Food is one of many ways to cope with the stress and anxiety associated with the pressures of life, especially when physical interaction with people is next to impossible. With so many tasty food options and a wide variety of snacks available, it is easy for you to become prone to overeating. However, without knowing that portion sizing exists, overeating can go out of control and lead to adverse health effects over time.

One factor that distinguishes BED from normal, occasional overeating is a feeling that you have no control over your eating habits. You may eat too much, too quickly, when you are not hungry, and even continue eating after you’re full to the point of discomfort. What to Do if You Overeat One Day. Adhering to a diet is difficult. Humans are hardwired to seek out food, and the more you try to deny yourself certain foods, the more you will be tempted to cheat. Most people who follow a diet find that they will have occasional lapses. Fortunately, overeating for one day is.

One way of keeping this unhealthy habit under control is to understand how it affects your body. Here are the side effects of overeating that you should be wary of, courtesy of Healthline:

Promotes Excess Body Fat

How much calories you consume versus how you much you burn determines your daily calorie balance. When you eat more than what you burn, this is known as a calorie surplus. As a result, they are stored as fat by your body. Because you are consuming more calories than needed, overeating may result in increased body fat levels or obesity.

Unlike excess calories from protein, which takes longer to metabolize, those from carbohydrates and fat are more prone to boosting body fat. Lean proteins and non-starchy vegetables should help you avoid excess fat gain before eating higher-carb and higher-fat food.

Disrupt Hunger Regulation

Ghrelin is a hormone that stimulates appetite. Leptin, by contrast, suppresses appetite. Both hormones affect hunger regulation. When you haven't eaten for some time, ghrelin levels increase. After eating, your leptin levels tell your body that it is full.

Overeating can disrupt this balance. Salty, fatty and sugary foods release feel-good hormones such as dopamine, which activates your brain's pleasure centers. This causes your body to associate pleasure with certain foods that are high in fat and calories over time and eventually override hunger regulation, encouraging you to eat out of pleasure rather than hunger. The disruption of these hormones, thus triggers a perpetual cycle of overeating.

Portioning out certain feel-good food and eating them at a slower pace allow your body to register its fullness, helping you counteract the effects of overeating.

Increases Disease Risk

Occasional overeating is not likely to affect your health in the long term. Chronic overeating, however, can lead to obesity, increasing your risk of diabetes in turn.

Defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 and above, obesity is a main risk factor for metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that raises your chances of heart disease and other health problems such as diabetes and stroke. High blood fat levels, elevated blood pressure, inflammation and insulin resistance are among the major indicators of metabolic syndrome.

Insulin resistance, in particular, is closely linked to chronic overeating. It develops when excess sugar in your blood reduces insulin's ability to store blood sugar in your cells. If left uncontrolled, insulin resistance may lead to type 2 diabetes.

By avoiding high-calorie and processed foods, increasing your intake of fiber-rich vegetables and moderating carb portion sizes, you can reduce your risk of obesity and its related health conditions.

Impair Brain Function

Continual overeating and obesity are tied by several studies to mental decline in older adults, compared to those who do not. One study found that being overweight negatively affects memory in older adults, compared with those having a normal weight. However, more studies are needed to identify the extent and mechanisms of mental decline in relation to overeating and obesity.

Since your brain comprises approximately 60 percent fat, avocados, nut butters, fatty fish, olive oil and other healthy fats may help prevent mental decline.

May Make You Nauseous

Frequent overeating can cause feelings of nausea and indigestion. Having approximately the size of a clenched fist, the adult stomach can hold about 2.5 ounces when empty, though it can expand to hold around a quart. Do note that these numbers vary based on size and how much you regularly eat.

Nausea occurs when you eat a big meal, and you start to reach the upper limit of your stomach's capacity. In severe cases, this may lead to vomiting -- your body's way of relieving acute stomach pressure. Though there are over-the-counter medications that may help treat nausea conditions, the best approach is by regulating your portion sizes and eating slowly to prevent these symptoms.

May Cause Excessive Gas And Bloating

By eating large amounts of food, your digestive system becomes strained, triggering gas and bloating.

Spicy and fatty food as well as fizzy drinks such as soda, are gas-producing food items that many of us tend to overeat. Beans and whole grains as well as certain vegetables also produce gas, but are not overeaten as often.

Furthermore, because large amounts of food rapidly enter your stomach, eating too fast may promote gas and bloating. To avoid excess gas and bloating, start by eating slowly, waiting until after meals before taking fluids and reducing portion sizes of gassy foods.

May Make You Sleepy

You may feel sluggish or tired when you overeat. This is caused by reactive hypoglycemia, a phenomenon where your blood sugars drop shortly after eating a big meal. Low blood sugar is commonly linked to sleepiness, sluggishness, rapid heart rate and headaches, among other symptoms. While not fully understood, it is thought to be related to excess insulin production. Although reactive hypoglycemia is most common in those with diabetes who administer too much insulin, it may also occur in some individuals as a result of overeating.

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What is Binge-Eating Disorder?

Binge-eating disorder (or BED) is characterized by regularly and compulsively eating large amounts of food, often rapidly, and to the point of discomfort or pain from an overfilled stomach. It affects more than 3.5% of women and 2% of men in the United States, making it the most common eating disorder in the country.

Binge eaters are emotional over-eaters. While other disorders are typically twice as common in women, BED is less discriminatory— roughly 40% of those with the condition are men. In women, it most commonly occurs in early adulthood; in men, as they reach middle age. BED affects people of every age, gender, race, ethnicity, body type, and cultural background. Most, but not all, who suffer from BED are overweight.

