find it difficult to eat or drink in social settings. In the spirit of honesty, it is worth noting that most family and social traditions revolve around food. That fact of life makes compulsive eating even more problematic.
Family dinners and food-related outings with friends will continue through adolescence, into adulthood and beyond. If a patient’s compulsive eating is not addressed early in life, it will become his or her norm.
That’s the exact opposite of an adolescent “phase” that tweens and teens go through when becoming adults.
Compulsive Eating Myth #5: Parents are the Primary Cause of Compulsive Eating in Daughters and Sons
Parents sometimes contribute to the development of compulsive eating and other food-related disorders yet they are rarely the direct cause. Unless the parent is abusive or authoritarian to an extreme, his or her child is unlikely to become a compulsive eater as a result of parenting alone.
The bottom line is there is no single cause of compulsive eating.
There is often a highly dynamic combination of factors that causes eating disorders.
As an example, the following often play a role in the development of eating disorders:
- Sexual abuse
- Emotional trauma
- The death of a relative
- Bullying
Difficult life circumstances such as parental divorce, social isolation or economic struggles can also contribute to the development of a disorder.
There is even the potential for dieting to trigger compulsive eating. An extreme diet or even a transition to vegetarianism or veganism might cause one to compulsively eat.
Most such diets and fringe approaches to eating overemphasize food and nutrition to the point that those who try them become obsessed.
Dieting or weight loss alone will not end compulsive eating or any other eating disorder. In most cases, diets or rapid weight loss worsen compulsive eating as the patient becomes over-focused on food.
Instead of trying a fringe diet, ask for guidance from an eating disorder psychologist.
The moral of the story is that parents shouldn’t be too hard on themselves after learning their child, tween or teen has become a compulsive eater. Though your parenting approach might have played a minor role in the development of the disorder, it is unlikely to be the true cause.
Recognize that social pressure, other relatives and possibly even teachers or strangers on the internet also shape your daughter or son’s psychology. As an example, this 2015 study shows social comparisons on social media heightened body image concerns, worsened mood and triggered eating disorders.
This honest approach to identifying the underlying cause of compulsive eating lifts a burden from parents, liberating them to feel less guilt.
Move forward with a positive and optimistic approach and it will quickly rub off on your daughter or son who is struggling with food.
A Food Psychologist can Help
If you have the will to stop compulsive eating, our food psychologist in New Jersey will show you the way. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.
Our eating psychologist will help you take the next steps. The process begins with an honest and open conversation about food, eating habits, attitude and mentality.
Our food psychologist in NJ recognizes the idiosyncrasies of each patient’s unique mindset and relationship with food. The triggers of your compulsive eating or that of a loved one might be completely different than those of another patient.
Schedule an appointment with our food psychiatrist in NJ by dialing 908-844-8547.
Talk about your compulsive eating or other eating disorder with our Basking Ridge eating psychologist and you’ll move closer to a return to normalcy.
