Most of us have sat nursing a tub of ice cream before. Usually when a relationship breaks down, or we've missed out on a promotion, or argued with someone close. We spoon the gorgeous chunky monkey, double chocolate or cherry dream to our lips, grieving the unfairness of the world and not caring that the quart of dessert will tomorrow set up camp on our hips. It's allowed. It's expected.

Food is a comfort, particularly when it's cold outside or life seems a little bleak. But what happens when we over-indulge on a regular basis? When does comfort eating become an eating disorder?

When comfort eating is a problem
Comfort eating can become a problem if you are regularly feeling sad, angry, hopeless, bored or lonely and are using food to cope. Eating when we're not hungry (or 'mouth hunger' as it's sometimes known) often causes feelings of guilt after eating, from concerns over weight gain, to self-disgust or loathing after binging. Using food to avoid confronting something, or to fill some emotional void, doesn't solve the underlying issues and bingeing can only ever provide a temporary relief. After the food is gone the problem still exists, and when you begin to gain weight, you may feel depressed, consequently further aggravating your emotional state.

Add this to the unrealistic yet generally accepted feeling that the route to happiness is to be thinner, and you're heading for melt down. Beat (formerly the Eating Disorders Association) believes that high-achieving women, especially in their 30s to mid-50s, are most likely to suffer from eating disorders as a dysfunctional method of coping with low self-esteem, stress, insecurity, or other issues, despite being successful in most facets of their lives. Eating disorders are not about food, they are about emotions that for one reason or another are too painful to deal with.

What can you do?
If you feel that you are using food as a stop-gap for your problems, click here for five ways to stop the binge cycle.

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