Types of overeating

There are many different reasons that can trigger an eating disorder. The causal factor in combination with the symptoms determine the main types of overeating.

1. Feels like:

• Obvious - an excess amount of food leaves behind a feeling of heaviness, exhaustion, drowsiness. Digestive disorders cause flatulence, nausea. To alleviate the painful condition, it is necessary to take enzymes and other drugs. Most often, this form of pathology occurs during holiday feasts.
• Hidden – a person does not realize and does not feel that he has overeaten. In some cases, after a bout of gluttony, a feeling of hunger remains. Hidden overeating occurs when the daily routine and main meals are violated, when a person regularly eats fast food and other harmful and, at first glance, low-calorie products to relieve hunger.

2. Due to the occurrence:

• External – a disorder caused by external factors. These may be food irritants or eating “for company”.
• Emotional – caused by internal factors. The psychological component of this type is most often associated with stress, depressive states and personality disorders.

3. By controllability:

• Binge eating that can be stopped – eating disorder is controllable. The inner voice can say stop to unconstructive behavior.
• Uncontrollable – a person cannot stop on their own. Eating ends when there is no more food, vomiting or a strong feeling of shame appears.

4. In terms of psychological consequences:

• With a sense of guilt - after overeating comes the realization of what has been done. Because of this, a sense of shame and guilt appears. A person tries to correct his mistake, goes on a strict diet or goes to the gym. If overeating has turned into bulimia, then the sense of guilt ends with bouts of vomiting.
• Without guilt – this type is more related to hidden gluttony, when a person does not fully understand and does not feel the problem. In rare cases, gluttony is a reason for pride.

5. By the nature of the flow:

• Paroxysmal – a person eats huge portions of food, which are 3-4 times more than the permissible norm in 1-2 hours. At the same time, there is a complete lack of control. After an episode of gluttony, self-flagellation begins, which can end in vomiting.
• Compulsive – overeating occurs throughout the day, which is why it may go unnoticed by the person. Most often associated with emotional factors.

As a rule, all of the above types of overeating are combined with each other, some leading to the appearance of others.

Compulsive overeating

Uncontrolled consumption of excessive amounts of food without any apparent appetite or hunger is compulsive overeating. This type of eating disorder is characterized by the fact that the patient does not care what or where he eats. His main goal is to quickly fill his stomach until severe discomfort, vomiting, and nausea occur.

Another feature of compulsive eating disorder is that after a bout of overeating, a feeling of guilt arises. The need for food is based entirely on psychological, not physiological reasons. The disorder is treated by a nutritionist together with a psychotherapist.

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Uncontrolled overeating

Compulsive or uncontrollable gluttony is characterized by the inability to stop the eating process on one's own. This type of eating disorder is directly related to psychological factors. For example, a state of stress very often makes one overeat, causing a feeling of guilt afterwards. According to medical statistics, women are more prone to uncontrollable gluttony than men.

The causes of food addiction have not been thoroughly established, but there are a number of risk factors that contribute to the problem:

• Depressive state.
• Nervous experiences and stress.
• Low self-esteem.
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Overweight at an early age.
• Breaking the diet.
• Female gender.
• Abuse of psychoactive substances and drugs.
• Concern about appearance and figure.

Excessive food consumption is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Eating food quickly.
• Gluttony until pain occurs.
• Gluttony in the absence of obvious hunger.
• Overeating due to psychological discomfort.
• Feelings of guilt and self-disgust after eating.

Treatment of the disorder consists of the following methods: cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, taking medications. As for preventive measures, the disease can only be prevented by maintaining a healthy mental and emotional background.

Cognitive overeating

Uncontrolled food consumption associated with disorders of the central nervous system and psychosomatic factors is cognitive overeating. This type of disease is characterized by periods of binge eating followed by self-flagellation.

