Question:
When people discuss eating disorders they usually talk about anorexia
or eating and purging, but it seems to me overeating is the most common
and deadliest eating disorder. Just as people who seem too thin and are
unhealthy but do not recognize it, there are many more who are
overweight, unhealthy, and also fail to recognize their condition
Answer:
In my experience, compulsive overeating (binge eating disorder) is a
world away from just overeating and being overweight. It may seem the
same to the outside observer but usually the outside observer never
gets to see what's really going on, which is one of the symptoms of
binge eating disorder. I would say that by no means all the people
who have become hugely overweight have disordered eating - they just
eat too much.
I've never been bulimic but I've always thought of binge eating
disorder as bulimia without the purging. It has only fairly recently
become recognised by the medical profession, and many doctors still
don't acknowledge its existence, whereas bulimia and anorexia have
been known as eating disorders for some years
