After binging.....

jenna25 · January 2012

Once again i have really been struggling with binging and eating my emotions...and had a pretty bad binge tonight and last night even though i told myself last night that i was done with binging ...but yet again i binged... anyways the point for this i was wondering if anyone else struggles with this if they know any cleanses or what to eat to help me feel better. I am so sick of doing this to myself!

missfluffyuk · January 2012

Don't cleanse, it's pretty much useless at this point. Tomorrow is a new day.

Start by logging everything you eat, before you eat it. Make sure you log your binge, too.

To stop yourself of binging, you need to understand why you binge. What's upsetting you, and causing you to eat your emotions? Find another coping mechanism that works for you: talk to somebody, or go for a run/to the gym. Write bad poetry.

p_arcticus · January 2012

I agree with missfluffyuk, tomorrow is new day. Cleanses are simply another way to feel deprived, which will lead you to binge - yet again. I've struggled with the same behavior for YEARS and I just recently read a great book that may end it for good. It's called "Brain Over Binge" and I highly recommend it. Hang in there. Binge aftermath is so hard to get through, but you WILL get through.

Acg67 · January 2012

Once again i have really been struggling with binging and eating my emotions...and had a pretty bad binge tonight and last night even though i told myself last night that i was done with binging ...but yet again i binged... anyways the point for this i was wondering if anyone else struggles with this if they know any cleanses or what to eat to help me feel better. I am so sick of doing this to myself!

Just get on track tomorrow, as long as you are consistent with your diet, occasional slip ups/free days etc won't set you back that much.

ilookthetype · January 2012

Therapy is the best thing you can do for yourself. See someone to address the issue if you aren't already.

LabRat529 · January 2012

Don't cleanse. I mean no offense, but in my mind, a cleanse is basically a purge, and you really don't want to binge-purge-binge-purge. It's just not mentally healthy.

A lot of us (including me) have an unhealthy relationship with food. We need to train ourselves to think differently about food some how. Like missfluffy suggested, find out why you binge and try to find healthier outlets for your emotions. But most importantly, understand that dieting is a long, difficult process. You WILL make mistakes. You've just got to keep trying.

jacobsonmandy · January 2012

If you indulge, eat half of whatever you're craving. That way you're satisfy the craving without going overboard and feeling guilty later, that helps me and I know my limits. Ex: Today there was some rolos (left over xmas candy) and they had been calling my name, so I looked and the serving size was 7, so I had 3 or 4. I didn't over eat and it was 100 calories or so from what I had. It wasn't the healthiest snack, but I logged it as my snack and knew I had spent 100 out of my 300 calories or how ever you allow for snack and that was that. Setting limits really helps me because I over eat and indulge when I don't need to. Just a suggestion, this works for me. And I wouldn't cleanse, just start fresh tomorrow with your lessons learned today.

ogmama12 · January 2012

I disagree with the "don't cleanse" stuff. As long as you do it for the right reasons, it can be very useful. I do a gentle cleanse after I've overindulged to get my body and my cravings back in check. What I do is make a couple different juices in my juicer (I use s brevile and I love it), usually a green juice with lots of leafy greens, kale, spinach, romaine, etc. and cucumber, lemon, celery and apple as well as a red juice with beets, cucumber, lemon, and another apple. If you take a miracle fruit tablet first they taste really sweet and good, like a treat (wwe.thinkgeek.com sells miracle fruit tablets). I drink those for a couple days, and I may have a salad with beans, veggies, olives and a vinegarette. After those couple days, I want healthier foods again. There's so much joy in a really good piece of fruit, carrots and celery with a 100 cal pack of guacamole, and a nice salad.
I've had problems with binging and purging in the past, and now I let myself have just a taste of the foods I want and calculate them into my daily budget- nothing is off limits as long as its a small portion and within my calorie budget. But honestly, when I eat mostly clean, healthy foods I want more clean, healthy foods. Try adding more fruits and veggies into your diet and you may not want the other fatty, high-sugar or salty foods you binged on before. They're really not that tasty when it comes down to it, anyway.

