Its impossible for me to say whether or not you were experiencing die-off or a virus, the symptoms are so similar. So many cleansing crisis feel just like a bad case of flu is coming on.
I can tell you that the binge eating is very common. I wish I could tell you why we do it. I think it must be some kind of emotional block that does not want us to really heal, lose weight, stop hurting or whatever our goal is when we begin to eat healthy. I've done this more times than I like to admit. About the only thing you can do is start again. Try and make your commitments for one day at a time. Its much easier to say "I will not eat Sugar today" than to say "never again will Sugar pass my lips". It might even be a good idea to give yourself an occasional treat as a reward. Hint-I've learned its much better to have one ice cream cone or treat while I'm out than to bring a box of ice cream home with me.
When you do fall off the wagon and binge there are a few things you can do. Shelley recommends her cleansing drink. I use a similar drink I created, but when I read Shelley's FAQs I saw hers there too (great minds think alike?) My Naturopath suggested taking 1000-2000 mg. of magnesium oxide after a cheat to flush it out of the system quickly (another word for self-induced diarrhea). However this must not be done too often, the bowel must be trained to work on its own. Still a dose of magnesium based laxative will help draw some of the bad stuff out.
Don't beat yourself up too bad. Most of us do cheat on our diets. Just focus on your goal and keep on trying.

An important part of change and venturing into the new includes revisiting the past so that we know WHY exactly we Do NOT want to go there anymore! Now you know for SURE that these foods are inappropriate for you now, and that binging is NOT ever a good idea!

So all you have to do is pungent therapy and colonics/enemas to get that stuff OUT of you fast and you'll be fine.

Sounds like a cold, healing crisis usually doesn't involve the chest unless you've been a smoker in the past.

Please read the posts in the FAQ here on this page, they'll give you more tools with which to deal with this stuff. :)