That box of chocolate chip cookies you never should have purchased in the first place is sitting there on your kitchen table, luring you, taunting. Your period is due in two or three days and you feel grumpy, depressed, bloated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019re agonizing. \u201cJust a\u2026couple\/two, three at the most\u201d you think, knowing you\u2019ll actually feel emotionally and physically better in a few minutes. And suddenly, half the box is gone. Horrified and ashamed, you put the box out of sight. But the next day, after a blow-up with a co-worker, it crosses your mind that at least you\u2019ve got the cookies at home. And maybe you can do better at the health club next week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re like most people who have binge eating tendencies, you tell virtually no one, including your physician or psychotherapist. For this reason, an accurate estimate of people struggling with binge eating isn\u2019t known. Since most binge eaters are overweight and currently almost 70% of US citizens are either overweight or obese<\/a>, we can safely guess the number of binge eaters is (sorry for this) huge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A group of characteristics separates binge eating from plain old unhealthful overeating. If any of these sound familiar, you may have some binge tendencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the past few years, researchers in the field began to understand that binge eaters basically use food to self-medicate the symptoms of anxiety and depression. With this knowledge, treatment was aimed at solving the depression and anxiety, rather than using appetite suppressants to quell cravings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What seemed most logical was a combination of psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) along with an antidepressant to increase the stress-buffering neurotransmitter serotonin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CBT, when you find a therapist trained in it, is helpful. But the SSRI antidepressants (like Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft) often carry weight gain as a side effect, so something in this drug treatment was missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newest research takes a hard look at a second brain chemical called glutamate. It\u2019s classified as an \u201cexcitatory\u201d neurotransmitter, since a certain amount of glutamate is needed for mental focus and concentration. Not having enough glutamate (or having a problem with the glutamate receptors in your brain so that the amount you do have doesn\u2019t work as well as it should) is linked to such apparently unrelated conditions as adult attention deficit disorder, Parkinson\u2019s disease, multiple sclerosis, and addictive behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having too much glutamate isn\u2019t good either. Again, the conditions seem unrelated and will remain so until we can uncover more. Fibromyalgia, familial tremor, and autism are all associated with excessive glutamine mechanisms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The prescription drug Campral (acamprosate)<\/a> is FDA-approved for alcohol addiction and works by raising glutamate levels in the brain. Psychiatrists are virtually the only prescribers of Campral, and some also prescribe it \u201coff-label\u201d for patients with serious binge-eating disorders. If you click through you\u2019ll see that, as with virtually any prescription drug<\/a>, Campral comes with side effects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also non-prescription ways to gently raise your brain\u2019s glutamate level, and while research is limited, the results are promising:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think you\u2019ll agree that what\u2019s happening behind the scenes with your binge eating tendencies is a lot more complicated than you may have considered. Just realize there\u2019s hope. If you\u2019ve got an issue with binge eating that you\u2019ve been reluctant to confront, consider scheduling with us at WholeHealth Chicago. We\u2019ve got three\u00a0Cognitive Behavior Therapists (Dr.\u00a0Janet Chandler<\/a>,\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Meghan Roekle\u00a0and Karen Fayden, LCSW), three nutritionists (Marla Feingold, Seanna Tully, and Marcy Kirshenbaum), and three practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Mari Stecker<\/a>, Cindy Kudelka, and Helen Strietelmeier).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be well, That box of chocolate chip cookies you never should have purchased in the first place is sitting there on your kitchen table, luring you, taunting. Your period is due in two or three days and you feel grumpy, depressed, bloated. You\u2019re agonizing. \u201cJust a\u2026couple\/two, three at the most\u201d you think, knowing you\u2019ll actually feel emotionally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2087,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[112,2,3,34,90,43],"tags":[142,1904,1663,1722,1664,348,1905,1906,1907,1062,1051],"class_list":["post-7893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-acupuncturetraditional-chinese-medicine","category-blog","category-knowledge-base","category-mental-health","category-n","category-nutrition-nutritional-supplements-vitamins-herbal-remedies","tag-acupuncture","tag-binge","tag-binge-eaters","tag-cbt","tag-cognitive-behavior-therapy","tag-diet","tag-eating","tag-eating-disorder","tag-glutamate","tag-healthy-eating","tag-overeating"],"yoast_head":"\r\nSelf-medicating with food<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Enter glutamate<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Boost glutamate without taking meds<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
David Edelberg, MD<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"