Do you find yourself frequently on a diet, but unable to control how much you eat?

If the answer is, “Yes,” you may qualify to join the other 4 million Americans who suffer from “binge eating disorder”. Binge eating disorder, commonly thought of as compulsive eating or emotional eating, is by far the most common eating disorder. According to one study, binge eating disorder represents approximately 75% of all eating disorders, with bulimia and anorexia making up the remaining 25%.

Most who seek help for food compulsivity wind up in some form of psychotherapy, the assumption being that overeating is a way of “medicating” or “tranquilizing” for emotional discomfort. While anyone who has experienced this condition knows that it certainly FEELS like it is emotional in origin, it is important to note that talk therapy has failed to produce much, if any, relief from the compulsion.

What if the cause of compulsive eating is not completely psychological or emotional in origin? What if some other variable is exerting significant influence? Again, what we know conclusively is that talk therapy, alone, has failed to generate relief from food addiction.

Interestingly, “binge eating disorder” is defined in The Psychological and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, which is the diagnostic “bible” for psychological conditions) as follows:

1. Frequent episodes of eating what others would consider an abnormally large amount of food.
2. Frequent feelings of being unable to control what or how much is being eaten.
3. Three of the following behaviors or feelings: Eating much more rapidly than usual.
- Eating until uncomfortably full.
- Eating large amounts of food, even when not hungry.
- Eating alone out of embarrassment at the quantity of food being eaten.
- Feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt after overeating.
4. No purging behavior exists as with bulimia nervosa.

Anyone who has experienced this food compulsivity or food addiction or emotional eating knows this. There is an emotional “angst” or discomfort. The thought of food, almost always something sweet or bready or starchy, enters the mind. The next thought goes something like, “If I could only have ___ (fill in the blank with YOUR favorite food), I would not feel so edgy.” This thought WILL NOT go away. Finally, the food is consumed, and relief from the emotional discomfort or angst is at least diminished, at least during consumption. This is similar to the manner in which an alcoholic might use alcohol to medicate for the pain life presents.

What is most interesting about food compulsion or binge eating disorder, as reflected by its definition in the DSM-IV, is that the entire professional world assumes that, because it “looks, smells, feels and tastes” like it is emotional in origin, that the origin of the overeating actually is emotional. “You are eating to calm, or soothe, or medicate yourself for uncomfortable emotion that you are feeling,” is the implication. Traditionally, however, psychotherapy has failed to produce consistent relief from the binge behavior.

More recently, through eight years of work and research with hundreds and hundreds of clients, The Art of Weight Wizardry Nutritional Edge has demonstrated that a relatively precise nutrition-based intervention reduces the binge behavior much more effectively - 50-70% in one to two weeks - with NO DEEP psychotherapeutic work!

Further, certain researchers have been aware of this connection for YEARS as evidenced by articles in our archive from scientific journals like

- British Journal of Nutrition
- International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders
- Brain Research
- Pediatrics

That's the way it looks from here at the Weight Wizard University Castle!

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