Eating disorders are not something to joke about, even though Hollywood and the media has found a way to glamorize them (just like drug addiction and alcoholism). The most common mentioned eating disorders are anorexia and bulimia.

But did you know that the eating disorder that most adults in the United States are neither of those? The eating disorder that most adults in the U.S. suffer from is binge-eating disorder or B.E.D. And I know what you are thinking, “Is that actually a real thing?” and let me tell you, yes, it is a real thing and so many people suffer from it. Binging doesn’t just apply to Netflix, and many people in the world suffer from it and don’t even know it.

The world says that America has an obesity problem…well, how do you think we got there?

For those who don’t know, according to nationaleatingdisorders.org, B.E.D. is characterized by,“recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food (often very quickly and to the point of discomfort); a feeling of a loss of control during the binge; experiencing shame, distress or guilt afterwards; and not regularly using unhealthy compensatory measures (e.g., purging) to counter the binge-eating.”

If you identify with any of these symptoms, you may have B.E.D. and you should definitely look into taking steps towards recovery. This is a severe and life-threatening disorder. Most of the time people rush into the emergency room with heart attacks, stroke, and/or in diabetic shock. These can all be rooted in B.E.D.

Binge-eating is about complete loss of control. It may start with having two slices of pizza but it ends with finishing the whole pizza and going for ice cream afterwards. Its mindless and we decide to eat copious amount of food to comfort, congratulate, and even numb ourselves.

Fortunately binge-eating is very treatable, but in order to be victorious over something so widespread, we need to bring awareness to it. Most people who suffer from B.E.D. will never ask for help because they feel so ashamed and embarrassed. I know I was, but I had to find the strength within me to realize that if I didn’t help myself now, I was going to die because of it.

Most people don’t get to 300 or 400 pounds because they want to. Binge-eating is something that can’t be controlled. If I decided that I was going on a binge, there was nothing that was going to stop me, and I got crafty if I had to. And all for what? I had chosen eating and food over feeling anything, really. I’m not just talking about eating when I felt sad, but also eating when I was lonely, or bored, or even happy, because it was a way to celebrate. I even ate when I was hungry, but instead of stopping when I felt full, I would go beyond that until I was literally miserable.

Awareness about this is so important because we live in a world that looks at people who have these kinds of disorders as lesser, and the truth is nothing is going to change until we are able to talk about it freely. I am no longer ashamed to say that I have a binge-eating problem, because when I hid it, it had more power over me. Vocalizing the problem is a necessary step in taking away its power over us.

If you or someone you know is suffering from an eating disorde,r visit https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org or call their Helpline at 800-931-2237