LabRat529 · January 2012

I disagree with the "don't cleanse" stuff. As long as you do it for the right reasons, it can be very useful. I do a gentle cleanse after I've overindulged to get my body and my cravings back in check.

But it's not for the right reasons. First, I don't really believe cleanses do anything besides make you hungry, but even if they did or if they do, cleansing because you feel guilty about over-indulging will only lead to more messed up emotions surrounding food. Emotional eating is a two edged sword. You're miserable, stressed, cranky, whatever, so you eat. Then you feel guilty about over-eating, so you punish yourself by starving or being really stringent about what you eat, but then you're hungry and you feel deprived. This leads you to feel miserable, stressed, cranky, whatever again. So you eat.

The cycle repeats indefinitely. It is a binge-purge cycle and it is not a healthy way to cope with emotions.

jenna25 · January 2012

Thank you everyone

I am going to try and eat as clean as possible rather than cleanse... i know myself and it will just lead back to binging again even though i was considering cleansing so my body felt better because i feel sick to my stomach but i think if i eat as clean as possible and drink lots of water tomorrow i should feel back to my normal self..and get a good cardio session in. I just want to get my control back again since the holidays and a recent break up i have felt so off and out of control! but thank you all for your comments they helped

stuart959 · January 2012

I additionally suggest it may be helpful to go to an OA meeting and connect with people there as they are much more equipped than the average to help you make sense of your feelings around the behaviour patterns that are emerging. Furthermore they can recommend councellurs in area that can help depending on the depth of the problem. Good luck

monet13 · January 2012

Some ideas for you; proof your house so if you are prone to binging there is less available to binge on, you will have to go out to get stuff. Change your location, get out of the house if possible, get with people if possible - those that support and don't sabotage. Journal!! Change things up! Not to be trite but, "if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" Groups and counselors specializing in eating disorders can also be very helpful - Good Luck

autumnblingsz · January 2012

I've had problems with sometimes binging in the past & then feeling awful afterwards. Things that I find help:
-As someone previously said, track the binge. As hard as it is because you at this point probably already feel very guilty about it and just want to forget about it, if you force yourself to track exactly what you binged it'll shock you moreso into trying not to do it again. I've binged 1000+ calories (more calories than I usually eat in a day!) on things that would have been healthy if I hadn't eaten so much of them and seeing the hard numbers made me really not want to do that again..

-If you binge in particular items, i.e. salty foods or sweet foods try to keep something portion-sized of what you binge on in your house and eat that instead when you feel a binge coming on, i.e. 100 cal popchips if you like salty or dark chocolate kisses if u like sweet.

-Drink 3 glasses of water to try to fill yourself up or a hot cup of tea

-You said it's emotional eating so try to find another way to relieve stress. For example if you feel a binge coming on you could go take a relaxing bath or call up a friend to talk and when you're done you probably won't even want to binge anymore

-Make a pact with yourself that if you binge, you have to make up for it by exercising at least half of the calories off.. One time of doing that and you probably will think twice about doing it again lol.

-Sleep! This is good in two ways, sometimes if I feel a snack craving coming on at night instead of giving into it I try to just go to sleep & then when you wake up in the morning you can have a healthy breakfast & be proud of yourself for not binging. This also works in the get-enough-sleep approach.. we've all heard about a million times 8 hours of sleep etc.. but I really do find that when I get a good night's sleep I have way less cravings then when I'm tired all day.

I hope that some of that might work for you..Good luck! U can do it
-

rizriang · January 2012

Hey, I just read your page and I can relate so much to what you're saying. I'm a nutrition minor but even so, I can't seem to stop myself from constantly binging day after day. In fact, I already binged earlier today after binging last night. People tell me just to brush it off because the occasional binge isn't bad, but this isn't occasional. It's almost daily, and I also need to get a grip on it since I'm only 20 and I need to form healthier habits. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but it's definitely emotional. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone in this.

After binging.....

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