Most often, this form of eating disorder is diagnosed in the following groups of people:

• Teenagers – the disorder occurs during the period of active puberty, personality development and socialization. Dissatisfaction with one’s own appearance, constant emotional experiences and stress lead to eating to cope with problems. Attacks of gluttony are multiple. Without outside help, dissatisfaction with oneself will continue to grow, regular overeating will cause weight gain and gastrointestinal pathologies.
• People with excess weight – patients with obesity suffer from personality disorders. Unstable self-esteem and increased nervous excitability create a vicious circle. A person worries and immediately eats away his stress. This happens with alcohol and drug addiction.
• People with mental illnesses - overeating occurs due to constant anxiety states. Increased food consumption allows you to regain a sense of security.

As for the symptoms, this type of disease is characterized by frequent bouts of gluttony, the inability to control food intake, and the absorption of food until discomfort and pain appear.

Gluttony most often occurs alone, without a pronounced feeling of hunger. After the episode, a feeling of shame and a desire to cleanse the body by inducing vomiting, taking laxatives appears. Treatment of the disease is individual for each patient. Therapy is carried out by a psychologist in conjunction with a nutritionist.

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Psychological and emotional overeating

Abuse of food for moral satisfaction, and not for replenishing energy in the body - this is emotional overeating. With the help of products, a person tries to suppress the deficit of emotional needs. This leads to excess weight and various disorders of the gastrointestinal tract.

The following signs of psychological gluttony are distinguished:

• The appearance of stress and even the slightest worries leads to severe binge eating.
• The patient continues to eat despite the absence of hunger and the appearance of painful sensations in the stomach.
• Food helps you calm down and feel better for a while.
• Food serves as a reward for work done or some actions.
• Overeating gives a feeling of security.
• Losing control over appetite leaves behind a feeling of powerlessness.

If at least half of the above symptoms are present, then this clearly indicates psychogenic overeating.

The algorithm for eliminating food addiction comes down to the following rules:

1. Acknowledge that there is a problem and soberly realize that it needs to be addressed.
2. Analyze the factors that cause the desire to overeat. If it is stress or emotional dissatisfaction, then calmly sort out this problem.
3. Learn to manage your emotions. If you're upset, don't keep it all to yourself. You can describe your problem on paper and reread it a few days later to make sure it can be easily solved or to understand that what you described isn't a problem at all.
4. Breathing exercises. The best method for dealing with emotional stress or a conflict situation is to take a deep breath and exhale slowly. Calm breathing will help you calm down, analyze the current situation and find ways to solve it. Remember that going and eating away the problem is the easiest way.
5. Develop a daily routine and stick to it. To make it easier to control your diet, you can start a food diary, writing down everything you ate and when. When choosing food, buy natural and seasonal products.
6. To maintain good health, get enough sleep. Maintaining a sleep and wakefulness regime will help you improve your nutrition and the state of your nervous system. Also, don’t forget about physical activity. Regular physical exercise will keep your body in good shape.

Nervous overeating due to stress

If food is used as a stimulating, relaxing or tonic, then this indicates an eating disorder. In essence, nervous overeating is an attempt to stuff emotions, not the stomach. Because emotional hunger cannot be eliminated with food, regular gluttony occurs. Very often, the painful condition develops against the background of chronic stress, depression, nervous disorders.

There are a number of signs that allow you to distinguish physical hunger from a nervous desire to eat:

• Physical hunger develops gradually and does not require immediate compensation. Nervous hunger occurs suddenly and requires special food, for example, fatty, sweet, fried.
• When trying to suppress nervous hunger, loss of control often occurs. When satisfying physical hunger, a pronounced feeling of satiety occurs.
• Nervous hunger lives in the head and is aggravated by stressful situations, the action of certain tastes or smells. The physical desire to eat is manifested by a rumbling stomach and a sucking sensation in the pit of the stomach.
• Nervous overeating causes feelings of guilt, shame and regret. While physical hunger does not cause any problems, since the body gets what it needs.

To cope with an eating disorder, you need to follow these recommendations:

1. Determine the true cause of overeating and try to eliminate it. If necessary, seek help from a psychologist and other specialists.
2. Learn to manage your emotions. Find other methods of dealing with stress and nervous experiences. In order to avoid having the energy to overeat, you can sign up for a gym, dance classes, or go for a walk at the first urge to eat.
3. Learn to tell yourself to stop. The ability to stop a psychological impulse in time will help you overcome the problem of food abuse.
4. Physical health. In some cases, the problem of nervous overeating is directly related to poor physical condition. Strengthen your body, take care of it. Maintain a sleep and wakefulness regimen, rest and eat healthy, natural food.

