More than you can chew? Trying to be perfect, and failing, can lead people to binge eat, a study shows.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—A first-of-its kind study shows that some perfectionists can be prone to binge-eating disorder, a behavior in which a person feels out of control and rapidly eats a large amount of food in a short period of time. The study found that socially prescribed perfectionists—people who feel others are always critically evaluating their performance and pressuring them to be perfect—are most at risk for binge eating, because they try to escape feelings of failure through food, according research published recently in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

THE DETAILS: Researchers from Canada studied 566 female college undergraduates who kept a daily diary for a week and determined that perfectionists who hit certain triggers—they felt they didn’t meet others’ expectations, ate more than they planned to, suffered low self-esteem because of how they thought others perceived them, or felt depressed—went on to binge eat.

WHAT IT MEANS: We’ve all eaten more than we should around the holidays or worked our way down to the bottom of a big bag of chips while curled up on the couch watching the latest Netflix delivery. Binge eating is like an extreme version of that, with less control and without the guilty pleasure. It’s the most common eating disorder, though other disorders like bulimia and anorexia are more recognized. A perfectionist, by setting unattainable goals, can end up feeling like a failure. That sets the stage for sadness and loneliness, feelings people often try to escape through binge eating, says study author Simon Sherry, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Dalhousie University in Canada.

Try these tactics to avoid the perfectionist/binge-eating trap:

• Self-scan for a binge-eating problem. Do you sometimes eat much more quickly than usual or eat until you’re uncomfortably full? Are you eating a lot of food even when you’re not hungry, or do you eat alone because you feel embarrassed about the amount of food you eat? Do you feel disgusted, depressed, or guilty after overeating? If so, you may suffer from this common, but serious eating disorder.

• Toss out unrealistic goals. Goals are good, and they can help us perform well. But how you feel about yourself at the end of the day shouldn’t hinge on meeting all the strict goals you set for the day. Here are some examples of goals perfectionists might set, and how those goals can unravel throughout the day and lead to a secret binging session, according to Sherry.

Goals:
‣ Run faster than yesterday’s personal best.
‣ Drink coffee instead of having breakfast, then skip lunch.
‣ Earn the highest grade in the class on the midterm.

Failures:
‣ Running time misses personal best.
‣ Earned 89 on the midterm, so six others are ahead now.
‣ Only managed to limit lunch to a salad.

If that pattern sounds familiar, take a hard look at the goals you’re setting. You may be letting perfectionism get the better of you.

• Do a reality check. The antidote to perfectionism is to think realistically, Sherry says. Accept that sometimes it’s okay for your work or performance to be “good enough” instead of excellent and perfect. It’s also important to take time to credit yourself for what you do accomplish, instead of ignoring achievements that could boost self-confidence.

• Break out of obsession. Obsessing over one aspect of a project could hinder you from finishing. When you’re feeling stuck, take an exercise break, pick a different work location, or write by hand for awhile instead of typing on the computer. The shift will help your creative juices get flowing again so you can move past the block even if you can’t resolve it to your complete satisfaction.