if you ate 2 cookies, or a piece of pizza, or some french fries…. you didn’t binge, you just ate a little junk food.
if you went over your daily calorie intake allotment because you were genuinely hungry… you didn’t binge, you fed your body.
if you took…
Definition of binging:
“Binge eating can affect women or men, though it appears twice as often among women. People with binge eating disorder suffer from episodes of uncontrolled eating or bingeing followed by periods of guilt and depression. Binge eating is marked by the consumption of large amounts of food, sometimes accompanied by a pressured, “frenzied” feeling. Binge eating disorder may cause a person to continue to eat even after she becomes uncomfortably full.” -as per The Renfrew Center
However, it does not NECESSARILY need to be a certain caloric intake. A binge can be 25,000 calories in one go (yes, 25,000) or it could be 5 cookies, depending on the individual. For someone struggling with Anorexia or bulimia, she may feel just as out of control, just as uncomfortable, and just as bad as someone eating a larger amount. The Renfrew Center woman I saw speak made a good point—a binge is relative. Just like bodies are relative. If someone feels like they are binging—it’s a binge. If they feel out of control, a loss of control, an impulse, guilt, shame afterwards? Still counts.
yes, it is frustrating when someone says they binged without a true understanding of the term—but binging is not something that can be quantified. It’s just like body shapes and sizes can’t be quantified. So much of eating disorders and weight loss and health is personal—I think it’s important to understand that the MENTAL aspect is just as important as the action. For a woman who is Anorexic, a less-than-normal amount of food can elicit all of the same pains as when I would eat 2,000 calories in one frenzied, kitchen-searching, food-stuffing binge. It’s the feeling and motivation behind the action, not the actual food involved in the action, that equals a binge. At least in my opinion.
(Source: marysquattins)