Overeating at night

The problem of nighttime gluttony is familiar to anyone who spends the whole day working and does not have the opportunity to eat a full meal. At the same time, scientists have found that overeating before bed is dangerous not only because of indigestion, but also because of the lack of a pronounced feeling of satiety, which makes you want to eat even more.

Statistics show that more than 20% of people with excess weight problems regularly overeat at night. There are many reasons for nighttime gluttony, its main signs include:

• Lack of normal meals during the day.
• About 80% of calories are eaten after 8:00 pm.
• After midnight there may be trips to the kitchen for more.
• There is no desire to have breakfast in the morning.
• Feelings of guilt and resentment arise during binges.
• Frequent waking up at night to snack.

All of the above symptoms indicate night eating syndrome. There are many methods to combat this problem. Let's look at a simple algorithm that will help you overcome the habit of eating before bed:

1. Plan your daily diet and strictly limit the time of your last meal.
2. Eat while sitting at a table, concentrating only on food. Turn off the TV, do not read books.
3. Chew your food well so that your stomach has time to be satisfied.
4. Reduce the amount of alcohol you drink or give it up altogether.
5. Prepare your own food, refuse store-bought dumplings and sausages. Snacks on buns, sweets or cakes are also prohibited.
6. If the desire to eat something unhealthy arises while watching TV, then it is better to occupy yourself with housework.
7. Go to bed earlier, as lack of sleep is one of the causes of excess weight.

If nighttime overeating is associated with psychological factors, stress, nervous experiences, then it is better to contact a specialist who will help you understand the problem and get rid of it.

Constant overeating

Eating disorders are a pressing issue for both adults and children. The consequences of constant overeating are so dangerous that doctors advise remaining slightly hungry rather than overindulging in food.

The dangers of regular overeating:

• Disruption of fat and carbohydrate metabolism, due to which all organs begin to suffer from excessive stress.
• It has a negative effect on the cardiovascular system, since the heart is forced to enrich a larger space with blood due to the enlargement of organs.
• The muscular walls of the heart enlarge and their contraction rate increases. This causes hypertension and blood pressure problems.
• An increase in the amount of fats has a negative effect on the liver and the entire gastrointestinal tract. Against this background, gastritis with low acidity, pancreatitis, cholecystitis, and colitis may develop.
• Overeating leads to weight gain, which leads to hormonal imbalances. Problems with the production of thyroid hormones arise, the deficiency of which leads to metabolic pathologies. For women, this manifests itself in menstrual irregularities, and in severe cases, infertility. Men may have problems with erection.

To normalize eating behavior, it is necessary to develop a diet and eating regime. Nutritionists recommend sticking to three full meals a day and 1-2 snacks. It is also necessary to reduce the amount of salty, fatty and spicy food in the diet. Restrictions apply to sugar, prepared foods, sweets, pastries, fruits.

Reducing portion sizes is another step towards healthy eating. To do this, you can take smaller dishes, then the plate will not seem empty. You can also try fasting days. This is a kind of mono-diet, the duration of which does not exceed 24 hours. The most useful is considered to be fasting on apples, cucumbers, rice or water. If you can’t cope with the problem of gluttony on your own, then you should contact a specialist: a nutritionist, a psychologist.

Overeating fatty foods

An important nutrient and a source of healthy cholesterol is fat. It is the content of this substance in products that determines their nutritional value. Fats promote the absorption of vitamins A, D, E, K, which are fat-soluble. At the same time, normal absorption of fatty foods is impossible without pancreatic juice and bile.

Fatty and fried food overloads the gastrointestinal tract. Increased amounts of food cause a deficiency of enzymes for their processing. Because of this, undigested foods are retained in the intestines, causing gas accumulation and increased pressure in the abdominal cavity. Stagnant processes lead to autointoxication, that is, poisoning of the body.

