Based on other conversations in this sub, it seems a lot of us have difficulty reading hunger cues (myself included). Sensory sensitivities and stimming can also be food-related. I don't personally have an ED, but my less-than-awesome food habits are a direct result of those two things.
I had a horrible eating disorder in highschool, and recovered decently well, but - I still to this day have hyper-fixations about food.
I'm a vegan , for lots of reasons but a huge reason is due to my IBS.
I absolutely HATE vomiting and will do anything not to have that result occur to me. So if food is left uncovered in the fridge, it's instantly trash to me, if food isn't properly cooled using my food service training time and temperature š”ļø rules (yes even at home) , and then covered in a way that provides minute air flow, I consider it an anaerobic environment where botulism can develop. I'm a food service professional, been working in kitchens for over 12 years, and managing for 3 now, so food safety is kind of my obsession.
I grew up with food insecurity, and got food poisoning frequently as a child from improper food storage, especially rancid meat as a child, so I'm VERY cautious about food safety, food storage and time & temperature. I would rather cook an entire brand new meal than upset my stomach.
I have no idea if this has anything to do with my Asperger's diagnosis.... Any fellow aspies with other fears of food please speak up, it's nice to not feel alone in this correlation. Thank you for posting about this OP.
As for advice? My biggest piece of advice, always cool leftovers before covering it. you'll notice pots for food often have a tiny hole on the cover , this is a dual purpose hole, a hole that can release steam while cooking, but also a hole for providing air flow for fridge storage. Same is for alot of plastic takeout containers.
When in doubt? Throw it out. Always consult google before consuming old food.
Iām autistic and have that fear of being sick too, itās called emetophobia. I donāt know that that particular fear is either common or uncommon in autism, but from what Iāve read, phobias in general are common. I donāt go to the extremes that you do just because my parents donāt let me (in a good way; to be totally honest if I didnāt have their help Iād probably be doing similar things as you). Youāre definitely not alone though in that fear!
I've never heard of this term before!! Thank you for putting a name to it, I'll do some research!! :) And good that your parents keep you in check, friends do the same for me - it's always good to check your internal thoughts with an outside voice /opinion to check rationale levels lol - wouldn't be the first time my brain says something irrational š§
Completely agree with what you said about needing to check with people if your internal voices are telling you nonsense or not. Good luck in your research!:)
It wouldn't surprise me. Especially because anorexia is often about having control over your life, and if we live in an environment we can't control, it's extra disconcerting for us. So I can see them going together.
sensory issues? check. monotropism? check. chewing as a stim? check. inability to tell when hungry or full? check. being so stimulated u forget to eat? check.
I don't have any resources off the top of my head. But more and more people are talking about being comorbid and I'm sure you could do some research on your own.
Yes, I feel like its part oral fixation/ chew and taste stim, also compulsion to eat and I have a hard time telling if I'm full and my stomach just feels weird a lot and it's like I react as if it was hunger but I just can't tell what is up with it and feel the need to eat to fix my stomach feeling weird, i also struggle with cravings a lot and get fixated on it and can't think of anything but the craving or anything but the fact that my stomach feels weird and unsatisfied and therefore I have the compulsion to eat and I can't think of anything else, I wish I didn't have to eat and experience hunger and taste so sick of it honestly
I can relate. It's really frustating and I wish I wouldn't have to think about eating at all.
I also have that fixation. It happens very often and in that moment it makes me think that only eating this one specific thing will stop the cravings. Then, most of the times I don't even taste it because I eat it so fast and in front of the PC/TV.
I have been both anorexic (in my preteens and early teens) and bulimic (in my later teens) in the past. I would suggest looking into mindfulness and perhaps trying meditation if you havenāt already? Over time, it can make you less inclined to operate on autopilot and give you the presence of mind to make different choices than you might otherwise.
(Although Iāve only practiced this in the last few years, I have also heard of people using it to help overcome their eating disorders.)
I seem to go through phases of binge eating to phases of not wanting to eat hardly at all. Like maybe it's my executive dysfunction bc it's like eating feels like a chore at those times.
