Compulsive Overeating

[jasonxxx102]

People suffering with Compulsive Overeating have what is characterized as an "addiction" to food, using food and eating as a way to hide from their emotions, to fill a void they feel inside, and to cope with daily stresses and problems in their lives.
People suffering with this Eating Disorder tend to be overweight, are usually aware that their eating habits are abnormal, but find little comfort because of society's tendency to stereotype the "overweight" individual. Words like, "just go on a diet" are as emotionally devastating to a person suffering Compulsive Overeating as "just eat" can be to a person suffering Anorexia. A person suffering as a Compulsive Overeater is at health risk for a heart attack, high blood-pressure and cholesterol, kidney disease and/or failure, arthritis and bone deterioration, and stroke.
Men and Women who are Compulsive Overeaters will sometimes hide behind their physical appearance, using it as a blockade against society (common in survivors of sexual abuse). They feel guilty for not being "good enough," shame for being overweight, and generally have a very low self-esteem... they use food and eating to cope with these feelings, which only leads into the cycle of feeling them ten-fold and trying to find a way to cope again. With a low self esteem and often constant need for love and validation he/she will turn to obsessive episodes of binging and eating as a way to forget the pain and the desire for affection.

[Billy_27]

I feel that eating tasty food (or food that you love) is a great way to relieve stress or cure boredom (Albeit temporarily). Avoid overeating though. 

[voodoo scientist]

Eating too much food is not a compulsive disorder in the sense that anorexia or OCD is a compulsive disorder. If it is a disorder (and although I can't imagine the Americans won't include it somehow in the DSM-V whenever they get that done, I'm really not sure I agree), then it's much more like substance abuse than a compulsion.

[S. Earl Martin]

Another aspect to this has to do with what we eat or drink for that matter. One of the reasons people are over weight is because the food we eat is programed to make us fat.
1: Artifical and natural flavorings are actually addicting drugs that work on the brain just like cocaine or other addicting substances. Many artifical and natural flavorings have no taste, but when consumed they hit the brain and trigger a response. People become addicted to the response and crave it over and over. So they eat more and more to get it. It is hard to find any manufactured food that don't have these.
2: If you examine what people eat and look at it from a chemical prespective another problem becomes clear. When something is burned it requires a certain set of conditions.
Fuel, oxygen, an ignition source.
So much of what we consume is carbonated. Either the soft drinks or water. Or using baking soda or powder in cooking. Without ample oxygen it stops the calories from being burned so they are stored as fat. The calories that are being consumed are rancid because they have been putrifing in the body. This can lead to other health problems. 
I understand some people over eat for other reasons but, I do believe this is a cause of some of the problem. 

[spring]

In my work with people with eating disorders, I listen to them carefully as they describe their eating in detail to me. Below is the common pattern I have distilled from underneath the many stories I have heard. When you come in for your first appointment, you may have a lot to say, or you may be so nervous that you don't know what say. Trust is a key issue, and you may feel afraid to trust or you may want to dive right in. Either way, we will both come to understand that trust is not a static thing - it comes and it goes, and generally has to be earned to be meaningful. While we are exploring these complexities, it's often a relief to start talking. We begin by helping you explore your personal experiences with food, feeding, fat, and body size, and why these issues are so painful for you.