Sarah Jane Poulsen says she cannot drive five minutes down the street without being confronted with her addiction. She does not even need to get out of her car to get her fix for less than five dollars.
“I go to someone who deals with hardcore drug addicts and alcohol abusers to talk about my food addiction,” Poulsen says.
Poulsen, 36, has a binge eating disorder and weighed 340 pounds at her heaviest. Her biggest challenge is her addiction to carbs and sugar, she says.
When Poulsen injured her back in 2007 she was forced to confront her addiction.
“My surgeon told me that if I wanted any quality of life that I would have to lose the weight,” she says.
Initially, it was hard to have the energy to confront the psychological reasons for her binge eating, Poulsen says. But it was just what she needed to kick-start her 160-pound weight-loss journey.
About one in five obese people have binge eating disorder, according to the National Eating Disorder Information Centre’s website. Awareness of this disorder is the most important step to get people the appropriate help for recovery, Gary Goldfield says in a phone interview.
Goldfield, a scientist at the Healthy Active Living and Obesity Research Group at CHEO, says binge eating is when someone eats abnormally large amounts of food in a short period of time without being able to stop. This often results in feelings of shame and guilt after they overeat.
Unlike other eating disorders, binge eaters do not exercise or vomit afterwards to compensate for their overeating, Goldfield says.
A person must engage in these behaviours for more than two or three times per week for over six months to meet the criteria for binge eating disorder.
People that fit this description need to seek out help so they can change the way they look at food and analyze what they are eating, Goldfield says.
“A lot of people lack insight into what is driving their eating behaviour and their weight,” he says.
Poulsen says she began gaining weight in her teens when she had more money and access to fast food. Her habits grew much worse as she got older, she says.
After a person realizes they have this disorder, they need to seek out specialists that will monitor and help them on their way to recovery, says Alfonso Abizaid, a neuroscientist who researches obesity and addiction at Carleton University.
Cognitive behavioural therapy is one of the most common ways to help people with binge eating disorder, Abizaid says.
This therapy involves changing the way people think about food, what they eat, and how they eat it.
“They are helped so that they can control the urges and cravings,” Abizaid says. “They are taught how to eat, and how to eat slowly.”
One of the main problems with this disorder is binge eaters eat so fast their brain does not have time to process the stomach’s signal that it is full, he says. This causes them to continue eating and consume too many calories.
Poulsen, who started her Dr. Bernstein diet in March 2008, eliminated all unhealthy foods from her diet and consumed very little calories. Though this particular diet is highly controversial, the principles of eating healthy and closely monitoring food intake are important, Abizaid says.
People with binge eating disorder often overeat to make themselves feel better about something, he says.
“Stress is one of the main things that triggers cravings,” Abizaid says.
Abizaid recommends continued medical help for binge eaters to prevent them from relapsing, similar to those people who are addicted to drugs and alcohol.
“They have to work on a daily basis to control this craving,” says Abizaid. “They have to be monitored constantly so they don’t relapse into their previous behaviour.”
Once the commitments to therapy and lifestyle changes are made by patients, the results are significant, Goldfield says.
“Typically when they get a better handle on their binge eating, there are associated feelings of increased self esteem, self confidence and reduction in body weight because they are eating better,” he says.
For Poulsen, the 160-pound weight loss changed her life and it helped her to truly be happy.
“I feel like I was living a version of happy before,” Poulsen says.
The weight gain was really hard on her self esteem, especially when it came to dating. She was always the “guy’s best friend” and would be skeptical when people gave her compliments, she says.
“I feel like I was really shiny when I was young, but that shine dulled over the years with every pound that I gained,” Poulsen says.
Now Poulsen says she receives endless compliments on her new body when she posts pictures on Facebook. They often come from the people who she least expected them from, she says.
“The recognition I had been looking for as a teenager from those people who were now saying, ‘Oh you look so amazing,’ actually boosted my confidence,” she says.
Her experience did not come without setbacks. The cost of treatment was a challenge, but she says it was worth it to extend her life. The weight loss also required huge commitment and determination on her part, she says.
Keeping the end goal in sight and having a strong support system also helped to keep her motivated, Poulsen says.
“You have to stop feeling sorry for yourself and stop looking back,” she says. “It’s all about the next step you are going to take and it’s up to you to do it.”
After becoming aware of her binge eating disorder, Poulsen embarked on the journey that made her a healthier and happier person.
“When people talk about a journey, I would always think they were full of crap,” she says. “But I really understand what it means now because I’ve been on one for two years.”
She encourages other people who suffer from this disorder to also take control over their weight and not settle in life.
“Live the shiny life that you want to, but you have to work for it,” Poulsen says. “If it wasn’t hard, they’d call it play everyday.”