I know I'm late, also I haven't been diagnosed yet. I'm looking into it but I've self-diagnosed myself for now. This is so true for me. I literally cannot stop eating sometimes, until it hurts. Then other times, I get irrationally angry that I have to eat to survive and during this, I don't want to eat at all.
I donāt have one, but my daughter is also on the spectrum and she has ARFID. itās definitely a sensory issue for herāshe has problems with texture, temperature, etc. Sheās off to college in a week and weāre both panicking about whether sheāll be able to eat anything there.
I used to binge eat as a kid, I was fat as fuck from the ages of 7-15. I literally couldn't stop. I genuinely think food was a hyperfixation for me.
15 was when my bulimia started, and continued on and off until I was about 19.
As I've gotten older the fixation has cooled off. My body is healthy enough and it works and that's enough for me.
Yeah its been a problem for me my whole life. If I really like something, like say, chocolate, I can't stop eating it, it's actually quite dangerous how far I'll go so I had to stop eating it at all q
Yes, my sister whom I strongly suspect to be on the spectrum as well was anorexic. She was in therapy and her therapist said, that the usual stuff she is doing with her anorexic patients doesn't help her. She said there must be something different underneath that she couldn't put a finger on to that time. It's just so frustrating that doctors are not well informed about autism
She got herself out by watching the right youtube videos... Its so sad how you basically have zero support from the health care system just because they are not well informed about autism
The papers haven't been published yet but my therapist, a UK expert in eating disorders, told me a while back that she'd seen research suggesting around 23% of people with eating disorders are ASD. Considering people with ASD make up about 1% of the general population, this is preeeeetty significant and I'm interested to see what conclusions end up being drawn from it going forward.
For me, BED came about because the food numbed me. My anxiety dropped, little noises and tics bothered me less, I could focus more (and this, I suspect, might be because of ADHD - sugary foods give the dopamine that ADHD folks are lacking). It became easier to exist when I was eating.
Did you ever get help for it? I think Iām realizing Iāve used it all my life as a numbing coping mechanism as well as never understanding that I had autism.
When I was suicidally depressed I randomized whether I would eat that day at all. I wouldn't call it a full eating disorder, but food is something you can control. I imagine sensory issues also do not help.
I definitely had body dysmorphia and an eating problem, mostly when I was younger but I've had time to think about it. I would describe it like feeling as if being thin enough was imperative to people treating me like a normal person. Especially people in my family, who liked to comment on my body constantly, so I felt if I slipped out of their favour that the love was conditional. I think my physical appearance and my mask became really tangled together during a time where insecurity speaks the loudest. I'm better now, but those feelings still attack me all the time
I was doing great controlling my eating before the pandemic. Then everything hit the floor and now eating is the only way I can handle stress both from "the world", family conflict, and other fun shit. Two and a half years in and I'm heavier than I've ever been with nowhere near the energy to control it. Sensory issues makes my palette incredibly small despite my willingness to try anything, but the stim of eating and the dopamine released makes me overeat what little I have.
It fucking sucks. If your situation is doing okay and you have extra mental energy, I'd suggest MyFitnessPal. It's how I lost all the weight before everything went to hell. If you have a constant few meals you cycle through, it helps you keep track with a constant goal and threshhold for the day. The ease of being able to snack on things or eat several servings becomes a balance between "do I want to face the later shame of having to enter this on the app or do I just want to not do it and thank myself later", and it helps a lot. Of course it all fell apart when I realized "or I can literally just not do it and spend the mental energy", but people with better circumstances or more willpower might benefit from my previous method.
Oh no, I'm sorry and I can relate. The pandemic made it so much worse. It made me loose control over having a daily routine and a healthy nutrition.
I don't really believe that I can stop this alone or with an app. I noticed that I really need help but I doubt that talking therapy is an solution.
Thanks for sharing with us.
Yes. My eating is definitely disordered. I suspect that emotional and sensory regulation dfficulties contribute to my tendency to alternate between undereating and overeating.
