Alcohol is known for making a fun time even better. When people go out to parties, clubs, games or nearly any other social event, there will most likely be alcohol available for the taking. This is because, drinking is accepted as a social custom. It helps to break the ice for some people and just takes the edge off of that business dinner with a partner or the awkward Christmas party your wife forces you to go to every year.

Eating, is also a social custom. When you run into an old friend at the store, and are finishing up the small talk, what do you towards the end of the conversation? “Let’s meet up for lunch sometime”. What do a lot people like to do when they’re bored? Eat. What do many people do when they’re going through an emotional rough patch? They eat.

When you eat excessively, you gain weight and weight gain/loss is an obsession among many people in this country. Some people may gain weight faster or slower than others but either way, when you’re gaining weight and you don’t want to, it can be frustrating to get rid of. You’ve tried diets, exercising, and cutting down your food portions but nothing seems to be cutting it. This may lead you to become depressed. You start drinking more frequently, morning, noon and night and slowly but surly you start to notice something. You’re not gaining any more weight.

How do you explain your desire to only want alcohol and nothing else? Instead of breakfast, you have a margarita and opt out of your other meals for the day in exchange for other intoxicating drinks. Well, now you’re drunkorexic. According to The University of Texas’ Healthy Horns, Drunkorexia refers  “to someone who restricts food calories to make room for alcoholic drink calories”. Basically, someone with drunkorexia prefers alcoholic calories over food calories as a way to decrease their weight and it’s often associated with eating disorders such as Bulimia and Anorexia.

As reported by Healthy Horns:

“Drunkorexic” behaviors most often stem from the fear of weight gain from alcohol and are more prevalent in college-aged women, although men also experience them. In extreme cases, the behaviors may be related to bulimia or anorexia, in which the alcohol is used to make vomiting easier or to help manage eating anxieties. However, individuals without eating disorders that restrict their intake before going out may still struggle with “drunkorexia.”

Primarily consuming alcoholic calories as oppose to food calories can be detrimental to one’s health as they are not receiving the proper nutrients that they would receive through actual food, can cause binge eating because the person is so hungry they can’t contain themselves and “pose a great threat to an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional health”.

Did you know about the term “drunkorexia”? Do you know of someone who might be suffering from this?

Dr. O

Picture source: http://24con.infonews.com/conurbano/nota/79079-drunkorexia-la-nueva-mala-costumbre-de-los-jovenes/