Binge Eating
“You are describing to me, all the characteristics of a binge eating disorder, which is common among men.”
A what? A disorder? Seriously-a disorder? Wait!-what kind of disorder? Did I hear her right? Eating disorder? What was it she said? Binge eating? Is that it? Binge eating disorder? Wait!-this can’t be right, at all. First off I eat and I don’t purge and I don’t think of myself as fat. But this did all start with my wieght didn’t it? That’s why we are sitting here discussing my eating habits. She thinks I am underweight. I don’t. Sure I am slender, and maybe a little less than muscular, but certainly not underweight. Realizing my mind was racing all over the place and I wasn’t reacting, I finally said, “I’m sorry. Did you… Did I hear you correctly? Did you say…binge-eating…disorder? ”
That was how I remember the exact moment that I first learned of binge eating disorders in men. I was not so closed-minded as to think that men were exempt for eating disorders, but I guess I did sort of perceive it was more of a female problem. I suppose it is just more common to hear stories of young girls who have anorexia or bullemia, than to hear of men with eating disorders. However, that is exactly what my doctor was telling me, that afternoon.
I use the term “binge eating disorder”, because we never got around to diagnosing a specific disorder. In fact she said I was standing on a line between poor dietary habits and binge eating. For arguments sake, it could be said that I had fully developed the binge eating habits, but was not yet suffering the physical ramifications of that behavior. I almost feel guilty even talking about it, because I was not suffering from it to the degree that many do. Ironically though, it was the fact that my own condition was so mild, that I grew to have a great appreciation for those who suffer from severe eating disorders. After all the difficulty I had inovercoming a mild condition, I could not begin to imagine what it takes to come back from a severe one.
Bing eating by men is much more common than people would probably realize. I never thought of mens’ eating habits bordering on binge eating in everyday life, throughout all parts of society. Think of a father, a boyfriend, a roommate, a brother,…any guy you know, who seldom eats breakfast or lunch, but consumes large dinners when he gets home from work. He could be possibly be binging and not even realize it. That is how I was doing it, but never saw it that way. Not until I started to lose weight and get ill repeatedly one fall. Upon visitng the doctor for treatment of a head and chest cold, she started to ask about my nutrition. I hadn’t realized until that moment that I had really bad eating habits. It just never occured to me.