To my fellow Binge Eaters...How do control cravings?

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mnardi123
mnardi123 Posts: 59 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I get theses cravings...more like CRAVINGS!! Not that "I could go for something salty" or "something sweet would sure be nice". I'm talking about day dreams involving me and a jumbo bag of Lays potato chips or me floating on a cloud made of Rita's frozen custard.

To top it all off I know I'm a binge eater, and I know that having a little bit of something, especially when I'm tired or emotional is just setting me up for one epic fail of a calorie day. So what do you do?

I've tried moderation but that only works when I'm just slightly craving not CRAVING. I've tried meditation and it works to an extent or telling my family that I need to stop...now.

I'm trying to stop the insanity that is part of my binge eating and I'm somewhat successful but there are urges that I get that make me feel like I'm going to go crazy if I don't indulge. I'd like to hear what everyone else has tried and succeeded with.

Thanks for any insight.
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Replies

  • Veil5577
    Veil5577 Posts: 868 Member
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    Serious binge eater here too. I'd go buy a whole bag of Lays chips and a box of snickers ice cream bars and eat both in one day.. I'd go to McDonald's for breakfast and order 4 breakfast sandwiches...

    The only thing that has helped me is not buying the food and not keeping it in my house. I force myself to not buy foods I know I'll binge on.
  • HereLieWe
    HereLieWe Posts: 233 Member
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    I eat a ton of broth or veggies, or drink, like, a gallon of water. Then if I feel hungry still I have a bit of what I'm craving. Or if I want a ton of a good food (like a whole bag of Doritos), I calculate the calories beforehand and subtract it from my daily amount.
  • klyn7788
    klyn7788 Posts: 52 Member
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    I have a friend that swears by some weird tapping thing she learned from a book to overcome cravings. It's written by a hypnotist, but I'm not sure of his name. I Can Make You Skinny, or something along that line, is the name of the book. She's lost about fifty pounds ... Maybe it's a placebo effect, but it seems to be working for her. It's also funny to me when she does it in public.
  • MississippiMama87
    MississippiMama87 Posts: 204 Member
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    Pre-log, pre-log, pre-log!!! I was at the grocery store hungry (horrible decision, NEVER do this) and saw my beloved Ben & Jerry's ice cream. I bought it (horrible decision, NEVER do this).

    Anyhoo, I PRE-LOGGED the amount of calories because I knew I just had to have the whole pint.... Over 1000 calories! It sickened me. It is still sitting in my freezer and that was over 2 weeks ago. I keep thinking I might have it and just barely eat anything the rest of the day, but it just never seems quite worth it.

    Pre-log what you want to binge on! A lot of the time, it makes it seem so less worth it.
  • tkillion810
    tkillion810 Posts: 591 Member
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    There's loads of strategies to try. I think it ultimately comes down to what works for you. You might need to do some experimenting. I've been working with a holistic nutritionist, and we did some work to see what might be triggering the cravings or binges. My culprits tend to be lack of sleep or lack of a particular nutrient. I journalled my food, hunger level, and emotions for several days and then she reviewed it. It's hard but you have to be brutally honest when you do it. So perhaps trying to determine the cause of the cravings will help? I do still get them, so here's a few of my strategies that I use:
    - I don't keep the trigger foods in the house.
    - I will walk the dog or do a load of laundry.
    - I get away from my desk, which is also another trigger - location specific.
    - I try to make a healthier version of what I am craving.
    - Pre log the food you are wanting to crave so you can see the impact it will have on your end result.
    - Get family and friends involved to support you.

    Hope this helps. Cravings and binge eating are tough demons but you can beat them!
  • pinkyslippers
    pinkyslippers Posts: 188 Member
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    I'm the same as the others, I try not to keep my trigger foods in the house. However, I don't live alone so that's not always possible! This book helps me a lot - it has a lot of easy techniques for dealing with emotions. It's not specifically aimed at binge eating but I have found it very helpful :flowerforyou:

    Mind and Emotions: A Universal Treatment for Emotional Disorders (New Harbinger Self-Help Workbook) http://tinyurl.com/nlfchpy
  • 1974lynnette
    1974lynnette Posts: 27 Member
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    Binged on McDonald's earlier today & I still can't get that salt taste out of my mouth. I was craving it so bad & it just wasn't good anymore. Now it's a ton of water to flush all that sodium. Totally not worth it.
  • haydn24
    haydn24 Posts: 9
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    I'm supplementing with tyrosine and it's doing wonders. After so many years of lost battles it's a dream come true. I no longer have cravings of any sorts and I can control myself very easily. It appears that this list is correct, at least the "general overeating" part which mentions tyrosine as a possible cause http://natureworksbest.com/naturopathy-works/food-cravings/ . I'm using a supplement because eating foods naturally rich in tyrosine didn't do anything, I don't exactly know why. Perhaps it's because tyrosine is an aminoacid and food never contains just one aminoacid but many different types, and they compete with each other for absorption.
  • ChristineRoze
    ChristineRoze Posts: 212 Member
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    Binged on McDonald's earlier today & I still can't get that salt taste out of my mouth. I was craving it so bad & it just wasn't good anymore. Now it's a ton of water to flush all that sodium. Totally not worth it.

    :( why do we do it!!!
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
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    In my case, there is no medical or nutritional reason to eat a single food I tend to binge on. So I just don't.
  • SkimFlatWhite68
    SkimFlatWhite68 Posts: 1,254 Member
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    Ah yes, binge eating is an old friend that comes over when we least expect it and overstays her welcome...

    How to stop cravings, well what has worked for me is to completely eliminate that food from my diet. For me it is sugar. Recreational sugar. if I don't have it, within about 2-3 days I don't want it. Then it's just a matter of not giving in to any temptation so a craving doesn't turn into a full on binge.

