How To Stop Binge Eating
And the real reason you do it in the first place
As originally published in Illumination on Medium.com.
With the holidays around the corner, it’s all too easy to indulge in extra helping, but the aftermath often leaves us with uncomfortable feelings — both physical and emotional. Bloating, lethargy, guilt, and even self-loathing can follow. Excuses become easy: “It’s just for a few days,” or “I’ll diet in the new year.” Yet deep down, there’s a sense that a healthier approach is possible — you just may not know how to start.
Why Does It Matter?Health is not a goal. It’s a lifestyle.
And binge eating is never healthy. It’s also never necessary.
In fact, it can be very harmful. Binge eating has been associated with numerous health conditions, including:
Overweight or obesity
Increased risk for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, gallbladder disease, heart disease and even some types of cancer.
Increased risk for psychiatric illnesses, particularly depression.
Diets, which often follow binge eating, are notorious for failing and a plight for so many people. The average time anyone stays on a diet is about 6 weeks, and 95% of the time, they fail.
Because diets are too restrictive. And I believe the psychological element of “other people can have what I can’t have” proves too powerful for many to overcome.
If a diet does work, results are often temporary. Between 80% and 95% of people who lose a significant amount of weight regain it.
And yo-yo dieting and weight re-gain have been associated with increased risk of developing diseases including fatty liver, gallstones, diabetes, and heart disease.
The Real Reason People OvereatBinge eating is a form of addiction. And an addiction is anything that moves you away from a bad feeling towards a good feeling.
You think food will make you happy. But if it did you would be happy.
What drives you to overeat are always feelings. And diets never change the feeling.
Binge eating is a habit. A symptom. And every habit of action is run by a habit of thought. Every thought you think causes a physical reaction and an emotional response.
The root cause is an underlying emotional issue. And every issue has a role, function, purpose and intention.
Therefore, to change the habit of binge eating, you must first identify and address the underlying emotion.
Easy Steps to Recognise and Address Hidden EmotionsSpeak positive affirmations about yourself in the mirror every day. This may be awkward at first, but it’s about making positive self-talk familiar. The mind learns by repetition. They can be simple statements such as “I am lovable” or “I am enough”.
Before you order, ask yourself if the food you are about to order will fuel your body or simply fill it. If the latter, ask yourself why you don’t believe that your body deserves better. Whatever the answer, ask yourself if, objectively speaking, that statement is true. If it is untrue, lovingly consider making a different choice for your body. For example:
Q: Will this milkshake and fries fuel or simply fill my body?
A: Fill it.
Q: Why do I believe my body doesn’t deserve better?
A: Because I will never be healthy anyway, so it doesn’t matter.
Q: Objectively speaking, is this true?
A: No, of course not. Everybody has the ability to be healthy, myself included.
Q: With that in mind, am I willing to make a better choice for my body right now?
Before eating junk food or sweets, wait 3 minutes. Breathe. And ask yourself, “What do you really want?” Often, it’s not food at all but something like comfort, love, or care. Start self-parenting. This is one of the most useful tools I’ve learned in the past years of my self-healing journey.
Before you eat, take a moment to yourself and say, “I’m going to eat the perfect amount for me. I can have whatever I want, but I’m choosing not to.” For me, this is the key to sustainable healthy eating. I don’t deny myself anything I want, I simply have it in moderation.
Check in with your body as you eat. Savour the food. Part way through the meal ask yourself if you’re still hungry or simply eating for the sake of eating. Following the Japanese way of eating can be helpful here. It’s called Hara Hachi Bu and it means eating until you’re 80% full. This is enough to leave you satisfied and no longer hungry. Our stomach expands during digestion, so this will also help prevent bloating or feeling overly full.
Visualise your ideal self. What will having your ideal habits and being your ideal health allow you to do that you cannot do today? Be as detailed as possible. You can do this through meditation, by creating a vision board, or however you like. The key is to be clear on what will be better once you are healthier, and to feel the desired feelings now. I most recently used this technique after I broke my leg at the end of last year. Every day I visualised myself running again and felt that freedom and happiness as I did. My healing was always ahead of the doctor’s prognosis.
Changing a habit often takes time, but there are several strategies you can use to support the process.
Practical Tips to Curb Binge EatingKeep food in the cupboards. We eat 25% more when food is in our line of vision. I know when I’m in front of a beautiful buffet, I want to try everything, even though I know it’s way too much.
Use smaller plates. The same portion size on a smaller plate will appear like more food, thereby helping to ease any negative psychological effect of eating less.
Images from Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink
Dish up and eat in the following order: fibre, protein, carbohydrates. There will be less room on your plate for the starches that way. Eating in this order can reduce any glucose spike by 75%. I’ve dealt with low blood sugar for many years. When it drops, it happens suddenly and I get weak, nauseous and sweaty, and need to eat something right away to get my blood sugar levels back up. Eating in this order helped me to reduce these episodes significantly.
Eat slowly. This aids with digestion. Chewing our food longer breaks it down more, which helps our stomach digest it. In addition, when we eat slowly, we give our brain a heads-up to signal our stomach to let the digestion begin.
Eat only ingredients which comply with the 4 R’s: recognisable, raw, rots, roams (or grows) on the planet. Even better, discover and eat your personal superfoods by simply analysing your microbiome. Fast food and chemical food is designed to break down quickly in your mouth so that you can devour it faster and want more of it. By focusing on my superfoods, I not only had more energy but also lowered my biological age.
It’s About Progress, Not PerfectionWhen we struggle with anything, we would all prefer a magic pill or a quick fix. But unfortunately, that’s not how healing and transformation work.
Addictions don’t happen overnight. At their root are deep-seated beliefs that may have once served you but no longer do. And uncovering and upgrading these beliefs is key to lasting change.
And this usually takes time. And it’s uncomfortable. So remember to be patient and kind to yourself.
A magic pill or quick fix is like a bandaid. You may feel better for a while, but if the wound underneath isn’t treated and transformed, the addiction will always return.
Wherever you are on your journey, always remember that YOU ARE ENOUGH.
