Time to banish binge eating, once and for all

Demi Lovato has talked openly about how she used to binge and purge up to five times a day. Elton John also battled the binge-purge habit. And around 3 million Americans contend with binge eating disorder (BED), making it the second most common eating disorder in this country. BED is also associated with other health challenges: Almost 80% of folks who binge also deal with anxiety, depression or chronic stress.

It’s taken a long time to figure out what non-emotional factors might contribute to BED, but now researchers from Buck Institute for Research on Aging have found that certain chemicals in cooked and processed foods fuel hunger and erode your ability to make healthy food choices. Those chemicals are called advanced glycation end products, or AGES — and they do make you age!

AGES form in foods when sugars and proteins are exposed to dry heat during baking, frying/air frying, grilling or toasting — and they create tantalizing smells and tastes. They are intentionally added to some processed foods to stimulate appetite and provoke continued eating. And in lab studies, AGES not only make specimens eat more and put extra effort into finding more food, they fuel neurodegeneration.

So, if you want to control your binge eating (and avoid premature aging), eliminate as many AGES from your diet as possible by opting to steam, poach or boil fish and lean animal proteins, and by eating lots of fruits and vegetables. They’re naturally lower in AGES — if not cooked excessively. Raw, plant-based choices are also very good.

Dr. Mike Roizen is the founder of longevityplaybook.com, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is global advisor to iherb.com, the world’s leading online health store. Roizen and Oz are chief wellness officer emeritus at Cleveland Clinic and professor emeritus at Columbia University, respectively. Together they have written 11 New York Times bestsellers (four No. 1’s).

King Features Syndicate