Binge Eating: The Road to Recovery

Develop a healthier relationship with food

Recovery from any addiction is daunting, but overcoming binge eating and food addiction can be extremely difficult. Your "drug" is important for life, unlike most addictions, so you don't have the luxury of stopping or replacing it. Instead, a healthier relationship with food needs to be established, a relationship focused on satisfying your nutritional needs, not your emotional ones. To do this, you must break the cycle of binge eating by:

Avoiding temptation. If you have fast food, desserts, and unhealthy treats in the home, you are a lot more likely to overeat. By clearing your fridge and cupboards of your favorite binge items, eliminate the urge.

Listening to your body. Learn to separate physical and emotional hunger from each other. You probably aren't very hungry if you ate recently and don't have a rumbling stomach. Give time for the craving to pass.

Eating regularly. Don't wait till you starve. This just contributes to overeating! As missing meals also leads to binge eating later in the day, stick to regular mealtimes.

Not avoiding fat. Dietary fat will actually help prevent you from overeating and gaining weight, contrary to what you may expect. At every meal, aim to add healthy fat to keep you feeling relaxed and whole.

Fight boredom. Distract yourself, instead of snacking while you are bored. Take a stroll, send a friend a call, read, or have a hobby like painting or gardening.

Concentrating about what you eat. How much have you binged, not even enjoying what you're drinking, in an almost trance-like state? Be a conscientious eater instead of feeding mindlessly. Slow the textures and flavors down and savor them. You will not only eat less, you will enjoy it more.

The importance of deciding not to diet

After a binge, to compensate for overeating and to get back on track with your health, it is only normal to feel the need to diet. But usually dieting backfires. Food cravings and the desire to overeat are caused by starvation and hunger that comes with strict dieting.

Concentrate on eating in moderation, instead of dieting. Find nutritious foods you just like and consume until you feel content, not bloated uncomfortably. As this will make you crave them even more, avoid banning or limiting those foods. "Say "I can eat ice cream as an occasional treat," instead of saying "I will never eat ice cream.

Find better ways to feed your feelings

An effort to control negative emotions such as stress, depression, isolation, fear, and anxiety is one of the most common causes for binge eating. It can feel like food is your only friend when you have a bad day. Binge eating can briefly cause emotions to evaporate into thin air, such as tension, disappointment, anxiety, depression, and boredom. The relief is quite brief, however.

Identify your triggers with a food and mood diary

With a diet and mood journal, one of the easiest ways to describe the trends behind your binge eating is to keep track. Take a moment every time you overeat or feel tempted to reach for your version of Kryptonite comfort food, to find out what induced the impulse. Usually, if you backtrack, you can find an unsettling incident that has kicked off the binge.

In your food and mood log, write it all down: what you ate (or wanted to eat), what happened to bother you, how you felt before you ate, what you felt when you ate, and how you felt afterward. You'll see a trend emerge over time.

Learn to tolerate the feelings that trigger your binge eating

The next time you get the urge to binge, take a moment to stop and explore what's going on inside, instead of giving in.

·        Identify an emotion that you perceive. Do your best to name the things that you experience. Anxiety, is it? Hey, shame? Desperation? Huh? Anger? Solitude? Scared? About emptiness?

·        Accept the experience you are witnessing. Avoidance and resistance only make negative feelings more strong. Instead, without criticizing him or yourself, try to embrace what you feel.

·        Excavate further. Explore what's happening. Where in your body do you feel the emotion? What kinds of feelings are your mind going through?

·        Distance on your own. Realize that your emotions are NOT yours. Emotions are phenomena that pass, like clouds that travel through the sky. How you are, they can not identify.

Sitting with your emotions could at first feel extremely uncomfortable. Even unlikely, maybe. But you will begin to understand that you do not have to give in, as you fight the temptation to binge. Other ways to cope are open. Even feelings which feel overwhelming are just temporary. They can move swiftly if you stop battling them. Even, you're in charge. You can choose how you should respond.

Take back control of cravings

It feels like the desire to binge hits without warning at times. But there are things you can do to help yourself stay in control even when you are in the grip of a seemingly overpowering and uncontrollable urge.

·        Instead of trying to combat it, embrace the temptation and ride it out. This is referred to as "urge surfing." Think of the urge to binge like an ocean wave that will crest, crack, and dissipate soon. You can find that when you ride out the impulse, without attempting to fight, judge, or disregard it, it moves quicker than you might have expected.

·        Keep yourself distracted. It will work for something that gets your attention: taking a walk, calling a friend, watching something funny online, etc. The urge to binge can go away until you get interested in something else.

·        Chat with someone. Switch to a friend or family member you trust when you start to feel the urge to binge. It will make you feel better and unleash the temptation to binge by sharing what you are going through.

·        Pause, postponement, delay. And if you're not sure if you can fight the temptation to binge, make an attempt to postpone it. Try to have 1 minute of holding off. If you're succeeding. Only try stretching it out for 5 minutes. You will be able to stop the binge if you wait long enough.

Support yourself with healthy lifestyle habits

You're better able to navigate the curveballs that life eventually throws your way when you're physically strong, relaxed, and well rested. But any little hiccup has the ability to take you off the rails and straight to the refrigerator when you're already tired and stressed. Without binge eating, exercise, sleep, and other good lifestyle habits will assist you get through tough times.

·        Make time to exercise regularly. For your mood and your energy levels, physical activity does wonders, and it's also a strong stress reducer. Exercise's natural mood-boosting effects will help put a stop to emotional eating.

·        Get ample nightly sleep. Your body craves sugary foods that will give you a fast energy boost if you don't get the sleep you need. Deprivation of sleep may also cause food addiction. Having plenty of rest will help control your appetite and decrease food cravings and support your mood.

·        Communicate with others. Don't underestimate the value of social activities and close relationships. If you lack a strong support network, you're more likely to succumb to binge eating causes. Even if it is not with a specialist, talking helps

·        Stress Management. Seeking alternative ways to handle tension and other stressful emotions without using food is one of the most critical aspects of controlling binge eating. These may involve meditating, using techniques for sensory stimulation, and basic breathing exercises.