In the quietest hours of Haley’s day, an invisible battle quickly consumes her.
Late in the night, Haley rummages through the kitchen — breaking the silence in her house. Her eyes search the shelves for yesterday’s rice, a half-empty drink or anything to chew on.
It doesn’t matter if the food is stale, greasy or barely a meal as long as it momentarily fills her stomach and lets her sleep. But it never really does.
“It just mattered to me that I was eating and I was full,” Haley, an incoming third year student at the University of Santo Tomas, told Rappler.
Haley used to struggle with a binge eating disorder (BED), recognized as a severe, life-threatening condition by the American Psychiatric Association. It is defined by frequent episodes of consuming large quantities of food accompanied by a profound sense of losing control.
