Is Binge Eating A Habit?

The short answer: yes.

Brain Circuitry 

In 2023, a Harvard study showed that women who binge ate had DIFFERENT circuitry in the part of the brain that is associated with habit formation than those who did not binge. According to the study, where they used an MRI to evaluate individuals who often binged compared to those who did not, they found two especially interesting things: 

1. They found that the sensorimotor putamen’s neuronal connection (a key part of the brain for habit formation) with the orbitofrontal cortex (which evaluates rewards) was STRONGER in women who binged. 

2. They found that the sensorimotor putamen’s neuronal connection (a key part of the brain for habit formation) with the anterior cingulate cortex (which deals with self control) was WEAKER in women who binged. 

Basically, in individuals who binge, the brain is literally wired to be more hypersensitive to rewards (like food) and weaker when it comes to self-control. 

The Good News

Repeated behavior change CAN alter your brain circuitry. 

But what kind of behavior changes exactly?

In my recovery, I have found that tackling the small battles regarding self-control and not giving in to actions that have immediate rewards has been helpful. 

• Not looking at social media if I am bored or uncomfortable (social media is a form of instant gratification). 

• Not eating an extra granola bar if I am no longer hungry.

• Not buying things I don’t really want or need.

  
  

I have found that in trying to strengthen the self-control part of my brain, I actually have to BUILD IT. With the knowledge that this part of my brain may be weak, it is VITAL that I conquer the easy battles. Sometimes I don’t want to binge but want one more granola bar, not because I’m hungry but because I WANT IT. Learning to conquer this small battle and telling myself “not right now, you are full, you can have it when you are hungry” is so crucial to building that self-control part of the brain and not giving in to immediate reward. Learning to just breathe through this small urge is the beginning of training my brain to sit through those tougher urges that come around. 

Habit Formation & Binge Eating 

Knowing how to most effectively form good habits, or get rid of bad ones, is good for life in general, and especially useful for those of us trying to stop binge eating.

James Clear, author of “Atomic Habits,” states that if you want to form a habit, you should make it EASY and ATTRACTIVE. 

An Example In Relation to My Recovery

Personally, doing worksheets to evaluate my binges or even my feelings isn’t always the most fun thing in the world. It’s EASIER to just try and forget about the binge or avoid sitting through difficult emotions. Thus, I created a system. I bought two jars and put 15 popsicle sticks in one jar labeled “opportunity.” Whenever I have a good food day, evaluate a binge, drink a gallon of water, etc., I put one of the popsicle sticks from the “opportunity” jar into the “success” jar. When all the popsicle sticks are moved, I can do something or buy something that I have wanted to. It makes these recovery tasks more ATTRACTIVE, and thus I am more likely to complete them. 

Clear also states that if you want to try and break a habit, you must make it HARD and UNATTRACTIVE. 

An Example In Relation to My Recovery

I was re-introducing peanut butter and protein bars into my house earlier this year. I wanted to eat these items in moderation and have them in the house, but I knew that I had previously struggled with these foods. 

So, to avoid falling into my usual pattern of bingeing peanut butter or protein bars, I made them more difficult to access. I kept protein bars in the trunk of my car for a while. I put the peanut butter in the back of the cabinet so that it wasn’t always visible to me. I needed to be hungry enough to GO OUT TO MY CAR and dig through the back of my trunk to get the protein bars or sort through other foods in my pantry to get to the peanut butter. 

Now, this strategy wasn't a fail-safe; I had some ‘slip-ups’, but in general, making them HARD to access at first allowed me to have fewer binge incidents. I was able to give myself more time to sit through my urges while these foods were difficult to reach, until I felt comfortable actually having them more easily accessible.

In Conclusion

1. It’s not your fault that your brain may be wired to form habits that give instant gratification.

2. IT IS your responsibility to try and change the behaviors that are detrimental to your life. 

3. Make good habits EASY and ATTRACTIVE. 

4. Make bad habits HARD and UNATTRACTIVE.