My experience is that wine or other alcoholic beverages contribute to binging.

Has anyone else experienced this?

When I go looking for a glass of wine, I find that substituting water or tea w/o caffeine makes it so much easier to live binge free.

I also think my brain is stupid. When it sends me to the fridge for a glass of wine, it is just as happy if I give it diet soda in a wine glass. Is it the stem?

I have mostly given up diet soda so there is none in the house right now. The diet soda did help me avoid wine.

Perhaps if I make extra tea and try it in a wine glass?

Water in a wine glass does not work because it does not have any taste. I also work to avoid Drinking Calories - meaning fruit and veg juices.

Here's something I have not tried - I'm on South Beach Phase 1 - thinning Greek yogurt a bit with skim milk, vanilla and sweetener to create a drink in a fancy glass?

Yes. Anything beyond one glass of wine and my willpower goes out the window. I guess the solution is obvious...

F.

Whenever I drink alcohol I always crave ice cream. Why ice cream? I don't know but I can never resist it. So for now it's no alcohol for me. Flavored selzer water helps me.

Yes, alcohol contributes to bingeing for me! Yes, yes, yes. It's not just us, either. Alcohol impacts your impulse control and your blood sugar. It's pretty darn calorie heavy itself. Basically a recipe for weight gain.

I had to quit drinking because it was leading to too much overeating. I drink diet soda at night instead of wine or beer. It doesn't make me feel like I had a glass of wine at all, but it's something flavorful to drink with dinner at least. If you don't want diet soda (although I think that's a much healthier option), what about unflavored sparkling water? Or try to tea like you want to?

Most definatly! Every binge of mine can be traced back to that first glass of wine.....

I get you with the drinking out of a wine glass helping, even though its not alcoholic it feels more special. Ive been having sugar-free lemon tonic water with a slice of lemon in a wine glass.

I'm going to be the oddball here then. ^^ Alcohol shuts down any kind of hunger I may have. I've never understood why (if it were only b/c of the calories in it, then all the other foods would have the same effect).
... Of course, since I won't eat at all when drinking, as a result I get drunk faster... >.<

I have to agree with Kery. Alcohol makes me not want to eat anything, for the most part. And actually the day after, during my hangover, I tend to be pretty good about eating nutritious foods to help myself feel better and because a lot of foods aren't appealing. Not always, sometimes I'll spend the hangover eating fast food or whatever but other days it's like...these fruits, veggies and big glass of water sound really good.

So if I spend a few days drinking heavily in the evenings, like during a vacation or something, I actually tend to lose weight.

Yeah, I have to agree with Kery and thewalrus0. If I eat and drink at the same time, I have to very s-l-o-w-l-y nurse it throughout the meal or I'll feel sick.
Alcohol goes on the (extremely short) list of things that make me less likely to binge.

I used to drink wine every weekend and it would blow out my week long healthy eating plan. I discovered my body was becoming very sensitive after only 2 glasses of wine. The hangover affect - all body tiredness would last all weekend. I realise I wasn't really liking the affects (after being a drinker for many years). I started to water down my wine but still had the same tiredness. In the end I have pretty much given up altogether. I still have a wine occassionally but on the very rare occassion. The thing I notice was even though I wanted to give it up, my body had become accustom to the wine so by Friday of every week I would get cravings. I started exercising Friday afternoons and within weeks the cravings left and I no longer want wine at the end of the week. There are non alcohol wines that I use instead, no one can tell the difference and I am enjoying myself without feeling any affects. It's great to wake up in the morning feeling healthy. Cheers!

As with others, I agree that drinking alcohol makes me want to eat more. A baby step that I'm taking is that I'm only allowing myself to drink alcohol on Friday or Saturday. Then for Lent, one of the things I'm giving up is alcohol all together. The other thing on my mind is that alcoholism runs in my family and I've started to get into the habit of enjoying a beer or two after work- I don't want that to become the norm though (I just really enjoy good tasting beers).

I have a problem with binging after alcohol, too. I think there is something about the stem. I have been substituting peach flavored green tea (in a wine glass). It seems to be a good substitute and only 5 calories per serving.

As I rediscovered over the holidays, drinking leads to overeating for me. It's because I get so dehydrated and I try to get my hydration from food because my blood sugar has also dropped. Overall, this leads to increased calorie intake and I'm down for the count the next day (aka New Year's Day, lol).

Still, I enjoy myself when I'm out with friends, but I limit myself to 1 mixed drink.

I don't know about alcohol leading me to binge...sometimes...but all I know alcohol itself is a ton of calories which sucks!