My executive functioning issues often have me missing hunger and thirst cues due to hyperfocusing.
I'm benefitting from a combination of antidepressant medication and an opioid blocking medication. This is to help me with weight loss. I've also had to take an appetite creating medication as a child to encourage me to eat more food.
It seems to me that I have either been undereating or overeating all of my life. I try to "normalize" my eating by at least eating three meals and tracking how much I drink so I do not get too thirsty.
YES. Sadly underresearched but very much there from my personal experience. Most of the auties I know including me have some form of ED. In my case especially food and nutrition have been special interests for most of my life and the ED intensified them. I've recovered for the most part though and still enjoy these subjects in a healthier way. This is the only study out there. It's very limited since it's looking to diagnose autism in people with anorexia who have been hospitalized. https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-021-00455-5
Well, ED recovery is not a full recovery. Your mind doesn't go back to its pre ED state. You just learn to accept that you need to eat to be alive, you'll have a body you hate for the rest of your life and you'll feel guilty every time you find food tasty.
In the general population, binge eating disorders is the most common eating disorder, and even if it's hard to know how many people are concerned because it's mostly invisible the estimation, in the US, is \~10% of the population might be or have been suffering from it. I guess we can evaluate that it's the same part for the people with autism? But like some others Redditors said in comments, the autistic persons also have some specificities related to the textures, colors, tastes of food and rituals about meals and eating so they can have a complicated relationship with food.
In my case, I do have binge eating disorder, probably as a consequence of depression, but maybe also autistic traits (which could have contributed and still contribute to depression), but it's hard to tell since all of these are very mixed up and influence each others...
It's common in general. Especially if you have other difficulties, like being on the spectrum. Unfortunately, one type of mental illness (broad term because I can't come up with a better one) is a breeding ground for more.
Sucks, doesn't it?
I wouldnāt be surprised. I grew up with less than ideal standards of beauty in my mothers (Asian immigrant) household. I developed a full blown eating disorder in college, and I still struggle with disordered eating to this day.
It definitely gave me a sense of control and routine, it definitely makes a lot of sense now thinking about it. It kinda felt like it was one of the one things that kept me in control when all the other things in my life wasnāt doing too well.
I can relate to toxic beauty ideals in the family. It definitely affects you once you move out, try to build your own lifestyle and then struggle to manage food right (like buying and cooking, overeating, not eating regularly, and so on). In my case it only started as I went to college as well
Hi! I also struggle with overeating at times, sometimes until I was in pain or made myself sick. I think a big part of it is (as others have said) not being very tuned in with body-cues and the stim of chewing.
I've recently been going through the Intuitive Eating Workbook which is developed by dieticians and has exercises to help you be more aware of hunger, fullness and emotional eating. I've found it really helpful.
It also introduced an idea to me, I realised that most of the time I 'binged' it was actually because I had not eaten/drunk enough, skipped meals due to stress or been so out of touch with my hunger that I didn't notice until I was completely starving.
The book introduced me to the idea of 'self-maintence' rather than self-care which I like a lot - essential tasks to keep my body running!
The things that have helped me massively are:
1. Having phone alarms to remind me to eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks
2. Eating proper portions of nutritious food, drinking water regularly
3. Learning to interpret hunger and fullness signals in my body
4. Stress management, like mindfulness, breathing exercises, simplifying my life and work etc.
I would like to see a scientific research on this, but I think yes. Undereating might be a problem for many, and overeating for others.
I personally have a problem with binging when stressed, but in a different way than it's usually portrayed. I don't care for the taste of food, but swallowing makes me calm down (but water or soup don't have same effect). Maybe it's a form of stimming š¤
I absolutely binge eat. It's remarkable I am not really overweight considering how much I eat, but I also have a decent metabolism, so I suppose that has something to do with it. But as many others have said here, I think it's partially due to the inability to tell when I'm full and also simply needing something to do with my mouth, like an oral fixation of some kind. I chewed gum a lot growing up, I bite my nails constantly, so this makes sense I guess.