One factor that distinguishes BED from normal, occasional overeating is a feeling that you have no control over your eating habits. You may eat too much, too quickly, when you are not hungry, and even continue eating after you’re full to the point of discomfort. You may try to eat in alone or secretly in order to hide how much you’re eating, and feel embarrassment, shame, or guilt about your eating behavior. Although you vow to stop, you find yourself binge eating again and again. If you experience this type of binge eating at least once a week for three consecutive months, you may be diagnosed with BED.

What is the Difference Between BED and Bulimia?

Bulimia is characterized by overeating and purging, or trying to compensate for consuming too many calories by vomiting, using laxatives or overexercising. If you have BED, you don’t routinely use any of these methods to try to “undo” any weight gain you might experience from overeating. But even though it is uncommon, you can have BED and not be overweight, thanks to your individual genetic makeup or a particularly fast metabolism.

Are you suffering from Binge Eating Disorder?

Take our 3-minute Binge Eating Disorder quiz to see if you may benefit from further diagnosis and treatment.

What Causes BED?

Although BED is associated with underlying emotional issues, the exact cause is unknown. The condition can likely be attributed to a combination of psychological, behavioral, and environmental influences. Some known factors that can increase your risk of developing BED include:

• A family history of eating disorders. If your parent or siblings have, or had, an eating disorder, you are at a greater risk of developing one.
• A history of psychological issues or negative self-worth. Certain thought patterns and mood disorders are closely associated with BED, including depression, anger, anxiety, a strong need to be in control, perfectionism and rigidity, a need to please others, and negative feelings about yourself, your body, and your accomplishments.
• A history of dieting. While people with BED have a range of body types, they often have a long history of restricting calories.
• Significant loss, relationship problems or traumatic experiences. BED can be a way of trying to deal with stress and distance yourself from emotional pain.
• Experiences with sexual abuse, physical abuse, weight discrimination, and/or bullying. Studies have found that people with BED and other eating disorders often report a personal history of abusive events. ¹

Occasional Overeating

How BED Affects Your Health and Well-Being

BED stems from, and can cause, a variety of emotional, physical, and psychological issues. You may ultimately experience physical complications such as:

• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Heart disease
• Type II diabetes
• Gallbladder disease
• Fatigue
• Joint and muscle pain
• Osteoarthritis
• Certain cancers
• Sleep apnea

You may also experience psychological and emotional conditions that are often linked with BED, including:

Benefits Of Occasional Overeating

• Feeling bad about yourself or your life
• Poor quality of life
• Problems functioning at work, in your personal life, or while socializing
• Anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and substance abuse disorder

Where to Get Help and What to Expect

BED is an illness that requires proper diagnoses and treatment. You didn’t choose to have the condition, but you can choose to seek advise and get medical attention, if necessary, as soon as you recognize the symptoms. Left untreated, BED can steadily get worse and, in extreme cases, can also be life-threatening.

If you don’t already have a mental health care provider, you can start by speaking to your primary care physician. Describe your binge eating symptoms, and the feelings that you associate with your behavior. It may be helpful to make a list of symptoms that you are experiencing before the appointment. Be sure to include all relevant personal information, like any family history of eating disorders, major stress, recent life changes, and a typical day’s eating patterns. In addition to a physical exam, including tests to evaluate whether you are suffering any physical effects from binge eating, your physician may ask questions about your daily food habits, your thoughts and your thoughts and feelings about your weight and appearance. Don’t hesitate to discuss your emotions, thoughts, or other information that may seem unrelated to binge eating; it is important to give your provider a full picture of your mental and physical health.

If necessary, your physician should be able to refer you to a licensed mental health professional. It is important to seek treatment from someone with the appropriate education, training and experience to treat BED. Be sure you agree with their approach to treating BED and understand their proposed treatment plan and what they see as your primary goal for recovery. If you are not satisfied with their answers or feel comfortable working with this person, consider seeking a second opinion.

Mental health professionals who treat BED may draw from different styles of therapy and use various tools to help you move on to a state of recovery. The first line of treatment is usually individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), one-on-one, relatively short-term talk therapy that can help you understand the connections between your thoughts, feelings, and eating behaviors. Your therapist will teach you to normalize your eating behavior and your thinking patterns, with the goal of eliminating or at least reducing episodes of binge-eating. At the same time, CBT offers tools for coping with stress and helping you address and reorient negative thinking patterns about yourself, your body type and your weight.

Some research suggests that another form of talk therapy originally developed to great depression, known as interpersonal psychotherapy (ITP), might also help people suffering from eating disorders in which binge-ing behavior is present. ITP focuses less on food behavior and more on interpersonal relationship issues that may play a role perpetuating binge-purging behaviors. Some researchers feel that identifying and resolving these relationship issues may help reduce the frequency of those behaviors. ITP may be used in place of, or in conjunction with CBT, though studies have shown CBT to be the more efficient form of therapy.

In addition to psychological counseling, other treatments and approaches can help alleviate some of the symptoms and improve the behaviors associated with BED. Antidepressant or anti-anxiety medications may be prescribed to help with mood issues and, in cases of obesity, medications that induce weight loss may be used in conjunction with CBT. A registered dietitian or clinical nutritionist can help you achieve or maintain a healthy weight by teaching you more about good nutrition and helping you develop and follow a balanced eating plan. Your health care providers may also suggest adjunctive therapies like movement classes, meditation and mindfulness instruction, yoga, equine therapy, or art therapy. These programs won’t cure BED, they can help lower your stress levels, elevate your mood, improve your body image, and teach you to have a better sense of control over your life.

Successful treatment of BED most often relies on a combination of therapeutic approaches. A team of mental health care providers, medical providers, nutrition counselors, and other experts can all contribute to a safe and effective treatment plan.

Occasional Overeating

If you need help and you cannot get it from someone in your immediate support circle, call the National Eating Disorders Association helpline toll-free at 1-800-931-2237

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