Binge eating disorder Binge eating disorder Binge eating disorder (BED) is an eating disorder characterized by frequent and recurrent binge eating episodes with associated negative psychological and social problems, but without subsequent purging episodes (e.g. vomiting). BED is a recently described condition, which was required to distinguish binge eating similar to that seen in bulimia nervosa but without characteristic purging. Individuals who are diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder exhibit similar patterns of compulsive overeating, neurobiological features of dysfunctional cognitive control and food addiction, and biological and environmental risk factors. Indeed, some consider BED a milder version of bulimia, and that
Emotional eating Those who experience this biologically instigated increase in appetite during times of stress are therefore primed to rely on emotional eating as a coping mechanism. Emotional eating differs from actual hunger in a number of ways. Emotional hunger tends to hit quickly and suddenly and feels urgent, yet physical hunger is usually not as urgent or sudden unless it has been a while since a person ate. Someone who is physically hungry will often eat anything, while someone who is emotionally hungry will want something specific, such as fries or a pizza; emotional hunger is usually associated with cravings for