Excessive consumption of fatty foods puts excessive strain on the stomach, pancreas and duodenum. Digestion processes and the breakdown of fats into acids and glycerin slow down. Frequent overeating of fatty foods threatens not only indigestion, but also pancreatic insufficiency.

Overeating salt

Table salt, or edible salt, is a mineral that we regularly add to food. The recommended daily intake of salt for an adult is 6 g, or one teaspoon. But most people significantly exceed this norm, eating 2-3 or more times more. The thing is that the mineral is found in many ready-made products, the abuse of which causes overeating salt. The largest amount of sodium chloride is found in the following foods:

• Smoked meats and sausages.
• Canned olives.
• Pickled and canned vegetables.
• Smoked and salted fish.
• Soy and mustard sauce.
• Hard cheeses.

Excessive consumption of salty foods causes intense thirst and a number of other negative consequences for the body. First of all, blood pressure increases, and cardiovascular diseases may also worsen. Salt increases the risk of stomach cancer and heart attacks. But you can’t completely give up salt, as this also has a negative impact on your health.

In order not to overeat salty foods, you should try to cook yourself, controlling the amount of spices. You can try replacing the mineral with aromatic herbs or pepper. You should also minimize the use of ready-made sauces: mayonnaise, mustard, soy sauce.

Overeating ascorbic acid

Vitamin C or ascorbic acid performs many important functions in the body. It regulates oxidation-reduction processes at the cellular level, as well as carbohydrate metabolism and blood clotting. It strengthens the structure of bone and dental tissue, increases the protective properties of the immune system and stimulates the production of some vitamins. The substance is part of many foods, vegetables, fruits and berries. There are also pharmaceutical preparations of ascorbic acid.

Vitamin C overdose most often occurs when overeating foods with a high vitamin C content. This is observed during the winter holidays, when people overeat citrus fruits, as well as when trying to independently strengthen the immune system. Excess ascorbic acid in the body causes the following symptoms:

• Allergic reactions.
• Increased weakness.
• Stomach ache.
• Disturbance of stool, diarrhea.
• Headaches and dizziness.
• Severe nausea and vomiting.
• Heartburn.
• Increased excitability.

The above reactions require reducing the intake of vitamin C. If this is not done, then a long-term overdose of ascorbic acid will lead to the following consequences:

• Diseases of the kidneys, stomach, pancreas.
• Vitamin B deficiency.
• Ulcerative lesions of the stomach.
• Persistent allergy.
• High blood pressure.
• Irregularities in the menstrual cycle.
• Blood clotting disorder.

People with a predisposition to the formation of stones in the kidneys and gall bladder, diabetes mellitus and other endocrine pathologies should use ascorbic acid with particular caution.

Overeating After Gallbladder Removal

Hepatocytes, that is, liver cells, produce bile, which is necessary for the complete digestion of food and the absorption of its useful substances into the blood. Bile accumulates in a depot - the gallbladder. If the organ stops working normally, this leads to serious complications and even to its surgical removal.

After the gallbladder is removed, changes begin in the body. The liver cells continue to produce bactericidal fluid, but there is nowhere to store it. Because of this, strict dietary restrictions are prescribed to normalize bile secretion and digestion of food.

Overeating after gallbladder removal can lead to the following complications:

• Disruption of intestinal microflora.
• Slow digestion.
• Constipation.
• Pain in the side and abdomen.
• Increased gas formation.
• Belching.
• Attacks of nausea.
• Bitterness in the mouth.
• Deterioration of health and general weakness.

In addition to the above problems, a violation of the diet can lead to the development of colitis, esophagitis, duodenitis and other gastrointestinal diseases. Overeating fried and fatty foods is dangerous due to the repeated formation of stones, but this time in the bile ducts.

To reduce the risk of developing nutritional problems, people with a removed gallbladder need to eat low-fat foods. The most useful are plant and protein foods, steamed, boiled or baked. Following the basic principles of healthy eating has a positive effect on overall well-being and allows you to not feel problems due to the removed organ.