Honesty

I don't know the answer to this, but It sounds like your on the right path :flowerforyou:

I do the same thing. And it is hard to admit. I have found that a mug of tea helps. Especailly plain green tea. The green tea usually deceases my cravings and the tea itself is very soothing. It helps me to mellow out my feelings. Have you tried something like this?

Keep up the good work!

First, you have great courage to even admit out loud that helps stop the shame and gets you started on the right path. With shame comes this need to keep a secret. You don't have to keep a secret it happens to so many of us me included. I am a binge eater and bulimic. I have not actively purged in over 4 months which is a miracle for me. I have binged from time to time but this has decreased too here's what I've done and it might help you.
1) Got therapeutic help. For me there wasnt a diet big enough to help my need for acceptance, love and healing of pain. No diet will work if you do not get to the root of why you eat the way you do.
2) Started going to support group. This brought me face to face with this disease. I get encouragement from others that have the same disorder and they hold me accountable for my binges which is something I wouldnt ask my partner or daughter to do. It is my disease and its up to me to solve it.
3) Read lots of encouraging books, tapes, music, anything! When you first want to eat (and I eat whatever I want I no longer am on a diet) but when I first want to binge I make a phone call or text people in my group. This is key and huge even if you do it while you are doing it. If you'd like feel free to email me or anyone else just to let them know. While I'm on the car on my way to the fast food place I make a promise and stop and use the phone. Then if I still want to binge then I allow myself too. Good luck and there is help and support for you. sherrylmeister@gmail.com

Hi Nicole!

First off, know that you're not alone in this! We all have reasons that we eat, most of them not because we're hungry. I eat when I'm bored. So I try to keep busy. Or I hop on the computer onto this site! If you can do that, you'll find a lot of support here reading posts and chatting with your new friends.

It's a hard habit to break -- emotional eating -- but you've got to try to find some kind of an alternative. Grab a bottle of water and go for a walk. Call a friend. Anything that will distract you from wanting to shove something in your mouth!

Hey, you came on here for a reason -- we're here to help you!

You CAN do it! :happy:

Trisha

You're definitely not alone. I'm the same. The difference between food addictions and drug or alcohol addictions is that the latter are easier to control. That is, you can completely eliminate drugs and alcohol from your life - you can't do that with food and that's why it's harder.

Alcoholics say that one drink is too many, fifty is not enough. This is how I used to think about food, and still do to an extent. I know that once I start eating, I have to be very careful about the amount I eat.

A book I've found helpful is "I Can Make You Thin" by Paul McKenna. I feel more in control of my food now, rather than it being in control of me.

journaling.....gets the strong emotions out and the feelings down on paper...when we eat the emotions instead, they come out later to haunt us again. I find when I write, it settles me down and I can see better what's going on, it's most definitely a process. But no food in the world will take away the pain, it may numb it, but we want to feel our emotions not continue to numb them.

I'm a work in progress..just like we all our.
For you to be at this point and thinking it through like this is incredible, it's like a break through because now you've shared and can reread what you wrote and go from there.

I think it's a trigger reaction we all learned somewhere along the line in our lives, numbing the pain and not knowing how to deal with it directly.

:flowerforyou:

The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure by Julia Ross.

These books are about overcoming where you are at today.

you are taking the right steps..you are being honest and open and now you'll find out that you aren't alone and that people can help because they have similar issues. Being honest and admitting you need help is the important thing. I know what its like and I"m stronger because I reached out to people just like me. I don't feel weak I know my brain looks at food different than normal eaters and I know I can stop that by working on me..and becoming a better person and getting rid of the garbage in my life emotionally and physically. You can do it!