Overeating WITHOUT emotional problems?

[Joseph]

Is it possible to overeat without having emotional issues? I have a client who is pretty stable, emotionally speaking, he is happy with his job and his family, everything seems to be okay but he eats to much and loves sweets.

 

[Daniel E.]

he eats to much and loves sweets.

As the "health nuts" in California say, sugar and potato chips are harder to quit than cocaine.

 

[Daniel E.]

A book that may (or may not) be relevant:

Binge Eating & Overeating Workbook : An Integrated Approach to Overcoming Disordered Eating

Google Preview

A CBT book by Judith Beck (the daughter of Aaron Beck, co-founder of CBT):

http://forum.psychlinks.ca/dieting-nutrition-and-weight-management/8959-the-beck-diet-solution-train-your-brain-to-think-like-a-thin-person.html

http://forum.psychlinks.ca/dieting-...-approach-to-weight-loss-and-maintenance.html

On the less emotional side, there are more books mentioned here:

http://forum.psychlinks.ca/dieting-...4809-weight-loss-guides-without-gimmicks.html

 

[forgetmenot]

I don't know i think someone that overeats is using the food to cope to fill a void Perhaps all may seem balanced and in place for this person but underneath something not being acknowledged or said

 

[adaptive1]

This isn't totally relevant so I apologize, I read this book called Brain over Binge. It is about this women who basically overcame bulimia by recognizing that her urges to binge were what was causing her to over eat and binge eat and that basically it was caused by dieting. She said she recognized that she was getting false signals from her brain that made her over eat more because she created a habit with the repetitive behaviour. She talks of The Four Steps, same idea as what you mention on this forum sometimes by Jeff Schwartz. So, basically you just learn to see the urges for what they are, your "animal brain" sending false signals. I have no idea if this is scientific or just that it worked for her because she was ready to stop the behavior.

Regardless, the book spoke to me and being someone with OCD tendencies, I have followed her advice and I have been free of any of these eating disordered tendencies for several weeks and at this point I don't feel I will return to them. I don't know if ignoring my lower brain is real or not or how that works but seeing that one can pass on urges gives me hope that I can over come my tendencies.

If anyone knows of this book I am curious if any of that is proven.