I don't ever purge, but I have a serious problem with binging. I don't understand my strange obsession with food. If someone brings a cake to work I will sneak piece after piece and scarf it down in my cubicle, and if I know there's some left in the fridge on a weekend I will come back to the office and finish the entire thing. This makes no sense since I could just buy cake and not come all the way back to the office, but I won't stop thinking about it until it's gone. I am the same way at home. If my boyfriend brings home cookies or crackers I will feel this intense need to finish them, almost to just have it over with. This is especially hard for me to control if I haven't slept enough, which is the case more often than not. Does anyone else have these uncontrollable impulses?
Someone pointed out to me that no one ever binges on kale or steak. People binge on high carb starchy or sweet foods because they trigger hormones in our body that make us want to eat way more. So the key is to cut those trigger foods entirely. Cut all processed foods, period, because they are designed to be addictive (seriously- they have food scientists that figure out how to make you want to eat more and more because that's how they make money). Cut out starchy or high glycemic veg and fruit and stick to the ones lower on the glycemic index. Only eat food prepared from real ingredients that can be sourced from a farm, a field, or the water and prepare them yourself to control the ingredients going in. Restaurants often use flavor enhancers, sugar, etc. which also encourages overeating. Consider going low carb / high fat. Fat is not the enemy that we've been led to believe- fat is super satiating. Carbs are not- carbs are addictive and encourage overeating. Check out sites like Marksdailyapple.com and dietdoctor.com .
Hi,
Thanks so much for the reply! I guess I should have put some more details in the original post. I do in fact binge with kale and things like that. I don't eat meat and am mostly vegan (except for when people bring sweets to the office!), so the high fat/low carb thing is kind of difficult for me to do. I have tried making big bowls of veggies to have around to snack on, but I'll end up eating the week's worth in one sitting. I also don't know how I can overcome this enough to entirely cut processed or even high glycemic foods from my life. I feel like maybe I could if I didn't work in an office where there is literally always a table full of either cakes, cookies, or donuts and I also lived alone, but I think even then I would freak out once in a while and buy things to binge on.
Hm. That does make it more challenging. At home, I'd suggest never shopping hungry so you don't buy trigger foods. But yeah, at the office- hm. Is it a big office, or little? More to the point, could you ask your co-workers to not put stuff like that out? Do you know them that well and are they supportive of you? Or could you enlist just one co-worker as an accountability person to tell you not to eat something if you feel tempted? Or a friend, perhaps one you don't work with that you can text or something, to give you a pep talk when you feel tempted?
I don't talk to any of my friends about this stuff and I don't know any of my co-workers well. I'm pretty private to begin with and I'm very embarrassed about this, so I would never ask them to stop bringing in the junk food. It is a pretty big office, there are about 50 people and a large group of them are bringing/sharing food all the time. I'm currently sitting about twenty feet from a table with donuts and plates full of leftover birthday cake. Argh!
I just want to understand what is wrong with me! I knew they had this birthday party yesterday and I was thinking about the cake all night. I knew if I came in early I could eat all the leftovers before anyone got in. I can usually keep myself from buying junk food but once it's here I get crazy about it .
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The term "Binge Eating Disorder" is real. It is a psychological disorder, similar to Anorexia or Bulimia. It usually involves sweets, but not always. And a very big factor is you work hard at not letting anyone know about it. When I was single and lived alone, I didn't have much money, so anytime there was free food at work I would scarf it down and I developed a binge eating disorder, although not as extreme as yours. I actually looked into going to a psychologist who specialized in Binge Eating Disorders, but the cost was more than I could afford. I started to use Intuitive Eating to change my eating habits. I started out by not eating anything if I was not hungry. It wasn't easy, and I didn't change overnight. It took time, and a lot of falling down and starting all over. One practice is if they have cake at work, set aside a slice to have with your lunch, when you are hungry. Or take it home to eat with your dinner, when you are hungry. You can even have it FOR your meal if you want, but the key is, you cannot eat it until you are hungry, and you have to stop eating when your hunger is satisfied. Not when the binge feeling passes, when you no longer feel hungry. You have to be very strong to accomplish this change, but you will feel very good about yourself when you realize you got through the first urge without bingeing.
I don't know if there is any free help available for this, but you could look into it. Good luck to you.
I have found that a pkg. of freeze dried strawberries is very helpful. A whole bag is only 100 calories and I can snack for several days from 1 bag. Taste great.
Yes I also have a problem with binge eating. It seems like I can only either starve myself and eat next to nothing all day or if I try to eat just a normal amount of food I fly off the handle and can't stop eating...I feel trapped by it.
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Ladybinger, binge eating is a big problem with most overweight people. We seem to be addicted. It's a hard habit to break but it can be done. Try cutting back on portions for just one day. Don't look ahead or behind. Once you get the first day under your belt, try to do the second. If you fall off the wagon, just pick yourself up and get back on. Keep coming here to post for support. There is always someone here who will help you. We all have the same goals.
I finally buckled down and created a three week 1200 calorie mealplan. I know what I'm going to eat 14 days from now lol. I am almost done with the first week and have lost two pounds...and I binged twice. My binging is generally, not always but generally restricted to the nighttime. To counteract this I started eating a half cup of oatmeal with two tablespoons of flavored yogurt at about 10 or 11 PM. Since I started doing this I have not had a nighttime binge. Plan for the time of day you are most obsessed with food....if there is a specific time of day...and make sure you can eat something filling at that time! Good luck.
Binge eating is often times psychological. For example if you grew up with little means of getting by and your parents forced you to finish the food on your plate or finish what they would buy this mentality could be carried on into adulthood. Try to go back in your mind and find if there are any associations. Sometimes our subconscious mind needs an "update" kind of like a computer. The book "i am enough" by Marissa peer talks about this.
Obsessed with Food
