My mind was BLOWN when ‘O’, my pre-this-blog-series therapist, explained to me that…
- Everyone overeats at times
- Everyone eats emotionally at times
- Lots of people are addicted to junk food
- Most people have eating patterns of which they’d rather be blissfully (?) unaware.
WOAH. Seriously? Just… WOAH.
This discussion was part of her clever plan to help me put my binge eating disorder into perspective.
With BED – and many mental farts – we isolate. We feel alone, weird, damaged and – most of all – MUST KEEP THE SECRET. Guess what? The whole world is keeping the same secret. Or their own version of some sort of secret and sometimes it’s about food.
So, O’s Clever Plan was to start with perspective.
It goes kind of like this.
“Susan, you aren’t unique.” (which kind of burned to hear but in a good burn way.)
“Susan, you are a member of a Big Club. The club is called, “Everyone Who Eats”. It’s really, really big.” (I’m starting to get a clue where this is going now, but it’s still got my heart pitter-patting.)
“Susan, everyone in the Big Club dot-dot-dots.” (See above dots)
“Susan, the only difference is your relationship to food. And, really, seriously, there aren’t as many differences as you think.” (Read: as I obsess about) (Note: I had to ponder this for a bit and then googled.)
Fun? Fact: According to smart, non-partisan people, over 30 MILLION people suffer from an eating disorder. My peeps! We totally need a Big Club handshake.
THIRTY MILLION PEOPLE JUST LIKE ME
I am suddenly not so unique. Dammit.
If I really want to parse – and I do – ‘only’ 2.8 million suffer from binge eating disorder. Well, that’s better.
These huge numbers do not diminish the severity of the problem.
It means, even after subtracting rough numbers of people in recovery and for whom it was a temporary issue, there are millions of people suffering in silence. I’m not one of them so “HAH to O! In your face! I am unique!”
Hey, whatever it takes for a woman to feel special.
Back to the point. I needed to understand that not every bite of food was unhealthy. There are times when I do eat ‘normally’. (She also helped me understand the term ‘normal’ but that’s another post.)
The difference is that there are times when I am incapable of choosing not to eat. When, once it starts, it will not stop until I’m incapable of eating any more. That’s Binge Eating Disorder. And It Is Not My Fault. And I Am Not Defective.
We’re working on living that belief. This blog is part of it.
I’m Susan Scot Fry, the author of “A Year of Significance”. In 2020, I take on the greatest nemesis of my life: Binge Eating Disorder. With a side of aplomb sauce. Honest, occasionally humorous and sometimes I swear.
A Year of Significance 