Despite the best of diet resolutions, junk foods and comfort foods hit the spot on cold and dark winter days. Overeating during the long festive season, or during winter, is a common complaint. However, there are people for whom overeating is a serious year-round concern. Tom Peplar is one of these people. On any given evening, Peplar drives to three or four different fast food outlets, piling bags of fries, burgers, donuts and bagels onto the passenger seat. Sometimes he makes it home before beginning to consume the food. Sometimes he doesn’t. “My name is Tom. I’m a binge-eater”, Peplar says with desperate irony. Binge eating disorder (BED) is readily recognised by healthcare providers as affecting a large number of people, almost evenly divided between men and women. Individuals with BED are often genetically predisposed to weigh more than the “average” person, let alone the unrealistic cultural ideal. There are two distinctive kinds of bingeing; bingeing caused by restrictive eating, and bingeing used to comfort oneself emotionally, as a distraction or as a numbing tactic. “Due to culturally reinforced body dissatisfaction, many people diet, making themselves hungry, and then binge in response to that hunger.” says Merryl Bear, director of the National Eating Disorder Information Centre, www.nedic.ca. “The person may also eat for emotional reasons: to soothe themselves, to avoid uncomfortable situations or to numb uncomfortable feelings.” Feelings of shame and embarrassment are prominent among people who binge-eat. “Just stop eating – that’s what a lot of people tell me. But it’s not that simple,” says Peplar. “Once I start, I just keep eating until I literally can’t take another bite. I can’t stop.” Overcoming binge eating is largely dependent on understanding why it happens, says Anne Elliot, program director at Sheena’s Place in Toronto, which offers support groups for binge eaters. Therapists work on helping binge eaters to become aware of feelings that accompany the urge to binge. Approaches to dealing with bingeing include teaching individuals to examine relationships with family and friends, and the way in which they respond to difficult situations. Planned and balanced meals and snacks throughout the day can also help binge eaters normalize how they eat. Credit: www.newscanada.com

Come get a great outdoor workout at Athlon Elite!  The Vitamin D and the motivational words are on the house!