Ep 72- The Long-Term Impacts of Binge Eating
June 26, 2025
Why Every Binge Eating Episode Matters for Recovery
Every binge matters. It's easy to brush it off with thoughts like "just one more time," but in reality, each time you overeat, you vote for the habit to continue. Today’s episode will help motivate & inspire you by looking at the truth about how binge eating negatively impacts your life.
I cover…
The shocking financial cost of binge eating and how it can add up to over $1 million in your lifetime
How binge eating affects your health & well being, increasing the risk of serious conditions like diabetes, chronic pain, heart disease, depression and more.
The generational impact of binge eating and how it can affect your children or loved ones
The Long-Term Effects of Binge Eating You Need to Know
Do you ever feel like your brain gives you the excuse of just one more time to binge? One time won't hurt. Bingeing isn't that big of a deal. I can start over tomorrow. I'll stop eventually. This episode is for you because we are going to talk about the long-term impacts of binge eating.
Why Every Binge Counts
This isn’t to scare or shame you, but to show your brain the truth. Each time we binge, we’re voting in favor of the habit. Habits can easily slip into years or even decades without real change.
I’ll share what research has found and what I’ve seen in my own life and through years of struggle. Use these insights as reminders of why you want to stop binge eating. The stronger your "why," the more motivated you’ll be when things get hard.
Let today be a wake-up call to assess where you are and spark real change. Stop accepting the “just one more time” excuse. Let the truth set you free.
Binge Eating Recovery Starts With Telling Yourself the Whole Truth
I've talked about this before on episode 31 about how to stop believing you're binge eating lies where you need to tell yourself the whole story. A lot of times we binge because we're perceiving it as pleasurable. We only tell ourselves how good it’s gonna taste once we take that first bite and not about the negative after effects.
Today will help you tell yourself the truth about the many negative after effects and long-term impacts. I'll start with some lesser known effects that aren't talked about enough, then talk about how excess food impacts your body and health, with research to back it up.
The Financial Impact of Binge Eating
The first long-term impact is that binge eating will cost you so much money. There’s the obvious cost of extra binge food and takeout, and food is expensive nowadays.
I was probably eating about twice the amount I eat now when I was binge eating, even though it might have looked like healthy meals day to day.
Recently someone asked me about a meal delivery service called Bistro MD, and I told them the answer isn’t another meal service, but addressing the brain. Most programs and diets don’t work because they don’t address the root cause of binge eating.
They're just slapping on a band-aid. You’ll pay for these things your whole life. If you do Weight Watchers, get meal plans, or work with dietitians, they tell you how to eat but don’t teach you how to eat like a normal eater on your own. That’s an expensive lifelong plan.
I calculated that binge eating for the next 70 years could cost over $1 million in your lifetime. Here's how:
Breaking Down the Million-Dollar Cost of Binge Eating
If you binge for 70 years, you might spend $5,000 a year on therapy or programs that don’t address the root cause.
Therapy is great but often just re-ingrains thoughts. Most therapists aren’t trained to help stop binge eating, even eating disorder therapists. Binge eating was only recognized as an eating disorder in 2013, so older training often misses this.
You might spend $3,000 a year extra on groceries for binge sessions.
Missed income potential matters too. Thinking about food all day means missing out on raises, new jobs, or connections worth maybe $5,000 a year.
If you fluctuate in weight, you’ll spend about $1,000 extra a year on new clothes.
All together, that’s $14,000 a year or almost $1 million over 70 years not including healthcare or weight loss drugs like Ozempic, which can be very costly long-term.
This could easily reach $2 million over a lifetime of struggling with binge eating.
If someone told you this habit costs over $2 million, you’d probably do everything to stop it. If someone said they could help you save that much by working on your eating habits for a few months, it would be worth it.
The Emotional Effects of Binge Eating
The second long-term impact is missed memories because you binged or feel bad about your body.
