What is the Root Cause of Binge Eating?
It's Not About Food - It's About What's Underneath
If you’ve struggled with binge eating or moments of feeling out of control around food, you’ve probably asked yourself:
Why do I keep doing this when I know better?
I asked myself this question for over 25 years. I tried everything—books, therapy, treatment programs, online courses, and anything else I could find. While some things helped temporarily, I always ended up back in the same cycle.
What I eventually discovered—and what I now help clients uncover—is this:
Binge eating isn’t caused by food. It’s your body’s response to something deeper.
Sometimes it starts after extreme dieting.
Sometimes it begins after trauma or emotional overwhelm.
Often, it’s both.
Binge eating is your body’s best attempt to disconnect from pain, stress, or unmet needs when you haven’t had safer ways to cope.
It’s a nervous system issue. A capacity issue. A habit reinforced by shame and the attempt to control what feels unmanageable.
In short:
The root cause of binge eating is the body’s attempt to regulate itself—through food—when other forms of safety or support aren’t available.
Why “Just Stop” Doesn’t Work
When you don’t understand why something is happening, you do your best to fix it.
That was me. I didn’t care why I was binging—I just wanted it to stop. So I followed all the advice. I pushed harder. I tried to control more.
And sometimes it worked… for a little while.
But without real understanding, the cycle always came back. And each time, I felt more broken.
It wasn’t until I stopped blaming myself and started asking “What is this trying to tell me?” that everything changed.
Because once you understand that your binge eating is trying to solve a problem—often exhaustion, restriction, loneliness, overwhelm—you can finally stop fighting yourself.
There is a Way Out
I created the Binge Breakthrough Mini Series to help you see your binge eating through a different lens.
This isn’t about food rules or willpower. It’s about clarity and compassion.
Each video is under 10 minutes and will guide you through the deeper why—and how to begin changing the cycle from the inside out.
Whether you’ve been binging for a few months or a few decades…
Whether you’ve tried every program or never told a soul about this…
This could be the perspective that finally makes it all make sense.
Because the moment you understand what’s actually going on under the hood—
you stop blaming yourself,
you stop spinning,
and everything starts to shift.
Subscribe to The Peaceful Eater for weekly insights, resources and support for your journey with food.