Binging/Eating healthy confused

1. I'm sorry you're going through this. It sounds like you feel out of control, so I'd recommend seeing a psychologist to deal with this, or maybe calling a hotline if you don't have the time/money to go see someone.
2. Healthy eating means different things to different people. I'd say a balanced diet is healthy eating, that is a diet that includes carbs, protein and fat all in moderation.
3. I believe planning ahead is great because it doesn't allow you to make rush -and possibly regrettable- decisions about what to eat. That's why preparing your lunch ahead of time would be beneficial.

Good luck!

Hi, yes, it sounds like you may be developing unhealthy habits around food.
Healthy eating, to me, says eating good protein (lean meat, fish, pulses etc), complex carbs (all brown rices, pasta and breads - no empty carbs like processed rubbish Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, crisps, biscuits etc) and lots of fibre, veg and fruits.
For you, I would suggest try a packed up lunch as this will help you to not make unwise choices - be strict with yourself though and only eat what you pack and don't eat it AND buy extras!!
Add seeds and nuts to your diet...weigh them out into 25g portions as it's easy to eat a whole pack of cashews or whatever and over indulge. This type of snacking should help with your blood sugars and address the cravings and urges to rush out and eat useless food.
Try and get plenty of protein, too....I find that snacking on a hard boiled egg, some tuna, some slices of chicken keep my hunger at bay for hours. Little pre-weighed 10g blocks of low fat mature cheese can be good for the lunch box, too, giving you the taste of something yummy but avoiding the accidental overdose.
I recently bought at set of Salter digital weighing scales and they are excellent for me as I can now weigh stuff accurately rather than guess.
And drink plenty of water (1.5 to 2 litres a day)....sometimes when you're looking for a snack, a glass of water can get rid of the pangs and water helps your liver get rid of other toxins helping you to lose weight.

check out this site
www.shrinkyourself.com
i used it years ago and it massively reduced my binges..im not completely cured..lol..but it was a massive helf
i also read a book called overcoming emotional eating from amazon..again amazing book

I lost a lot of weight eating at Subway for lunch. I'd restrict myself to ordering 500 calories worth of food, and get whatever I wanted while I was there within that limit. Seemed to go just fine. Chipotle also has good options, you can get a burrito bowl with chicken and peppers and onions and beans and hella salsa, and it'll be fine for calories and nutritional content. There are perfectly serviceable salads to be had at almost any fast food restaurant these days. There are tasty and healthy choices to be had at all sorts of asian restaurants, as well. It's great to pack a healthy lunch, but not doing it is no reason to throw up your hands and get a value meal. It seems like a lot sometimes, but the changes are surprisingly minor when you get into it, and it will feel good making the sacrifice when you really want to indulge.

As for the bingeing, I know all too well what that's like. I wish I could tell you some sort of trick that will make it easy for you, but it really does come down to you choosing to do what's right for yourself each and every day. I've learned to somewhat manage my food issues without professional help, but I also had the benefit of having fantasized about and thoroughly researched healthy eating and exercise off and on since puberty, and it took me years of slowly working at improving my eating habits and my relationship to food before I was ready and able to do a serious weight loss program, so seeing a dietician might be a good idea for you, as well as a therapist with experience dealing with binge eating problems.

It is always going to be a matter of managing the problem. You are quite likely to binge from time to time for YEARS, if not the rest of your life, even if you make radical changes to your lifestyle. I still feel like going crazy eating sometimes, perhaps as often as I ever did, though I no longer indulge that urge very often. In the 4 years between my last diet and my current diet, I managed to keep my weight more or less steady. When I'd find myself gorging on food several times a week, and my pants would start to get a little tighter, I'd just reign it back in a little better for a while, and the urge would get less severe. The more you give in, the stronger it will seem. The less you give in, the stronger you will know yourself to be.

Anyway, I said I didn't have any tricks that will make it easy, because it really does come down to you making the decision each and every day, but here's some things I've found to help a lot:

Track your food. MFP rocks for that, and your friends on here help keep you accountable. Don't ever let yourself cheat on this out of shame, and don't skip days. You owe it to yourself to confront what you are really eating, even if it's a 6000 calorie day.

Eat small meals throughout the day. This does a LOT to keep your hunger from getting really strong, which is a major trigger for overeating.

Cut way back on carbs. Protein keeps you full for longer. Fat keeps you full for longer, and helps with cravings for junk. Carbs, especially processed starches and sugars, are quickly processed by your body, and leave you with low blood sugar and an all-consuming need to feed. Getting enough protein will do wonders for your ability to avoid overeating. I'm not saying get rid of them entirely, I'm saying ditch the bags of chips and avoid the endless pasta and skip the candy bars.

And most of all, forgive your faults and failures quickly. You will mostly likely have many times that you begin to feel out of control while eating. If you can forgive your failure and find new resolve before your 1000 calorie binge becomes a 3000 calorie binge, or before a weekend of eating maintenance becomes a week of eating maintenance. Set a resolution to never let yourself get down on your lack of fortitude unless you actually eat over maintenance, and always catch yourself before you let it get that far, even if you're halfway through a big bag of chips at the time. Keep getting back on the horse, every single day, every single meal, every snack. Set goals for how few meals over 1000 calories you can eat each month. Don't get complacent when you see some success. Keep hammering at it.

For healthy eating, just remember to eat more vegetables than you ever thought possible, and avoid white flour, fried food and sugary stuff as much as you can, and you'll be fine. Go for more lean meats than the fatty ones. Buy food that will go bad in a week or two if you don't eat it right away, but go real easy on the bread. That's the basics, and it's pretty much all you really need to remember. If you need to feed a craving for junk or you'll go mad, make sure you're not really all that hungry, drink a couple cups of water and then have a single serving and don't let yourself have any more.

Friend me if you want, I'm pretty familiar with what it's like to eat way too much way too often.