The only thing that has helped me is something I can't clearly define how it happened. I mentally classified the food as "not mine." My fiance has a table next to the couch with snacks and such on it. He has a shelf in the pantry, and two in the fridge... And at some point, I just realized the guilt game of if I binged and at something that was not mine, it was his, then I had to rush and replace it or deal with condemnation or whatever, it just was not working. I was working to banish the guilt altogether and just accept choices...

He'd offer me, and sometimes badger me, to take a bite of something, and I just couldn't take it anymore. Now he can eat those things sitting next to me, and rarely does it even appeal to me, but less even make my radar. And when I'm at a store, I think of those types of foods as "his foods" so it doesn't even register, most of the time, to me...

So, if you can find a way to classify a food as "not mine," whatever method that takes for you to do so (poison, her "special diet food," "his/hers," or literally just anything that pushes the food off the radar for you, dealing with the sights, smells, thoughts, etc., does start to fade. Eventually it becomes manageable.

Since I don't know exactly how I did it, and you're a different human than me, I sadly don't have more specific advice... And I do still slip up, but the recovery is quicker and easier these days...

Good luck!

I find that the most effective method in dealing with feeling enslaved by food, is to realize that food is not the issue. It's not what you're eating that's the problem. It's what's eating you. Stress! If you are experiencing feelings of hunger that are so strong that you have tears in your eyes, it's not the food that you're really after.

Unless you haven't eaten in awhile, the hunger that you are experiencing is emotional hunger. That gets triggered whenever we are under stress and feeling overwhelmed. For emotional eaters who have dieted for a long time, they have never learned how to trust themselves around food beyond the restriction imposed by a diet. but it's the restriction that makes us feel so deprived which leads us to feel the urge to eat and satisfy our ravenous hunger. Most people think that the food is the problem so they try to get control of it by removing it from the house or banning it altogether. But that gives food so much more power than it deserves.

The strategy that I have used to lose 20 pounds and to get my A1C out of the Prediabetic range is to have an open door policy on food and to be fierce in coping with my overwhelm and stress using an effective relaxation method called Emotional Freedom Technique or tapping. It's actually your emotions that need to be managed more than your food. Because your emotions lead to stress chemicals flooding your body. Cortisol is a stress hormone that gets secreted whenever you are feeling anxious. Emotional Freedom Technique has been proven to reduce cortisol levels by up to 24%, which is amazing. I know there are several people here on this board who have used tapping very effectively to enhance their weight loss.

I tap all the time and I teach my clients to do it too. I've learned that especially for women who have been sexually abused, when we hit a weight plateau, it's evidence that unconsciously our bodies don't feel safe being that smaller size.

This is why when some people get a compliment or have a great weigh in, soon after they find themselves on a binge. Feeling deprived of the foods you want to eat is a real trigger and will lead you to overeat them once you finally get your hands on them.

I found that if I moved my ice cream to the downstairs freezer it was just enough of a distraction that I had to really think about if I wanted to eat it. 9 times out of 10, I will choose something that is a lighter choice.

On those days when I ate for comfort, I find that forgiving myself and moving on is the most effective way of getting back on track. I like to think of self-compassion is the antidote to bust down our binges. Hope this helps.

Warmest regards,

Andrea

I think the concept of it "taking a village" and social consciousness and group knowledge, condensed and shared, those things help so much. I read an article talking about how much medicine and such is changing, just because we can share tips and suggestions in a format and setting such as this and learn so much and apply it individually, and all of that... It's awesome. I'm glad you could get something out of my rambling, because I just went back and reread it and could hardly find the thought in there.