8 May
Are You Binge Eating?
Courtesy of Discovery: Health
(HealthDay News) — Binge eating occurs wh
en a person habitually overeats.
A person with the disorder often eats quite rapidly, may not stop eating when they are full, and usually feels unable to stop.
These actions often are a response to stress, anger or being emotionally upset, the Nemours Foundation says.
The foundation offers this list of common warning signs:
- Eating very quickly.
- Eating until extremely full or uncomfortable.
- Eating large amounts when not hungry.
- Being too embarrassed to eat around other people, or eating alone.
- Feeling guilty or disgusted after binge eating.
- Excessive weight gain.
I guess this is confessional of sorts. This has always been a problem for me. I used to say that sometimes I feel like a bulimic that forgets to purge.
The way is works is a cycle… depression/anxiety leads to “self medicating” which leads to nausea and ultimately, self loathing. The funny thing is that the self loathing sometimes leads back to step one.
Can any of our dear readers or contributers offer suggestions or ‘tricks’ that work?
Posted by Doug on 08.05.07 at 8:45 am
Yes I do!!!
Try to find out why you’re depressed, stressed, anxious, eliminate it or get to the bottom of it. Yes folks, I’m talking about therapy and/or anti-depressants. I haven’t gotten to the cause of mine yet, but I’m learning to deal with the “triggers”.
Identify when you binge, and then be aware of it. Anticipate it, and plan for it.
My binge times tend to be right after work and after dinner before bed time. On my way home from work I plan what I’m going to eat that fits in with my plan, and pray that I’ll be “satisfied”.
I have also done my best to commit to not eating after 8:00 p.m. If it’s after 8 and I’m “hungry”, I’ll drink water. If that doesn’t work, I’ll get busy, and make my lunch for the next day, check email, take the dog out and go to bed. I’m in bed sometimes by 9:00, but that makes getting up to work out at 4:45 am that much easier.
Working out in general helps me as well. I hit the treadmill for 45 minutes in the morning, and then all day I’m motivated to eat well so that I don’t “waste” my workout.
I also know the night before that I’m working out in the morning, and then weighing myself and that motivates me to either make a good food choice, or nothing at all.
Ultimately, what we put in the hole under our nose is a choice that WE make, that ultimately leads to a long healthy life, or an early death.
Posted by honi on 08.05.07 at 8:45 am
I have been there and made the same comments too.. Finding out with the source of stress is helps.. but what helps the most to relieve that stress is always having a plan. If you know that after work you are going to binge because you are starving.. on your way home have a pre packed small snack maybe some string cheese and a couple crackers or an apple and some PB. Also instead of swallowing feelings express them.. if you are MAD be MAD .. that helps too. Exercise is a great stress reducer too. It is hard not to binge but once you start retraining yourself to be aware of the triggers then planning becomes as simple as breathing..
Posted by Rick on 08.05.07 at 8:45 am
John, you’re spot on with how you described that cycle. I think you’ve struck a chord with everybody on here. I’m sure we’ve all been there in one way or another. And Doug is also correct when he says it’s important to identify triggers that cause binge eating. I’m going to take it a step further, and say that this is a great place for Cognitive Behavioral therapy to take place. We binge eat (or overeat) as a response to how we’re feeling inside. That causes us to think, “What the hell, I’m not worth it anyway. Might as well just finish off this tub of ice cream.” Like you said, that just furthers our own self-loathing, and the cycle continues. C-B aims to take those triggers and create a different response (behavior) to your emotions and thinking that take place around anxiety, depression, or whatever the cause may be. The thing is, if you can change how you respond to that internal stimulus, you can eventually break that cycle. Once you can take care of the anxiety/depression, the eating is easier to conquer. Easier said than done, yes…but it’s doable.
We could create a whole blog based on this very topic. Somebody else is going to have to do it though; God knows I don’t have time to run one more blog.
Posted by Kristin Gerstley on 08.05.07 at 8:45 am
Hi everyone!
I struggled with binge eating disorder for over 9 yrs and have been recovered for 3 yrs now. I’ve learned a lot of tricks out there to help with a binge. The first thing that I did was to journal. I wrote about good days and bad days, binges, and the times when I beat a binge. After doing this for a period of time, I was able to look back and figure out my triggers and patterns so that I could avoid any future situations that would lead me to binge.
Another thing I did was to pamper myself and fulfill my own needs. When my self-esteem was low, I didn’t feel like I deserved to have a healthy relationship with food. As I stopped the negative self-talk to myself, my self-esteem increased and I felt more worthy of treating myself the right way. Working out also made me feel good about myself and feel like I was doing something to help myself. Also, I found that when I painted my nails, whitened my teeth, or took a relaxing bath - I was not able to binge. It was not possible and that helped curb a binge for me.
Finally, the most important thing is to accept yourself as you are and not diet. Dieting just deprives you, which causes you to want it even more, which causes you to binge. Dieting perpeptuates the binge cycle, which will not help anyone stop bingeing.
I hope some of these helped… Best of luck to all of you that are struggling =)
Posted by Rick on 08.05.07 at 8:45 am
Thanks a ton for checking in, Kristen. It’s amazing how closely tied mental health and physical well-being are, isn’t it? I don’t think curing one cures the other, but it makes it a lot more do-able. Doesn’t sound like dieting worked for you, but I don’t know that I would tell everybody not to diet. For several of us on here, being on an established, proven weight loss program has worked wonders for our health. There’s going to come a time when I get down to where I need to be, then I’ll try to get the whole maintenance thing figured out. For now, though, it’s eating fewer calories and getting some exercise. It’s worked for me so far. But like I said, everybody has their own journey.