Binge eating disorder and low carb.....
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I also have binge eating disorder, and like some others have said, its nice to know we are not alone in this struggle
I didn't have a problem as a child as food was carefully controlled by adults
but it got a lot harder after I went to uni and beyond
I have done the hiding chocolate around the house thing, comforted in the knowledge that it was there for me to run to
now living alone is not the greatest thing as there is no one to even catch me at it
I even bought proper flowery shopping bags so people wouldn't see the contents of my shopping when I walked home
I do think some of it is sugar addiction, and the beginning of turning things around for me was when I realised one day that my need for 'that biscuit', however desperate, was nothing compared to the need of the second one
I do find eating low carbs has made my battle with bingeing a bit easier, and when things are too much I am afraid i sometimes turn to other self destructive tactics, to avoid the food
food still frightens me
it is a huge trigger
and i hate it when people say - oh just have one - oh you need a treat now and again - oh don't become so obsessive dah dah dah dah
they have no idea how big and fast that slippery slope is for me
my only wish now, is that this low carb eating would give me the energy that sugar seems to
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yuggybuggy wrote: »I realised one day that my need for 'that biscuit', however desperate, was nothing compared to the need of the second one
food still frightens me
it is a huge trigger
and i hate it when people say - oh just have one - oh you need a treat now and again - oh don't become so obsessive dah dah dah dah
they have no idea how big and fast that slippery slope is for me
Thanks for your vivid and memorable insights.
Dr. Bernstein often warns diabetics that the danger of having 'that biscuit' is not the transient blip on the glucose/insulin radar, but rather the sad truth that where the human species is concerned, the first embrace of temptation is rarely the last.
It may have been Dr. Phinney who compared diet deviations to taking a step off the top of a sand dune and winding up halfway down the hill. It's not much work to stay on top once you've finally gotten there, but it takes a lot of it to trudge back up.
Good luck with the energy part. It does take several weeks of continuous ketosis to adapt to the change, and there's a reason folks are constantly searching for a better BPC formula....
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Hi all, there is no doubt that sugar addiction exists. Iv never binged as such but as Iv got older (Im 42) Im amazed at how Im never satisfied when I start to eat sugar..like eating all 4 choc bars in a pack!!
I currently reading a book that Id like to recommend its called 'The Hear and Now Habit' my favourite quote in it is 'How I live this moment is how I live my life'. Its about being mindfull in 'this' moment dont worry about the pat or the future. So for this moment I will not eat sugar
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tattoomary wrote: »I currently reading a book that Id like to recommend its called 'The Hear and Now Habit' my favourite quote in it is 'How I live this moment is how I live my life'. It's about being mindfull in 'this' moment dont worry about the pat or the future. So for this moment I will not eat sugar
That sounds like a good antidote to "future me" thinking (such as, "the future me will spend an entire day cleaning the garage").
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I don't think that enough research has been done into food addiction. There seems to be a reluctance to accept that food addiction is real. I would say that this thread alone is enough proof that it is indeed a genuine condition and people struggle. For myself I know that I am one tub of hagen Dasz away from a back slide. I could easily gain back the 90lbs that I've lost and not even know why it happened. I've never been able to pinpoint a "trigger" but it's soooo easy to slip back into comfortable old habits. If I have any hope in maintaining my loss I have to treat carbage like it's the plague. I've already noticed small slips that could turn into full on out of control eating. In some ways I think people addicted to substances such as cocaine or heroin have it easier than we do. You can live without cocaine, but everyone has to eat. It is hard to totally avoid all bad foods. They come in some very sneaky disguises where as hard drugs are easy to identify and once over the hard part of addiction withdrawal to avoid. It's not like anyone at work is going to come along and say, "hey, my wife cooked up a sweet batch of meth last night, want a hit?"8
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I think there are different issues
I certainly have or had a sugar addiction, which is forever poised to bite me
but my binge eating disorder is also in addition to this
it is emotionally based and triggered
it is NOTHING to do with liking food or wanting lots
it is not pleasurable it is bloody torture
I agree 'daylitemag' re. not being able to 'give food up'
at my mh unit they ran a 'stop smoking' group but when I asked for them to run a 'stop eating' group the psychologist just laughed and said "you cant stop eating"
my response was - EXACTLY - I CAN'T and I don't see why smokers should get help but people like me cant
I think its the hardest thing, since we HAVE to eat, we cant cut food out completely, so everyday is a challenge and everyday is a battle and everyday is scary4 -
There does seem to be research into the addiction part of it, though pot-bellied Dr. Phil hasn't written a book about it, and Dr. Oz has not yet cooked up a Food Addiction Diet to serve the masses.RECENT FINDINGS:
Recent work on food use disorders has demonstrated that the same neurobiological pathways that are implicated in drug abuse also modulate food consumption, and that the body's regulation of food intake involves a complex set of peripheral and central signaling networks. Moreover, new research indicates that rats can become addicted to certain foods, that men and women may respond differently to external food cues, and that the intrauterine environment may significantly impact a child's subsequent risk of developing obesity, diabetes, and hypercholesterolemia.
