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What is Binge Eating Disorder and its impacts on teens?

whereemotionsflow

By: Connie Ma 


Introduction 

Have you ever reached for more chips from the party sized bag of chips and could not stop the desire to continue consuming them? Does this constantly happen to you? If this happens to you a lot and is quite constant and severe, perhaps you have Binge Eating Disorder (BED). Binge Eating Disorder is a serious eating disorder that can happen to anyone and can cause a person to not be able to control the amount of food that they eat. These amounts usually get very large and would make the person feel uncomfortably full and would feel very bad about themselves. However, Binge Eating Disorder is curable but can cause one’s mental health to worsen. 

Causes and Symptoms 

Some of the causes of Binge Eating Disorder include mental health issues, dieting, and a family history of having the disorder. Normally, people develop this eating disorder as an unhealthy coping mechanism to the stresses in their own lives. 

Some symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder include: 

● Eating alone 

● Eating until you feel very very full and when you don’t feel hungry 

● Feeling like you have no control over the amount of food you consume

● Feeling depressed and other negative things about your eating 

● Eating larger portions of food in a specific amount of time

Impact 

Binge Eating Disorder can cause one to begin having an unhealthy relationship with food and cause a person’s mental health to worsen which can cause issues with their daily lives. It could also cause other mental disorders like anxiety, substance use disorder, and depressive mood disorder in some situations. For teens, it can affect their mental health and the quality of the things that they do. For example, schoolwork and in sport games. In addition, it can also cause people to develop other diseases like high cholesterol and diabetes as a person continues to consume large amounts of food within short periods of time. With this being said, Binge Eating Disorder or BED is actually harmful to one’s life in major ways that are not beneficial. Conclusion 

In summary, Binge Eating Disorder or BED is a disorder which can cause a person to eat large portions of food until they feel uncomfortable and too full. This disorder can cause one’s mental health to decline as well since it could cause symptoms like guilt, anxiety, ruin one’s relationship with food, and other negative feelings. Hence, Binge Eating Disorder can cause a person’s work quality to decline if they do not receive treatment for it. Thus, it is very important to receive treatment for Binge Eating Disorder or any other eating disorder.


Resources 

Binge-eating disorder - Symptoms and causes. (n.d.). Mayo Clinic. 

Retrieved December 27, 2024, from 

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. (2024, December). Binge eating disorder: Symptoms & causes. National Institutes of Health. 

Retrieved December 27, 2024, from 

Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). Binge eating disorder. Johns Hopkins Medicine. Retrieved December 27, 2024, from 

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/eating-disorders/binge eating-disorder#:~:text=People%20with%20binge%20eating%20disorder%20typically% 20eat%20huge%20amounts%20of,anxiety%2C%20and%20substance%20use%20disorde r.


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