Binge eating
- Emma Mc
- Jul 26, 2018
- 2 min read
Who identifies with binge eating? You know when you open the fridge or cupboard and just need to eat something, and then that one thing leads to another, and another and before you know it you have consumed 6 packets of Skips and a family bar of Galaxy (disclaimer: this may or may not have hapened in real life!)
It can come from boredom, stress, happiness, hormones. You find yourself almost in a daze demolishing cake, chocolate, crisps, whatever.
Its really hard as most often this is a learned behaviour, a habit if you like, and bloody difficult to break.
Here are some strategies to help you cope with this. Number 3 is surprising.
1) Have no crap in the house, let the kids and partner know that this is to help you and your ongoing health. If you really want to change then the kids can do without chocolate bars (also beneficial for their health).
2) Try breaking the habit. Always have 10 biscuits with your tea after a meal?? Go fill the dishwasher instead, go run a bath instead. Keep doing this until your brain doesn't recognise the biscuit habit again. This can take a couple weeks. Always crave the crisps once the kids are in bed? Instead of sitting on the sofa with telly, go do something else to relax, colour in, have a bath, sort out the paperwork, go a walk.
3) Submit to the cravings and have the binge BUT before you get stuck in- write down how you feel and try and identify the WHY you are doing this, ask yourself 'if i do this will i reach my goal'.
When you do get stuck in, really taste the food. Chew it properly, savour the flavours, again write down how it tastes v;s expectations, write down how it has made you feel afterwards.
Keep doing this.
Keep questionning yourself, do you need this?
Are you hungry? If its hunger, try eating more calories at breakfast/before lunch, this can really make a difference to your hunger levels.
Is there something you could be doing to benefit your health?
For those of you on a 'cut' (cutting calories for a specific event), number 3 is not your friend just now, try it when your holiday/event is over. You should stick to a fairly rigid plan just now, take yourself out of situations where you don't know how much you consume, make sacrifies, make the changes and be stubborn.
THE KEY THING HERE IS CHANGE. SOMETHING NEEDS TO CHANGE FOR YOU TO SEE A CHANGE.
Let me know your thoughts on this. What can you do differently?
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