SUMMARY:
First, work presented in this review strongly supports the notion that food addiction is a real phenomenon. Second, although food and drugs of abuse act on the same central networks, food consumption is also regulated by peripheral signaling systems, which adds to the complexity of understanding how the body regulates eating, and of treating pathological eating habits. Third, neurobiological research reviewed here indicates that traditional pharmacological and behavioral interventions for other substance-use disorders may prove useful in treating obesity.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20495452 (2010)
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After a year or so of determined ferocious adherence to keto and significant weight loss, something changed.
Some hoped for result was not realized, some empty void not filled and for a half year or so I am at the mercy of the binge beast...fighting it daily but so far losing that battle in a big way.
I have no answers for stopping or healing this situation and I feel that I try everything I can to get a handle on it.
I also have decided to continue to keep to my keto or LC woe as best as I can every day, regardless of success or defeat. New day, clean slate. But this doesn't mean that I escape the pain, humiliation, loss of self control, embarrassment, etc. that each binge brings.
I don't understand it, maybe never will, but I know that I have this disorder and have had it for 50 of my 60 years, in one form or another at differing times of my life.
All I seem to be able to do with it is just keep on trying and hope that I can eventually put together more sane weeks than binge weeks.
And then ride that wave for as long as I can.4 -
Having worked in restaurants, it's no stretch to imagine off-label preparation of even the most tempting carb-bombs.....
Such as sugar and flour in soups and sauces?
I saw a "healthy choice" wrap in the hospital cafeteria last week. The tortilla was 29g of net carbs, but the description used the term, "low carb wrap."2 -
elize7 - that is what concerns me, too
I have been 'working on my weight' since January and have had quite a few lapses back into lots of bingeing, and many smaller binges
but I am really scared of it all totally caving
I don't want to put that weight back on, I am so sure of that
but when it gets triggered in your head it is SUCH a battle
at mh unit we are working through a book/treatment for binge eating disorder
it has several steps
the first is to log everything you eat/drink - when, where, what was happening, if it was a binge or not
after a few weeks of that - ADD a planned timetable of meals, and snacks
the idea being that when lunging for food you can hold out until then next TIME slot !!!!
cant remember the rest
oh how bad is that, will find book and write more if you or anyone is interested xx2 -
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Interested in hearing more. Just yesterday I changed my diary settings from one long category of "Food" to a more structured Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, "I'm Hungry" (which is what the diary entries were in my losing phase).
Since starting LCHF, I was feeling nicely satiated but the "hungries" have returned and I have been finding myself in an all day "graze". I'm feeling a need for more structure.
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ok, I think I probably should start another thread for this
I am VERY happy to help anyone, if I can0 -
Thank you all for the amazingly honest posts. I have had a binge eating disorder most of my life. Sometimes I conquer it, mostly it conquers me. My latest binge/emotional eating cycle has lasted about 2 years and cost a regain of over 50 lbs.
I had lost 80 lbs over 4 years using the Primal Blueprint. It took that long due to periodic binges holding me back. Even when I have success, I am never far from the edge. My low of 199 came in June 2014. I have been a mess since.
At this point, I simply want to be mentally and physically healthy even if I am never "thin".
My only advice would be if you slip, get back on clean eating quickly. If you let the disordered eating become a habit it is much harder to stop.
I also agree with those that say total avoidance of processed carbs is best.
Thanks for the inspiration to keep trying.0 -
Well, this thread is turning out to be very topical for me. At the end of this last week I fell down the biggest bingehole since I started eating LCHF last December. I'm pretty sure I'll be dealing with these impulses the rest of my life. The difference, though, is that I don't have them as often now, its been 8 months since I've eaten like this. I've had a few cheats along the way, but to call this a cheat would a serious understatement. I managed to get back on track after a couple of days though, whereas in the past, my weight loss would have been derailed for weeks or months.
I feel like I finally have the tools to refocus myself now. I've gone back down to 10-20 carbs and Im not stressing about calories right now, while I'm fighting these binge urges. Because I'm not hungry and I don't feel deprived, I have the strength to fight the mental side of my food addiction.3 -
I can relate to everyone's post about hiding food, candy binges, food pushing co-workers and knowing that that first bite of bread is like stepping off a cliff. So my solution is like @RalfLott 's... thinking of forbidden foods as "trash". I do want to keep my feet!0