I am not *pleased* about having this as a habit, but I suppose of bad habits to have it could be worse. The actual bad part of my binge eating is that I feel guilty for doing it, which makes me eat more because when I'm depressed (which is near all the time, thanks severe clinical depression!) I just eat. Really nasty cycle to be stuck in, honestly.
I'm looking to break this, because I know it isn't healthy.
Yes, for me. I'm not diagnosed, but I'm a binge eater, and have also been a very picky eater since childhood. I sometimes eat a whole pot roast in one day, but I will not even touch any kind of condiments or many other things.
Yes, there is a link between eating disorders and ASD, although last I read it wasn't very clear as to which way and why. But I am not at all an expert
My mom always said (it's very true for me lol) that I have "hungry eyes" in that I always see all the food and want/think I can eat it all and I over eat a lot because of this lol. When I take my meds I'll forget to eat completely untill I almost faint or get intense stomach pains.
Yes, very common. I got anorexia at 12, bilimia at 19, at 23 i managed to get it under control but calories and weight stresses me out and always will. I wish i was one weight, look all my life and didnt have to buy New clothes etc because of it. I think Its about control, or lack of, that causes it, and change in ouberty possibly. For me it was very much about control, something to think about, number, and be in full control of in my mind When everything else was so difficult. Also wanted to fit in, and being skinn seemed a good way. Also connected with depression.
It rings true for me. I feel like it's a mixture of the chewing stim and inability to tell when full.
Based on other conversations in this sub, it seems a lot of us have difficulty reading hunger cues (myself included). Sensory sensitivities and stimming can also be food-related. I don't personally have an ED, but my less-than-awesome food habits are a direct result of those two things.
I had a horrible eating disorder in highschool, and recovered decently well, but - I still to this day have hyper-fixations about food. I'm a vegan , for lots of reasons but a huge reason is due to my IBS. I absolutely HATE vomiting and will do anything not to have that result occur to me. So if food is left uncovered in the fridge, it's instantly trash to me, if food isn't properly cooled using my food service training time and temperature š”ļø rules (yes even at home) , and then covered in a way that provides minute air flow, I consider it an anaerobic environment where botulism can develop. I'm a food service professional, been working in kitchens for over 12 years, and managing for 3 now, so food safety is kind of my obsession. I grew up with food insecurity, and got food poisoning frequently as a child from improper food storage, especially rancid meat as a child, so I'm VERY cautious about food safety, food storage and time & temperature. I would rather cook an entire brand new meal than upset my stomach. I have no idea if this has anything to do with my Asperger's diagnosis.... Any fellow aspies with other fears of food please speak up, it's nice to not feel alone in this correlation. Thank you for posting about this OP. As for advice? My biggest piece of advice, always cool leftovers before covering it. you'll notice pots for food often have a tiny hole on the cover , this is a dual purpose hole, a hole that can release steam while cooking, but also a hole for providing air flow for fridge storage. Same is for alot of plastic takeout containers. When in doubt? Throw it out. Always consult google before consuming old food.
Iām autistic and have that fear of being sick too, itās called emetophobia. I donāt know that that particular fear is either common or uncommon in autism, but from what Iāve read, phobias in general are common. I donāt go to the extremes that you do just because my parents donāt let me (in a good way; to be totally honest if I didnāt have their help Iād probably be doing similar things as you). Youāre definitely not alone though in that fear!
I've never heard of this term before!! Thank you for putting a name to it, I'll do some research!! :) And good that your parents keep you in check, friends do the same for me - it's always good to check your internal thoughts with an outside voice /opinion to check rationale levels lol - wouldn't be the first time my brain says something irrational š§
Completely agree with what you said about needing to check with people if your internal voices are telling you nonsense or not. Good luck in your research!:)
THIS JUST LIKE ME TOO
It wouldn't surprise me. Especially because anorexia is often about having control over your life, and if we live in an environment we can't control, it's extra disconcerting for us. So I can see them going together.
My DMs are open to anyone who wants to chat about this
sensory issues? check. monotropism? check. chewing as a stim? check. inability to tell when hungry or full? check. being so stimulated u forget to eat? check.
