a pot, at a buffet, in an ad, on television. When you see it, you think, It is there, so I must have it.
• Time: eating by the clock, instead of when hungry. This starts with rigid scheduled feeding as a baby, followed by having to eat at set times in school and then at work. You look at the clock and determine if it is time to eat, ignoring your body signals.
• Habit: eating while watching television, reading, riding in the car, or cooking. Snacking in front of the TV comes from years of buying popcorn and candy at the movies. As a child, you may have been given food in the car to keep you quiet. Now, you eat when you drive.
• Associations and memories: being given ice cream as a child after a hospital stay, for a birthday, or as a reward for good behavior, or being given cookies when you cried may lead you to want them now. When you have them, they stir up fond memories.
• Feelings: being angry, lonely, tired, even happy can lead to eating if you think that food will make you feel happier or better.
c. Kinds of Compulsive Eaters
1. The anorexic
Anorexia is a prolonged, non-medical loss of appetite. It is the most severe of all eating disorders and the most difficult to treat because it involves many distortions, especially about body size. The anorexic usually denies that anything is wrong and does not seek help. Typically, anorexia strikes young females with some history of being overweight. They are obsessed with being thin at any price, and believe they are fat.
The anorexic looks starved. She does not allow herself pleasure from food or anything else. She thinks about food all the time, and about not eating. She tells herself she is full, when she really is starving. She believes that any eating will make her fat. She thinks eating is being weak and prides herself on her denial.
2. Borderline anorexic (anorectic thinker)
This person thinks eating is bad and eats only limited amounts. She may be normal weight, but thinks she is overweight. She has a distorted body image. This is much more common to females than males. Anorexia as such is not dealt with in this book, although many of the principles in the second half of the book also apply to it.
3. The bulimic
Bulimia is massive overeating followed (usually) by self-induced vomiting. Many bulimics are former anorexics. As bulimics, they allow themselves to eat, but they binge as the result of having felt starved for so long. The binges are seen as a weakness, so they compensate by purging through vomiting or by using laxatives. Thus, the bulimic has devised a way to eat without guilt and without gaining weight but it is a self-destructive way.
During a binge, the bulimic consumes huge quantities of food. This is done alone, so there is a secret quality to the eating and purging.
4. The bulimic thinker
The true bulimic binges and purges. The bulimic thinker is a binger-starver, following the same principles. At times, maybe once a week, or once a day, the binger-starver eats to the point of discomfort, then regrets it and either diets or fasts. She has a distorted body image and sees herself as fat, but she is less secretive about what she does. If your weight yo-yos because you are always “on” or “off” a diet, you fit in this category.
5. The compulsive overeater
Overeaters eat too often or too long and weigh too much as a result. In time, they may become obese. The eating disorder, therefore, is apparent to others, unlike bulimia. Although overeaters claim they want to be thinner, they always have fears about being so. When they do stop overeating and lose weight, they often panic and go back to old habits.
d. Are You a Compulsive Eater?
Where do you fit in? Do you have some characteristics of all of the conditions described? Have you been different at different times? You can begin to make changes when you can see how you think and what you do. Use the checklist in Exercise #1 to quickly assess whether you are a compulsive eater.
Exercise 1: Compulsive Eater Checklist
☐ I think about food much of the day.
☐ I live to eat more than I eat to live.
☐ I spend a lot of each day eating.
☐ I eat when I am not hungry.
☐ I never say no to an offer of food.
☐ I feel controlled by food.
☐ I get strong cravings for specific foods.
☐ I eat when I get upset.
☐ Eating makes me feel better.
☐ I can only diet for short periods of time.
* * *
If you have checked five or more of the boxes, you are a compulsive eater. If you are, take heart that you are one of millions and that reading this book can help you.
To lose weight, lower your intake. To keep it off, raise your awareness.
2
PLANNING FOR CHANGE
a. Clarifying Your Motives
Before you can begin to implement a program to overcome your overeating, you must understand why you want to change. Are you making assumptions about what your life will be like once you do conquer your overeating? Do Exercise 2 before reading on.
Exercise 2: Clarifying Goals
1. I am unhappy about being a compulsive eater because:
a. ____________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________________
2. If I did not eat compulsively, then my life would change in these ways:
a. ____________________________________________________
b. ____________________________________________________
c. ____________________________________________________
3. Other people who are unhappy about my overeating are:
a. ____________________________________________________
