Binge eating is a troubling issue for many people and it appears that it is becoming an increasingly bigger problem. This may be because more people are ‘dieting’ or maybe we are being more open to discussing it these days, one of the positives to come out of social media.
I believe the first step is to create a diet you don’t need to escape from.
Binge eating is a complex issue. Often it is about suppressing emotions, distracting and numbing yourself. As is lack of control which is a big part of it as it is with any addiction. I’m not dismissing these issues, but they are another topic for another time.
When you are on a diet there is anxiety around food.
You start to think about food all the time asking yourself ‘what’s for lunch?’, ‘what time can I eat again?’, ‘it’s been 30 minutes since I have trained, I have to eat right now before it’s too late!’, the list goes on. Your food thoughts become an obsession. When you go out you scan the menu looking for something that won’t blow your diet and get annoyed if it comes with a sauce you weren’t prepared for. You’ve been there right? You get angry at yourself that you have to eat it. You expect yourself to be perfect. And this is the problem, you’re looking to be perfect focusing on each day and its outcome.
Start thinking longer term. It is your whole life.
The line ‘diets don’t work’ get thrown around the industry all the time. But any eating pattern is a diet. What you want to do is make small, consistent changes and look at it as a healthy lifestyle. Any changes that are un-enjoyable won’t last. You have to make the changes small and realistic.
If you go over your calorie target by 200 one day the restrained dieter feels like it’s the end of the world. They beat themselves up because they have blown the diet, ruined everything, back to square one. However if you are on a diet you do not need a break from, i.e., you are living a healthy lifestyle, then eating an extra 200 calories one day isn’t anything in the scheme of things. It’s one day of your whole life.
If you want to maintain your sanity, if you want to keep weight off for good, it has to be a lifestyle. Nutritious foods at least 80%of the time. If you’re not restricting yourself and you realize that you have an entire life of being able to enjoy treats later, you won’t care if you had that chocolate and glass of wine or you won’t care if you decide to pass on it.
What good is it if you look awesome on the outside but feel like utter crap inside, moody and deprived?
Is eating perfect 100% all the time worth that? Being fit is no indication to how you look either. You can cut out your carbs, look lean and aesthetically pleasing, but it doesn’t mean you are fit, it doesn’t mean you are healthy.
Labeling food good and bad, clean or unclean, is pointless. It is excess calories from any food good or bad that will lead to weight gain. You need to be flexible and be okay with a treat here and there. If it isn’t a bad food, then you won’t feel bad for eating it.
In the moment, or when you feel yourself being drawn to an unhealthy binge, take a step back so you can reconsider your actions. Going for a walk is one way. Yes you won’t want too, but you have to learn to make yourself do it. If you can’t, go somewhere else, go sit in your garage for a while, anything to get you away and reconsider your actions. Think about if it really is worth it and how you will feel afterwards. Talking to a friend always can work too. Talk to them about anything, work, weather ,etc. If you can pass some time you’ll often find the urge subdues.
If you do binge, your attitude post binge afterwards can make or break things for you.
What tends to happen is that people get really angry at themselves and even more controlling. The result is more pressure on yourself, more anxiety around food. After wards just go back to your normal eating. If you decide to eat even less the next day, you are only fueling the problem. The last thing you won’t to do is give the problem more energy with your constant food thoughts. Brush yourself off.
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