I remember nights with friends where I did not want to go out because I binged and was not confident. I skipped drinking because I was scared of the calories.
Even at dinner I spent so long deciding what to eat burger and fries or salad
All these missed moments can deepen feelings of loneliness, disconnection and isolation.
Binge Eating and Depression
Hopelessness from binge eating can lead to depression. Feeling stuck having tried everything can make you sad and depressed.
A study found over 50 percent of people with binge eating disorder also suffer from depression. The severity of depression is linked to how often they binge.
This sadness can affect confidence in other areas jobs relationships and more.
At the end of my program many clients say stopping binge eating opened a portal for them where they feel they can do anything. Life expands goals get bigger and more becomes possible.
It is amazing to see people do things they never dreamed of after solving binge eating for good.
The Generational Impact of Binge Eating
If you want kids this matters. Children of parents with binge eating disorder are four times more likely to develop an eating disorder.
Your binge eating now can affect future generations. It is not a guarantee but wouldn’t you want to be an example of a healthy relationship with food in this diet-obsessed world?
I also think healing your relationship with food positively impacts those around you your partner friends or future kids. You can lead by example.
How Binge Eating Affects Your Physical Health
Eating more than your body needs and ignoring fullness leads to a higher weight than your natural set point.
High carb high sugar foods eaten during binges raise the risk of type 2 diabetes. Those with binge eating disorder have a 50 percent higher risk of developing diabetes.
Some clients come pre-diabetic and changing habits early is easier.
Overeating large amounts overwhelms digestion causing bloating constipation acid reflux stomach aches and over time serious issues like IBS or GERD.
I had a client whose GERD cleared up just by stopping overeating no other treatments needed.
How Binge Eating Weakens Your Immune System and Raises Stress
Overeating leads to a weakened immune system, both because of the stress associated with all the overeating itself. Again, when you're thinking about food all day and you're stressed about what decisions you're gonna make, you're really anxious around food that has an impact on your body alone, even if you don't actually overeat or binge, just that stress is so harmful for our health and our immune system.
But then additionally, the excess consumption of high sugar, high carb foods can impair our immune function and triggers our stress hormones like cortisol, which can interfere with our immune responses, making individuals much more susceptible to infections and illnesses over time.
Long-Term Health Risks of Binge Eating: Inflammation, Heart Disease, and Sleep Issues
Inflammation from binge eating causes acne joint pain and worsens pain perception.
Those who binge eat are 80 percent more likely to report chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia and arthritis.
They have a 62% higher risk of heart disease 42% higher risk of high blood pressure and 35% higher risk of abnormal cholesterol.
They are also three and a half times more likely to develop non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
60% report significant sleep issues including insomnia which worsen with binge frequency.
Why Traditional Binge Eating Disorder Treatment Isn’t Always Enough
Approximately 40 to 60% of individuals who binge experience significant improvement after receiving treatment.
Now, what this can also be interpreted as is 40 to 60% of people who are receiving traditional therapy and treatment are not recovering from binge eating disorder. Google seemed to think that this was a high rate of recovery, but I think not. I will not settle for that low of a rate that people are recovering from binge eating.
If you have tried and not gotten where you want or this resonates and you feel nervous or scared know there is a way out. You are not stuck. People have changed this and you can too.
How to Stop Binge Eating: A Loving Wake-Up Call to Start Healing
I know it can be scary sometimes but his is the long-term reality of binge eating. Our bodies are not meant to process so much food constantly so there will be negative impacts.
Use today as a loving wake-up call that nothing changes if nothing changes, you have to do something differently than what you've been trying.
I coach on binge eating and overeating and helping people become normal eaters again, because I have been there. I have come out. This is exactly what I help my clients do inside of my Confident Eater program too. And if you're listening to this in real time, I do have a few select spots open for one-on-one coaching with me.
I would absolutely love to help you. You can find all the details at theconfidenteater.org/work-with-me. I hope to talk to you soon.