More than half of men with eating disorders have never received treatment; a third of them have never sought it. These figures, from the eating disorder charity Beat, don’t surprise me. It’s not just a women’s thing. Seven in 10 men with an eating disorder had never heard of or read about other men being affected before they became unwell.
In the stuff I do about problem drinking, people often tell me that they don’t have an “off switch”. In other words, once they start, they can’t stop. This was never really my problem. Although I was drinking problematic amounts, on any given day, I wouldn’t carry on for ever; I’d know when to stop, a long way short of oblivion or even what you might recognise as drunkenness.
But when it comes to food, it’s a different story. Here, my “off switch” is useless. I don’t know whether this counts as a disorder – I don’t want another disorder; I’ve been diagnosed with quite enough to be getting on with – but it sure can feel like it.
I think this is partly because – as well as “eating my feelings” and possibly just being plain greedy – when I was a kid, I was always told to finish everything, to waste not a crumb.
A few years back, when I was on a morning train from London to Manchester, having already had breakfast at home, the man came past with a platter of bacon and sausage sandwiches. I could neither resist nor decide which to go for, so he gave me both. I ate both.
Ten minutes later, he came past again, his platter still loaded. “Just about to bin these,” he said. He might as well have been holding some kittens and telling me he was about to drown them. I couldn’t let it happen. He gave me another three baps. I ate all three. My day was ruined.
The only way I can deal with this inability to stop eating is not to start. I try not to eat all day, then at least the just-can’t-stop issue has to be tackled only once, in the evening. Suboptimal, hardly dealing with any underlying causes, but it’s the best I’ve got.
If you’ve got a bit of the same thing going on, the next time you’re struggling, have a look at the Beat website. There’s some useful stuff there.
• Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist
Contact Beat on 0808 801 0677 or at beateatingdisorders.org.uk