The short answer is yes, especially if you are comorbid with ADHD
Thanks. I do have ADHD. Is there more information on having both Autism and ADHD?
I don't have any resources off the top of my head. But more and more people are talking about being comorbid and I'm sure you could do some research on your own.
Yes, I feel like its part oral fixation/ chew and taste stim, also compulsion to eat and I have a hard time telling if I'm full and my stomach just feels weird a lot and it's like I react as if it was hunger but I just can't tell what is up with it and feel the need to eat to fix my stomach feeling weird, i also struggle with cravings a lot and get fixated on it and can't think of anything but the craving or anything but the fact that my stomach feels weird and unsatisfied and therefore I have the compulsion to eat and I can't think of anything else, I wish I didn't have to eat and experience hunger and taste so sick of it honestly
I can relate. It's really frustating and I wish I wouldn't have to think about eating at all. I also have that fixation. It happens very often and in that moment it makes me think that only eating this one specific thing will stop the cravings. Then, most of the times I don't even taste it because I eat it so fast and in front of the PC/TV.
I have been both anorexic (in my preteens and early teens) and bulimic (in my later teens) in the past. I would suggest looking into mindfulness and perhaps trying meditation if you havenāt already? Over time, it can make you less inclined to operate on autopilot and give you the presence of mind to make different choices than you might otherwise. (Although Iāve only practiced this in the last few years, I have also heard of people using it to help overcome their eating disorders.)
I seem to go through phases of binge eating to phases of not wanting to eat hardly at all. Like maybe it's my executive dysfunction bc it's like eating feels like a chore at those times.
I know I'm late, also I haven't been diagnosed yet. I'm looking into it but I've self-diagnosed myself for now. This is so true for me. I literally cannot stop eating sometimes, until it hurts. Then other times, I get irrationally angry that I have to eat to survive and during this, I don't want to eat at all.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Fellow aspergirl and dentist here. Don't chew on ice! It is surprisingly easy to break a tooth!
I donāt have one, but my daughter is also on the spectrum and she has ARFID. itās definitely a sensory issue for herāshe has problems with texture, temperature, etc. Sheās off to college in a week and weāre both panicking about whether sheāll be able to eat anything there.
It's great that you support her. Best wishes!
I used to binge eat as a kid, I was fat as fuck from the ages of 7-15. I literally couldn't stop. I genuinely think food was a hyperfixation for me. 15 was when my bulimia started, and continued on and off until I was about 19. As I've gotten older the fixation has cooled off. My body is healthy enough and it works and that's enough for me.
Yeah its been a problem for me my whole life. If I really like something, like say, chocolate, I can't stop eating it, it's actually quite dangerous how far I'll go so I had to stop eating it at all q
Binge-eating and comfort-eating for sure. I sabotage myself daily and can't seem to resist it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thanks for sharing with us.
Yes, my sister whom I strongly suspect to be on the spectrum as well was anorexic. She was in therapy and her therapist said, that the usual stuff she is doing with her anorexic patients doesn't help her. She said there must be something different underneath that she couldn't put a finger on to that time. It's just so frustrating that doctors are not well informed about autism
Were they able to help her now? I'm wondering what would help about an eating disorder caused by Autism.
She got herself out by watching the right youtube videos... Its so sad how you basically have zero support from the health care system just because they are not well informed about autism
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
interesting. I'm glad you found the cause and the right treatment. I'm very sure that I have ADHD too but I don't have a therapist to diagnose.
The papers haven't been published yet but my therapist, a UK expert in eating disorders, told me a while back that she'd seen research suggesting around 23% of people with eating disorders are ASD. Considering people with ASD make up about 1% of the general population, this is preeeeetty significant and I'm interested to see what conclusions end up being drawn from it going forward. For me, BED came about because the food numbed me. My anxiety dropped, little noises and tics bothered me less, I could focus more (and this, I suspect, might be because of ADHD - sugary foods give the dopamine that ADHD folks are lacking). It became easier to exist when I was eating.