    I remove ALL tempting foods from the house. If I buy something for my DD I get her a single serve. I can't trust myself, so I don't have the temptation there to eat later.

    I make sure that I eat good healthy fresh food during the day so I am not hungry. I have dessert every night, but it's yoghurt with berries. Healthy, but feels like dessert.

    At night time, watching TV - my danger time - if I feel a craving coming on, I have a cup of peppermint tea, chewing gum, and distract myself by painting my nails (it's hard to eat with wet nails and I don't want to ruin them after).

    AND - focus on your GOALS!!! Why do you want to get where you are going? Focus on the positive that it will bring you, and how good you will feel the next morning when you have not given in to cravings.

    How will you feel about yourself if you give in to the craving? Most likely horrible. Well, that's not good. Focus on the positive.

    Good luck. Cravings and binge eating behaviour isn't easy to overcome.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
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    On top of what's already been said, my best tip for not binging is not to restrict too much. It's pretty hard to get the balance right between this and weight loss. I find my binges/desires to binge are strongest when I'm restricting calories the most. Set yoursefl up with a less-agressive deficit. I beleive the desire to binge often stems from the body wanting more calories (actual hunger), and we usually pick the most calorie dense foods to fill this need for this reason.

    Other things that help are filling up on lots of healthy vegetables, lean protein and good fats. You can try having a little of what you crave every day although this can back fire for some people or if you're not in the right frame of mind. Buy single servings where possible and savour, don't eat trigger foods alone and make sure you aren't starving when you choose to indulge
  • kimothy38
    kimothy38 Posts: 840 Member
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    I've never tried it but how about brushing your teeth so whatever you eat will taste awful. Personally, I'd just keep eating till the toothpaste taste eventually went away.

    I agree with filling up on lots of whole foods (veges, fruit etc, anything unprocessed really). Distraction - take a walk, ring a friend, meditation, write in a journal about what you're actually feeling. It's hard.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I tell myself I'll have some tomorrow. Then make room for it in my diet. And I make sure I prelog everything I eat before I even make it to the fridge/store.

    For me it's easy - either I have none of the food and feel miserable, or I have a moderate amount of it. That's really the only two possible options because gaining weight is just not an option right now. It's really a state of mind thing... you got to want it hard enough.

    When I have a real craving for some type of food that is hard to fit in my calories though, I wait a couple weeks and if I still have it, I'll indulge a bit though. It hasn't derailed me that much. But typically I try to fit things in my calories.
  • auburn3535
    auburn3535 Posts: 37 Member
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    I like this suggestion. I am going to try it. I often binge then feel too guilty to log in the food.
  • kaaaaylee
    kaaaaylee Posts: 398
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    I wanted lo mein so badly it almost hurt me Wednesday. Went to crossfit so I wouldn't be at home thinking about it. Still wanted it, made a flatbread pizza. Felt unhealthy, and held me over until bedtime.

    AKA distract yourself and eat healthier things that feel like cheats.
  • fificrazy
    fificrazy Posts: 234
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    Serious binge eater here too. I'd go buy a whole bag of Lays chips and a box of snickers ice cream bars and eat both in one day.. I'd go to McDonald's for breakfast and order 4 breakfast sandwiches...

    The only thing that has helped me is not buying the food and not keeping it in my house. I force myself to not buy foods I know I'll binge on.

    ^ Real binge.

    Most other "binges" on this website= REACTIVE eating.
    Just saying. You're probably going to given some ridiculous advice from people who skimp on meals then wonder why their bodies want to compensate for it the next time they eat.
  • Odiliawine
    Odiliawine Posts: 116 Member
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    I had my binges under control for a while and this last month everything seems to have gotten away from me and I'm having a hard time reigning it in. I have found a definite correlation between not going to the gym as often and my binging. The gym helps me keep my mind in the game and my endorphins up and I think the binging is a reaction to not taking care of myself. Try and find your trigger and work from there.
  • mnardi123
    mnardi123 Posts: 59 Member
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    I can honestly say that my binge eating is attributed to emotions. As a child I hid and ate food to comfort myself for feeling different from the other kids and for being so shy. It then developed into a way to rebel against my mom and brother who always told me I was pretty but would be SO MUCH PRETTIER if I was only a few pounds lighter. In college binge eating became a way to relieve stress and again comfort my sense of not fitting in. As an adult, after having a difficult pregnancy that ended up with one of my three daughters (triplets) passing away after 3 months it was a way to stay awake and punish myself for not being enough that my one of my children didn't live (I blamed myself for years that maybe I didn't do enough to help my dear Juliet).

    Even though I have lost 50 lbs, I'm finding lately that the need to emotionally eat because of stress relating to my family and my job. I'm trying to fight it with exercise, meditation and all the methods I dealt with in therapy after my daughter passed away but it's hard.

    I thank you all for your suggestions but the trigger for me isn't a food or food group, it's an emotion or stressor, an event that triggers the stress response of reaching for large quantities of food. Large being a large ice cream cone, followed by large fries or bag of chips, washed down with an ice coffee and a few donuts all within the span of an hour. It is truly a Binge Eating Disorder that I have been dealing with since childhood. I continue to fight it and welcome everyone's words of support and wisdom.

    Today I pray, for "God to deliver me to my own true self, to make of my body a perfect container for who He created me to be, and to teach me how to live within it in happiness and peace." (A Course in Weight Loss, 21 Spiritual lessons or Surrendering your Weight Forever by Marianne Williamson)
  • pattyebricker
    pattyebricker Posts: 149 Member
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    Stop binging. Do it not because you WANT to but because you HAVE to.

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