Emotional Eating/Binge Eating

opalescence

If you cant throw it out, hide it from yourself or your eyes. Out of sight out of mind. I have a place in the top of my freezer for chocolate that I dont "see" everytime I open the fridge. I know its there for when I really need it but not showing itself saying eat me all the time.
In my plan I couldnt go completely clean or stop eating this and that, nothing is off limits but only in moderation, if I dont eat what it is I'm craving I will eat everything until I get whatever I'm craving.
My best advice is write it out, write about everything. how you feel with it being there, how do you feel when your wanting it, how do you feel eating it. what makes you want it if your not hungry, could it have been you were hungry for a meal but instead snacked? My journal has given me more insights to my eating patterns and feelings than my therapist ever has.
You have to keep finding ways to outsmart yourself, if it works today it may not work tomorrow.

Symonep

I think the first step would have to be to own the behaviour and stop feeling guilty for it. Maybe a journal would be a good start, don't try and stop the binging but journalise what is happening when you feel like binging and your feelings surrounding it. I think a lot of people are too scared to own their feelings and deal with them, they are like the monster under the bed. Though the same as with kids once you turn the lights on there is nothing to be scared of. Once the feelings/monster under the bed is faced, the anxiety and stress is usually dispersed. Learn some relaxation techniques, deep breathing, maybe try some affirmations (they work for some). I think once you have more connection with your feelings and learn how to identify them and the cause you can work on the over eating a bit more. Please stop feeling guilty about it all, it just leads to more destructive behaviour, remember tomorrow is a new day, and as such the slate should be clean when you step out of bed.

I am sure if you look online you can find various things to help you start this journey.

Redbird99ky

To any who suffer from emotional eating / binge eating / eating disorders, there is a website, www.therecoverygroup.org that is an online group. It is a 12 step program online for Overeaters Anonymous. They go through the 12 steps once a quarter onlline. I think they also have online "meetings". I don't know about the people there, other than the 12 step work seems pretty good. I came across them when I was looking for some online help with my 12 step (AA) work.

Emotional eating / binge eating / eating disorders can oftentimes be rooted deep within us, and many people who are emotional eaters have similar issues/personalities as alcoholics. It is so much so, that Overeaters Anonymous has adopted the bigbook (Alcoholics Anonymous) and the 12 and 12 (The Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions) for their groups. There is alot of hard work and self examination involved in a 12 step recovery program, but the end result is a freedom that you never dreamed possible. This freedom is yours for the taking, but you REALLY HAVE TO WANT IT to get it. If you think you may be struggling with a food addiction (I think that being proud of eating a candy bar without your spouse finding out qualifies) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out the website I mentioned.

The biggest help I have in my recovery is God's ever loving grace and mercy.

I can't ... HE can ... I think I'll let HIM ...

jodilo88

I did a lot of emotional eating when I was still living with my alcoholic father. Nowadays, I'm combating that with low-calorie things that are food, but *GOOD* food. It's not necessarily a "fix" to emotional eating, but it does put a lot less on to eat one of Edy's fruit bar popsicles than a piece of cake...

tobykang

To any who suffer from emotional eating / binge eating / eating disorders, there is a website, www.therecoverygroup.org that is an online group. It is a 12 step program online for Overeaters Anonymous. They go through the 12 steps once a quarter onlline. I think they also have online "meetings".

Thanks so much for the resource! I will definitely check this out.

I started binging in college, I recall shoving my face close to midnight when I'd be studying and stopped at 12AM because it was a new day and I had to be 'good'. 6 years later it's still a struggle I face but I've made some significant changes:

1) Consulting with a nutritionist I eradicated the words 'cheat meal' from my dictionary completely- it sets people with BED up for failure.
2) Avoid absolutes- "since I worked out today I should good all day" vs "I had a piece of chocolate therefore I should devour all high carb foods in sight and I'll just workout tomorrow"
3) If you're watching TV, walk around during commercials. It's normally food I wouldn't even crave for but I find myself looking for it eventually
4) Prayer
5) Mindfulness based stressed reduction - Jon Kabat Zinn emphasizes on slightly meditative yet more contemplative on being in the moment, constantly focusing on your breath. What I love is it's taught me not to fret about things that have happened or could happen but to be in the moment which is really all you have control over (okay sounds pretty hippy but it's not as bad as it sounds)
6) Be honest with your family about your condition and ask them to help you i.e. no buying the food you know you'lll seek when you want to binge. Tell them ways they can help you "hey if you want icecream go eat it in the mall please don't bring it home"
7) Written food diary which I also use to evaluate hunger levels and use to note what moods I was feeling, why I feel like binging (crappy day at work? just because?) what I could do to block it etc.
8) Capture, Challenge Change- capture the fact that you want to binge, challenge it and change.
9) Don't walk past the food aisles you know will torture and propel you to binge -really don't do it.


What kills me most is when people say people with BED have no self restraint. That is absolutely false as for folks with BED food is usually used to fill a void of some sort. if anything I've noticed that some 'addictions' are replaced with others. When I quit smoking, I started binging.

janessafantasma

I embody compulsive and impulsive overeating. I have fairly bad ADD and my brain simply cannot tell my body that I'm full. It might sound like a lameass excuse but all my doctors back me up. Also, with my ADD, as soon as I think about a food, I ruminate and can't stop thing about it until I get to eat it. My medication helps with my impulsive and compulsive behavior and has helped with the overeating, but there are days or weeks and sometimes months that I don't use my medication and on days like today, food was a constant on my mind. It was a beautiful day today and I kept myself as busy as possible, laid by the pool, ran errands with a friend, worked out, swam, played with my dog and as soon as I thought about the tasty organic cookies I had, I ate one. I didn't let myself ruminate or try to beat the craving. I ate what I wanted and moved on. I find that when I try to beat the craving or ignore it or eat something else that's healthy to try to "cure" the craving, I just end up eating twice as much as I would have if I just let myself enjoy the food I wanted.