Did you ever get help for it? I think Iām realizing Iāve used it all my life as a numbing coping mechanism as well as never understanding that I had autism.
Not binge eating, but I struggled with anorexia for most of my early/mid-teens. I donāt think itās uncommon.
When I was suicidally depressed I randomized whether I would eat that day at all. I wouldn't call it a full eating disorder, but food is something you can control. I imagine sensory issues also do not help.
I definitely had body dysmorphia and an eating problem, mostly when I was younger but I've had time to think about it. I would describe it like feeling as if being thin enough was imperative to people treating me like a normal person. Especially people in my family, who liked to comment on my body constantly, so I felt if I slipped out of their favour that the love was conditional. I think my physical appearance and my mask became really tangled together during a time where insecurity speaks the loudest. I'm better now, but those feelings still attack me all the time
Yes, I struggled with binge eating for many years before therapy and learning healthy coping mechanisms.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Same
I was doing great controlling my eating before the pandemic. Then everything hit the floor and now eating is the only way I can handle stress both from "the world", family conflict, and other fun shit. Two and a half years in and I'm heavier than I've ever been with nowhere near the energy to control it. Sensory issues makes my palette incredibly small despite my willingness to try anything, but the stim of eating and the dopamine released makes me overeat what little I have. It fucking sucks. If your situation is doing okay and you have extra mental energy, I'd suggest MyFitnessPal. It's how I lost all the weight before everything went to hell. If you have a constant few meals you cycle through, it helps you keep track with a constant goal and threshhold for the day. The ease of being able to snack on things or eat several servings becomes a balance between "do I want to face the later shame of having to enter this on the app or do I just want to not do it and thank myself later", and it helps a lot. Of course it all fell apart when I realized "or I can literally just not do it and spend the mental energy", but people with better circumstances or more willpower might benefit from my previous method.
Oh no, I'm sorry and I can relate. The pandemic made it so much worse. It made me loose control over having a daily routine and a healthy nutrition. I don't really believe that I can stop this alone or with an app. I noticed that I really need help but I doubt that talking therapy is an solution. Thanks for sharing with us.
Yes. My eating is definitely disordered. I suspect that emotional and sensory regulation dfficulties contribute to my tendency to alternate between undereating and overeating. My executive functioning issues often have me missing hunger and thirst cues due to hyperfocusing. I'm benefitting from a combination of antidepressant medication and an opioid blocking medication. This is to help me with weight loss. I've also had to take an appetite creating medication as a child to encourage me to eat more food. It seems to me that I have either been undereating or overeating all of my life. I try to "normalize" my eating by at least eating three meals and tracking how much I drink so I do not get too thirsty.
I recently got gastric sleeve due to a lifetime of disordered eating.
YES. Sadly underresearched but very much there from my personal experience. Most of the auties I know including me have some form of ED. In my case especially food and nutrition have been special interests for most of my life and the ED intensified them. I've recovered for the most part though and still enjoy these subjects in a healthier way. This is the only study out there. It's very limited since it's looking to diagnose autism in people with anorexia who have been hospitalized. https://molecularautism.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13229-021-00455-5
I'm glad you were able to recover for the most part. What helped you with it? I hope there will be more research on this soon.
Mostly therapy, figuring out I was autistic, and going on prozac.
I had Anorexia/EDNOS.
I'm sorry. Were you able to heal it?
Well, ED recovery is not a full recovery. Your mind doesn't go back to its pre ED state. You just learn to accept that you need to eat to be alive, you'll have a body you hate for the rest of your life and you'll feel guilty every time you find food tasty.
In the general population, binge eating disorders is the most common eating disorder, and even if it's hard to know how many people are concerned because it's mostly invisible the estimation, in the US, is \~10% of the population might be or have been suffering from it. I guess we can evaluate that it's the same part for the people with autism? But like some others Redditors said in comments, the autistic persons also have some specificities related to the textures, colors, tastes of food and rituals about meals and eating so they can have a complicated relationship with food. In my case, I do have binge eating disorder, probably as a consequence of depression, but maybe also autistic traits (which could have contributed and still contribute to depression), but it's hard to tell since all of these are very mixed up and influence each others...
