Eating Disorders - Compulsive Overeating

Eating disorders seem to worry a lot of parents nowadays because their kids either do not eat or eat in excess. Food and kids never used to be given much importance but extreme cases are being observed today, making us aware of the complications food consumption can lead to.Anorexia and obesity are two of the most common food disorder causes. Previously only adults used to be afflicted by such effects but now children are also being falling prey to anorexia and obesity. In this articleWhat is The Problem?What Happens?Why Does it Happen?Coping with StressDenied Favourite FoodWhat to Do About It?Find Them a HobbyTalk to ThemWhat is The Problem?Compulsive eating disorder is a disorder in which a person eats a lot of food over a short period of time, and then starts feeling guilty about it. These kinds of binge eating sessions have both immediate and long term effects.What Happens?Children often find food that they love and eat it compulsively. Say, you bought a chocolate cake and kept it in the fridge. Your child comes home, finds it and eats the whole chocolate cake at one sitting. This is an example of overeating. However, if this problem keeps recurring and your child keeps eating huge amounts of food at one time, your child might be the victim of compulsive eating disorder.The bad part about this disorder however is that once your child has stuffed herself, she starts feeling guilty about it. Maybe she gets a tummy ache or cannot sleep at night because she over ate.There is also all the scolding they have gotten from you, everything leads to a sense of guilt and disgust towards oneself. Parents need to recognise these symptoms because while parents get angry if the kid eats all the chips or cake, kids realise that they do not say anything if they eat a lot of rice or chapatti. But the child feels guilty later and it can lead to psychological problems. Why Does it Happen?There can be several reasons for overeating. Lets take a look:1. Coping with StressWe cannot claim to fathom all that is going on in a childs life. Life has become really complicated even for children. They are getting to know about a lot of different things at a very young age, due to the internet. So a lot keeps going on in their minds. If they are facing troubles and are dealing with some emotional situation, it is usual for children to watch food to forget that. It is a simple coping mechanism. Whenever they are stressed or troubled these kids reach for food.2. Denied Favourite FoodSome kids actually start binge eating because they do not get enough of their favourite food. So when there is a whole yummy cake in the house, they eat it whole. Deprivation leads to behaviour of this kind. Some children simply binge mindlessly; they just eat food as a pastime whenever they are bored. It seems absurd but is actually pretty true.What to Do About It?Here is what you can do about it1. Find Them a HobbyAs said before, many children eat because they are bored, however if you can find your child a hobby they will be too busy to eat and eventually wean from the habit. Whenever you see your child binge eating, try to do something fun with them.2. Talk to Themit is very important that you talk to your child about why she is binge eating. Talk to her about her emotional problems. Solve the questions in her minds and talk to her about positive body image.If your child has gained weight, try to make her go for some exercise, change her diet plan to include filling but healthy food. Try to keep away snacks and junk, but do not deprive her from them. Limited quantities harm nobody.