The binge-restrict cycle refers to periods of restricted eating followed by episodes of binge eating. Restriction is when you ignore your body’s hunger cues and eat very little, or nothing at all. A binge is when you eat an objectively large amount of food in a short span of time, often past the point of fullness and with a sense of not having control.  The binge-restrict cycle is a natural consequence of not listening to your body’s needs. When you restrict food—either by not eating, eating very little, or not allowing yourself of the foods you really want—you deprive your body of the nutrients and energy it requires to function. Your body then tries to communicate to you that it needs nourishment. One of the ways it does this is by producing a hormone called ghrelin, known as the “hunger hormone,” which stimulates your appetite. As you continue to restrict, more ghrelin is produced, causing your hunger to grow to a point where it takes the wheel. When you look at it this way, binge eating is a natural evolutionary adaptation: your body thinks you’re starving, and so when it finally gets food, it tries to consume as much as it can. But it’s not just that binges tend to inevitably follow periods of restriction; restriction can also be a common response to a binge. That’s because binges are almost always followed by intense feelings of guilt and shame (which can be compounded by diet culture messages that tell us that restriction is an accomplishment and eating is a failure), and these feelings can lead to more restriction. The restriction can serve to “make up for” the food eaten during the binge, or even as a self-imposed punishment for binge eating. Either way, the cycle continues. Though the binge-restrict cycle most commonly shows up in binge eating disorder and bulimia, it’s also present in some forms of OSFED, and the anorexia binge-purge subtype.