Has food become my enemy?

According to the online dictionary, food is, "any nutritious substance that people eat or drink in order to maintain life and growth." This tells us that food is pretty important in our everyday lives, so why do some of us think that it is the enemy? Food has for a long time been associated with people becoming fat or over weight, due to over eating or simply eating unhealthily. People who have problems with food will believe that everything they eat and the more that they eat, will make them gain weight. You can check out my blog post about the eating disorder Anorexia here: http://awkwardwhale.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/anorexia-disease-for-very-modern-age.html  

But what about people who love food and can't go a single day without eating something, but still hate eating food because of the fear of putting on weight? When a person tries not to eat for long periods of time, say 24 hours or so, they will feel a sudden urge to eat something although their trying to tell themselves not to eat. The thing is, you can't tell your stomach to stop sending signals to your brain that you are hungry and low on energy. So that person will get an overpowering sensation to indulge on whatever they find in the fridge and cupboards. They can eat loads of food from cereal to sweets, slices of ham to toast. They will grab anything they have on hand and consume the lot in a short period of time. This will result in bloating, painful stomach cramps and the feeling of being over full. At the end of their feast, they will force themselves to throw-up all the contents of their stomach until there is nothing left. They will feel fat when they've finished eating, and thinner when they throw-up.

This is an eating disorder called Bulimia or Binge Eating. Quoting Youtuber Joanna Soh, "When you're binging you are out of control...you feel depressed, anxious and angry...and then you feel more depressed, anxious and angry about binging, and so you binge again." Binge eating is a viscous cycle of eating again and again in short periods of time, and this can be driven by emotions and sad feelings. Food is used as a way of feeling in control. But feeling in control of something like binge eating can be dangerous and will subsequently lead you to have a serious eating disorder. This disorder is more common than Anorexia and is just as bad and difficult to give up.  

I you feel like you have this eating disorder there are people who can help you, you don't have to suffer alone! If you want to give up binge eating and are struggling to do it alone, here are some people who can help:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5OxbOUqb4I

http://www.b-eat.co.uk/get-help/get-support/helpline/