When Lent Meets a Binge‑Eating Mind
Lent can be a beautiful season of renewal, but for someone who lives with binge eating or a binge‑restrict cycle, it can also feel like a trap disguised as holiness. The Church speaks of fasting, sacrifice, and self‑denial; the disordered mind hears diet culture, control, and the promise of finally “fixing” oneself. It’s a dangerous overlap. Many Catholics give up sweets, snacks, or entire food groups during Lent. For someone with a binge‑eating pattern, that kind of abstinence doesn’t lead to holiness. It leads to the familiar spiral: restrict, white‑knuckle, binge, shame, repeat. One writer described how she used to treat Lent as “yet another diet,” hoping each year that the season would finally force her body into submission. Instead, she gained weight, lost peace, and missed the point entirely. Mental‑health professionals echo the same warning. Lent is a time when unusual food behaviors—skipping meals, avoiding certain foods, pushing through hunger—are socially accepted, ev...