[saef]

Seabiscuit, have you looked in the Chicks in Control forum? There are a lot of helpful posts there addressing those who are dealing with the bingeing habit.

As a binge eater in recovery -- it's a behavior that is very difficult to overcome sometimes, so I consider myself to continually be in recovery -- I recommend that you read up on this a little more, to arm yourself better against these moments.

Sometimes distraction works. Sometimes meditating works. Or calling up a friend. Or posting here. '

Sometimes you just have to white-knuckle it through & sit there in a kind of mental pain until it passes. In the middle of an overwhelming urge, it's awful, like holding on through a hurricane or some other natural disaster -- but when it's over, you will feel better about yourself than you would, had you given in & binged.

[ubergirl]

Seabiscuit,

I too battled this problem for many many years and I know exactly what you are talking about...

Now, I have been 100% binge free for almost a full year....

Now, everybody is completely different, but for a long time, I used to try to psychoanalyze myself, taking the approach of trying to sort out my feelings, and I never got anywhere. I am kind of an introspective person, I guess, and I analyzed the causes and reasons absolutely to death and still kept bingeing.

What finally helped me was to learn to ride out the tide. I don't binge on salmon and vegetables. I made a short list of foods that I was going to avoid at all costs: salty snacks, baked goods, sweets, anything that can have butter slathered on it... Then, whenever the craving hit, I just told myself NO, and what's more, what was important for me, I did not feed myself anything else-- no low cal jello, no diet bread, no food at all. I just white knuckled it out.

That was extremely uncomfortable for me. And, in retrospect, it was rather like quitting smoking (I smoked for a few years, way back when...) I felt like I wanted, needed, and had to have something. In the past, when trying to lose weight, I had always tried to substitute a "legal" food for the one that I really wanted-- that always eventually backfired and set me back to binging.

This time, I learned to cope with the wanting feeling by relaxing, distraction, anything but eating. My only "crutch" was sugar free gum. It got MUCH easier over time, and now, I really don't battle the craving. I don't really think about it much any more. I still get that "want something" feeling, but I don't immediately think "feed it".

At the same time, I REALLY did have to revolutionize my life. Somewhere in the process, I realized that NO WONDER I was "rewarding" myself with treats. It was because I was so incredibly self-sacrificing in almost every other area of my life. I did not spend money on myself, I did not carve out time for myself, I did not buy myself clothing, or nice hair cuts, or bubble bath, or time out with friends. So whenever I was feeling sorry for myself I rewarded myself with the old familiar: food.

And, ironically, all that binge food was actually time-consuming, and expensive, so I might as well have rewarded myself in other ways.

I hope you find some of this helpful. I struggled alone and helpless for so long that I was convinced that I was stuck forever, and ironically, it was not as hard to get past it as I thought it would be.

We are here to help.

[tomato sunshine]

i've been in the bingy mood a lot, too. i try to figure out what i'm craving and why i'm craving it. the next time i go grocery shopping, i try to find healthy substitutes for my common cravings (in addition to my standard healthy staples).

sometimes if i do splurge on junk food, i buy the smallest size possible or bring the rest to work for other people to eat once i've satisfied my craving.

basically, if it's in my house, i *will* binge on it without any good reason...so i am really cautious about what i bring home.