3. It’s a cycle.
One of the reasons binge eating is so dangerous is because dieting, which people incorrectly perceive as a solution, pushes binge eaters back into the same actions they are trying to stop.
“The other physical problem is that after a period of bingeing (a day, a week, months), binge-eaters then start dieting, and studies tell us that food restriction causes bingeing,” Koenig says “And round and round we go.”
READ: Why Being Thin Doesn’t Automatically Make You Healthy
4. Many are suffering in silence.
When “Not All Black Girls Know How to Eat” author Stephanie Covington Armstrong first realized she had an eating disorder, she thought she was supposed to go at the problem alone. What she describes as “getting over the strong Black woman archetype” served as a giant barrier to recovery.
“Realizing that was as much of a problem as the disease itself: the belief that I didn’t have support and that I was supposed to suffer in silence,” she says.
5. Support systems help.
Although people suffering from binge eating disorder may be reluctant to seek it, help from therapy groups and loved ones can be the key to recovery. Armstrong’s breakthrough came from eventually finding such support.
“Once I realized I couldn’t do it myself, I went to Overeaters Anonymous meetings, and eventually, I started looking for more help,” Armstrong says.