Do you or someone you know binge eat high fat and high calorie foods and then feel guilty after the fact? If so then you may be suffering from compulsive eating. It’s an eating disorder that affects millions and is actually more common than anorexia and bulimia, but it is just as deadly.

Compulsive eating affects people from all walks of life, from every age group, from every ethnic group, both male and female and from every economic class. The comfort of food is nearly universal and it is feeling that all babies experience. Whatever separates compulsive eating sufferers is that they are trying to get that comfort from food at an older age. They are unable to experience the soothing that comes from other sources, including their own peace of mind.

When taking a look at some of the warning signs for compulsive eating, it truly resembles other eating disorders. The warning signs include uncontrollable eating, also called binge eating, use of medicines to try to control the weight gain after eating, frequent restroom usage after eating, mood swings, depression, and the telltale preoccupation with body weight. The comparison to other eating disorders like bulimia are striking indeed.

To those unfamiliar with compulsive eating, it might seem that proper treatment for this disorder would be to just stop over eating. Unfortunately, sufferers will try to use rigid diets and control mechanisms to try to control their eating, but all they do is make the guilt and shame even worse when they fail. Compulsive eating is a medical disorder that needs to be treated by a trained medical professional. Psychiatrists and psychologists are trained to give the help needed to over compulsive eating and give patients back their life.