How To Stop Binge Eating
12 ways to mitigate physical and emotional overeating symptoms
As originally published in Illumination on Medium.com.
Photo by francescoch on iStock
Whilst the holiday season is often filled with joy and love for many, it is often simultaneously an excuse for people to mask their stress, anxiety, fear, and even self-loathing through the destructive habit of binge eating.
This article explores some simple ways that can help keep temptations in check and nurture emotions in a more healthy, sustainable fashion.
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Why do we overeat?
The holidays are so often used as an excuse to throw every good nutritional habit out the window in exchange for a month of gluttony and indulgence.
The justifications for it are aplenty — “I’ll diet in the new year”, “It’s winter so I can wear baggy clothes”, “My mother/grandmother always cooks up a storm and will get upset if I don’t eat everything”, “I can’t waste all those chocolates I was gifted”, etc.
However, these excuses, along with binge eating itself, are not the problem — they are symptoms of underlying negative thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Therefore, to alleviate these symptoms, we must recognise, acknowledge, investigate and nurture their root cause. A diet, baggy clothes or grandma’s good mood cannot do this.
And when it comes to dieting, the average time anyone stays on a diet is 6 weeks. Moreover, 95% of the time they fail for a plethora of reasons.
“Health is not a goal. It’s a lifestyle.”
What is binge eating really?
Binge eating is a form of addiction.
An addiction is anything that moves us away from a bad feeling towards a good feeling.
We think food will make us happy. But if it did we would be happy.
What drives us to eat are always feelings, and diets never change the feeling.
Binge eating is a habit. A symptom. Every habit of action is run by a habit of thought. Every thought you think causes a physical reaction and an emotional response.
Image: Revival Health GmbH
What is the actual problem?
The root cause is an underlying emotional issue.
With any addiction, this underlying emotional issue is almost always a belief of “I am not enough”. When we feel like we are not enough, we want and need “more” from something or someone else. In the case of binge eating, food takes this place.
The challenge, therefore, is to investigate how, why, where and when this belief of not being enough was formed. More often than not this originates somewhere in childhood, and I wrote about that in “The Cost of Caring Too Much” but will do so more extensively in an upcoming article.
For this article, however, here are some simple ways that can help keep temptations in check and nurture emotions in a more healthy, sustainable fashion.
7 Ways to mitigate the physical symptoms
Eat the 4 R’s: food that is recognisable, raw, rots, roams or grows on the planet. 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.
Keep food in the cupboards. We eat 50% more when food is in our line of vision.
Cook fewer items. We eat 75% more when we have variety (6+ tastes).
Dish up your food in this order: fibre, protein, carbohydrates. Eat in that same order: fibre, protein, carbs. This helps keep our glucose levels balanced which helps reduce cravings.
Eat slowly. This aids with digestion. Chewing your food longer breaks it down more which helps your stomach digest it. In addition, when you eat slowly, you give your brain a heads-up to signal your stomach to let the digestion begin.
Eat until you’re 80% full. Stop eating when you are just satisfied — not full, but also not still hungry. Savour the food. Check in with your body. If you are unsure, wait 10 minutes before consuming more food. Digestion takes time and you will likely feel full if you simply give your body a few moments.
Find a Feelgood buddy. Feelgood is my term for exercise. Accountability increases your chance of success by up to 80%. And if you’re not a natural lover of exercise, “How To Find a Workout That Will Work for You” could help.
5 Techniques for managing the emotional symptoms
Before eating, especially junk or sweets, wait 3 minutes, breathe, and ask yourself “What do you actually want?” If we’re honest, it’s rarely food. What is it that you need at this moment — a hug, love, recognition, acknowledgement? Whatever it is, find a way to nurture that need — hug a pet, call a friend, go for a walk, etc.
Speak positive affirmations about yourself in the mirror every day. This may be awkward at first, but it’s about making positive self-talk familiar. It can be simple statements such as “I am lovable” or “I am enough”.
Empower yourself by consciously choosing YOU every day. “I’m going to eat the perfect amount for me. I can have whatever I want, but I’m choosing not to.” Often we compare ourselves with others and think “Why can’t I have what they have?” We think a certain weight, control, or ability is not available to us. But it is. And it is available to us through the choices we make. By actively choosing, we empower ourselves.
Visualise & sense your ideal self. What will being your ideal weight 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. Once you are, tap into that feeling. The emotion is as important as the thought. Learn more about this in “Quite Possibly the Only Knowledge You Need To Change Your Life.”
NEVER use the word LOSE in relation to your weight. Our minds are more powerful than we can imagine, and we inherently don’t like loss. When we lose something, we are wired to want it back. For example, we lose a loved one — we want them back. We lose our car keys — we want to find them. We lose money — we want it back. So by default, if we LOSE weight, our mind will work to get it back. Instead say something like: “I am on my way to being XX kg” or “I am moving towards my ideal weight”. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s positive, and that you speak it in the present tense.
It’s about progress, not perfection
Like most things in life, kicking a bad habit takes time. That’s OK. The important thing is to keep choosing to change.
Image: Revival Health GmbH — adapted from Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work
I’ve been on a self-evolution journey for the past four years — overcoming one destructive pattern after the other — one step at a time. It’s not easy. It takes time, patience, love, commitment, and most of all responsibility — to and for myself.
No matter how many setbacks I continuously face, I keep telling myself “change”, every day. Because whilst we desire certain outcomes, it’s all about the process.
A while back a good friend recommended an old movie to me. It’s called “Peaceful Warrior” and is based on the part-fictional, part-autobiographical book on the early life of the author Dan Millman. The story focuses on a world-champion gymnast who loses his way, but through a spiritual mentor discovers an enlightened way ahead. There is a quote in the movie that has stayed with me ever since:
“Where are you? Here. What time is it? Now. What are you? This moment.”
I remind myself of this all the time. It helps keep me present instead of getting caught up in the emotions of my past or future.
Wherever you are on your journey, please remember to always be kind to yourself, and that YOU ARE ENOUGH.
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