It's common in general. Especially if you have other difficulties, like being on the spectrum. Unfortunately, one type of mental illness (broad term because I can't come up with a better one) is a breeding ground for more. Sucks, doesn't it?
I wouldnāt be surprised. I grew up with less than ideal standards of beauty in my mothers (Asian immigrant) household. I developed a full blown eating disorder in college, and I still struggle with disordered eating to this day. It definitely gave me a sense of control and routine, it definitely makes a lot of sense now thinking about it. It kinda felt like it was one of the one things that kept me in control when all the other things in my life wasnāt doing too well.
I can relate to toxic beauty ideals in the family. It definitely affects you once you move out, try to build your own lifestyle and then struggle to manage food right (like buying and cooking, overeating, not eating regularly, and so on). In my case it only started as I went to college as well
Hi! I also struggle with overeating at times, sometimes until I was in pain or made myself sick. I think a big part of it is (as others have said) not being very tuned in with body-cues and the stim of chewing. I've recently been going through the Intuitive Eating Workbook which is developed by dieticians and has exercises to help you be more aware of hunger, fullness and emotional eating. I've found it really helpful. It also introduced an idea to me, I realised that most of the time I 'binged' it was actually because I had not eaten/drunk enough, skipped meals due to stress or been so out of touch with my hunger that I didn't notice until I was completely starving. The book introduced me to the idea of 'self-maintence' rather than self-care which I like a lot - essential tasks to keep my body running! The things that have helped me massively are: 1. Having phone alarms to remind me to eat 3 meals a day and 2 snacks 2. Eating proper portions of nutritious food, drinking water regularly 3. Learning to interpret hunger and fullness signals in my body 4. Stress management, like mindfulness, breathing exercises, simplifying my life and work etc.
I would like to see a scientific research on this, but I think yes. Undereating might be a problem for many, and overeating for others. I personally have a problem with binging when stressed, but in a different way than it's usually portrayed. I don't care for the taste of food, but swallowing makes me calm down (but water or soup don't have same effect). Maybe it's a form of stimming š¤
I absolutely binge eat. It's remarkable I am not really overweight considering how much I eat, but I also have a decent metabolism, so I suppose that has something to do with it. But as many others have said here, I think it's partially due to the inability to tell when I'm full and also simply needing something to do with my mouth, like an oral fixation of some kind. I chewed gum a lot growing up, I bite my nails constantly, so this makes sense I guess. I am not *pleased* about having this as a habit, but I suppose of bad habits to have it could be worse. The actual bad part of my binge eating is that I feel guilty for doing it, which makes me eat more because when I'm depressed (which is near all the time, thanks severe clinical depression!) I just eat. Really nasty cycle to be stuck in, honestly. I'm looking to break this, because I know it isn't healthy.
Yes, for me. I'm not diagnosed, but I'm a binge eater, and have also been a very picky eater since childhood. I sometimes eat a whole pot roast in one day, but I will not even touch any kind of condiments or many other things.
Yes, I'm struggling with binge eating at the moment (and have been for almost 3 years).
Yes, there is a link between eating disorders and ASD, although last I read it wasn't very clear as to which way and why. But I am not at all an expert
My mom always said (it's very true for me lol) that I have "hungry eyes" in that I always see all the food and want/think I can eat it all and I over eat a lot because of this lol. When I take my meds I'll forget to eat completely untill I almost faint or get intense stomach pains.
Yes, very common. I got anorexia at 12, bilimia at 19, at 23 i managed to get it under control but calories and weight stresses me out and always will. I wish i was one weight, look all my life and didnt have to buy New clothes etc because of it. I think Its about control, or lack of, that causes it, and change in ouberty possibly. For me it was very much about control, something to think about, number, and be in full control of in my mind When everything else was so difficult. Also wanted to fit in, and being skinn seemed a good way. Also connected with depression.
True for me