How to Deal With Binge Eating

How to Stop Binge Eating

Having been a binge eater throughout my life, even as a child, I thought I would write down a few ideas that have worked for me and talk a little bit about why people do binge.

It may begin with a small slice of cake or a biscuit as a treat for a job well done, but things can get out of control almost instantly.  The biscuit becomes a packet followed by sweets, some ice-cream and then basically anything that is available.

Then the guilt sets in and the knowledge that the whole episode seemed to be completely out of your control.

Food binges can leave you, as they did me,  feeling miserable about your body and your life and also  at greater risk of obesity which can obviously lead to heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes to name just a few.

Diets can by at the root of many binges; if you are doing a fad diet then you body may rebel as you may not be eating enough of the right things.  When you are lacking nutrients your body starts a mission to find what it needs.

Another common reason for over eating is for psychological problems, to comfort or forget problems.  Depression, stress and anxiety can use up huge amounts of vitamin C and B complex vitamins which will then need to be replaced.  Obviously this then leads to a cycle of binge eating followed by anxiety or depression followed by another binge.

Here are some steps that can be taken to regain control:-

Forget the diet – try and follow a balanced plan  at all times, if you get the nutrients that you need then your body should be happy and won’t feel the need to binge.  I know you all know this but it is the truth so therefore I think I should include it.

Water – drink lots of it, at least six glasses a day.  It’s a good way to keep yourself full and it’s very healthy and cleansing

Diary - Keep a food diary and write about how you were feeling before, during and after the binges, write about what triggered the binge and how you were feeling.  A diary may help you understand yourself better and help you see the reasons that you binge.

Complex carbs-  may not be super slimming but they do fill you up quicker and hopefully leave you less likely to binge.  (Potatoes, pasta, rice, corn)

Spice it up – you cannot binge on jalapeno peppers and there is some evidence to suggest that hot and spicy food can satisfy hunger faster and that it can also speed up metabolism, helping to burn calories.

Take 20 – if you feel the urge to binge, try to hold off for 20 minutes as it has been proven that food craving disappear within that time.  Try and distract yourself until the moment passes.  This is my most successful antidote to the binge, the cravings do ware off.

Find the triggers – learn what causes the binges, smell of cakes baking etc, and try to avoid it, for me it could be just looking at a packet of biscuits.

Not available – keep high fat binge foods out of the house, so you are not tempted by them on a  day to day basis, really difficult to do if you have children because I used to think why should they suffer because of my inadequacies, so just try and buy them things you really don’t fancy.

Small steps are good - you would not be able to learn the piano after three lessons and you are not going to look like a supermodel after one work out.  Be realistic.  If you eat right, exercise a little and have a good outlook, you are going to weigh what you’re suppose to – and you’ll look great.