Chicks in Control Overeating? Binging? Share uplifting support and gain control!

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Old 02-25-2014, 03:15 AM   #1  
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Default Food Addicts Anonymous Meal plan anyone

Hi.

I was going to put this in the OA thread, but it doesn't look as busy and would like some input.
I am just early stages on trying out the overeaters anonymous spiritual program. I have a sponsor and we've done 3 steps going on 4 but so far no light bulb has turned on and am still stuffing my face...Anyways on to more pressing questions, I needed to find out how best to eat for my binge eating/overeating since childhood history...I thought the food addicts anonymous plan would work best as I feel addicted to certain foods more than others but it feels so restrictive to me, measuring, checking for hidden sugars, writing what I eat, I wanted to be away from that obsession with food this way I feel it will be 24/7 food thoughts...
A couple other issues I came up with are no cheese at all, like ever? cheese strings and almonds were a go to snack for me.aside from that....potatoes are allowed but french fries are my number 1 binge food when I go to the drive thrus...so how do i really know what the problematic part of the food is.........How do you make stirfrys tasty if i cant even use some schriacha sauce.etc. Also another huge issue is 3 straight meals no snacks...they say you can separate the meals but that feels like it will not be enough food..
These are a couple things, but my main problem is it seems to conflict with binge eating therapy i did a few years ago that encourages to eat every 3 hours and no removal of food groups..This plan just feels like I will be measuring,reading labels,looking for alternatives all day long.....
anyone on this plan and any thoughts at all? Maybe once time goes on it becomes second nature?

Thanks for reading.

Last edited by davina; 02-25-2014 at 03:22 AM.
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Old 02-25-2014, 08:09 AM   #2  
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I should preface this by saying, I'm not familiar with the plan you are considering, but here are my thoughts after reading your post:

The tricky part of all this is to find what works specifically for you. And it can be very different than any single program advises. But you can take from each program what you THINK will work, try it out, and modify it as you go.

For instance, jellies and jams are trigger foods for me but sriracha and other salsas are not. Nuts are triggers for me, but natural peanut butter and almond butter are not. Pretty much all breads are triggers for me, except Ezekiel bread. Oddly, I can also eat white tortilla burrito shells with no problem. Go figure.

I also can't count calories, I get extremely stressed and obsessive and begin over-restricting like crazy. But I can keep a hand written food diary just fine (the online tools make me absolutely obsessive). I only discovered these things through trial and error.

Fortunately, you can tailor your program specifically to YOU. It doesn't have to have internal consistency, or work for a single other person, it just has to work for YOU.

The binge eating therapy you describe would absolutely fail for me. Eating every 3 hours -- gah -- I'd constantly be obsessed with food. And I definitely have to cut out certain foods completely. But with the plan I tailored to myself I've had only one binge in the last 315-ish days. And I used to binge eat almost every day.

So my advice to you is to be willing to try different approaches, and if they don't work (after honest assessment) be willing to modify them as necessary.

It is hard work, managing a binge-eating disorder, there is no getting around that. But my experience has been that it does get easier (not EASY, but easier) over time if you can find what works best for you and commit to it.

Last edited by Mrs Snark; 02-25-2014 at 08:13 AM. Reason: bad spelling and typing galore
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Old 02-25-2014, 09:02 PM   #3  
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Thanks for reply. Though the BED eating recommenation was eat every 3-4 hours on the clock, I didn't find myself any more obsessed as I usually would be on a diet(another problem is when I am not compulsively overeating/binging I always feel like its a diet no matter what plan I'm on)...The good thing about it was I could eat anything which made snacks easy and portable like cheese strings and did not have to read labels for hidden sugars, wheat and flour which is going to be incredibly time consuming and stuff like that gets my brain frustrated and running to the nearest Mcdonalds
At the same time, the FAA plan makes sense to me because I do think I am a true food addict and certain foods are impossible to resist or eat one of.
I can literally talk myself out of anything and cause a bunch of confusion that keeps me paralyzed and not start anything but I think I will try this for a few weeks even if it is restrictive I hope it lessens the cravings. I will also take your advice in changing things up to see what works, but the plan is pretty set in stone, if there is sugar,flour or wheat cannot eat it. Even 1grm of sugar in chicken broth......and cheese and alcohol too Alcohol is not a problem but I like cooking wines to make mushroom marsala n such.....basically I will have to live with a bland diabetic meal plan but if it gives me freedom from overeating I will try it out.

Last edited by davina; 02-25-2014 at 09:05 PM.
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Old 02-27-2014, 01:53 AM   #4  
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Well Im back to my confusion and conflicts now.
Question for anyone avoiding trigger/addictive substances like sugar/wheat/ flours.....Do you cut ALL sugar...For example if u see a salad dressing with 1gram sugar?
And what about yogurt with natural sugar?

It's not recommended to tweak this plan, but I think I may try and find a compromise as I want to add snacks in between[cup or so of broth/veg) and I do not want to weigh the food either which is recommended to make sure it's the right volume, I think simple measurement could work.

Crap like this always prevents me from getting started, my brain is so frustrating

Last edited by davina; 02-27-2014 at 01:55 AM.
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Old 02-28-2014, 12:38 PM   #5  
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Hi Davina,

I don't have the specific answer you need, but I can completely relate, because I had the same experience. I was in OA a few years ago, had a sponsor, tried the different meal plans (including Grey Sheet), and the magic never quite happened. I do think it was helpful, though.

Just like Mrs Snark said, what finally worked (until I reverted to my old unhealthy ways) was tweaking different plans that "kind of" fit, but not quite. For me, it was either "on" or "off" a diet, but no clue how to eat normally - whatever that was. My goal was to stop compulsive overeating AND compulsive dieting, and remove the triggers that led me to do both.

For the compulsive overeating part, that meant removing simple carbs. For the compulsive dieting part, that meant no obsessive measuring, counting, etc. An addict is an addict, and I didn't want to be addicted to dieting any more than I wanted to be addicted to food. Where's the freedom in that?

Basically, I ended up with a Beachy 301: I kind of followed the South Beach phase 1-2 foods (no processed stuff, no sugary stuff, some grains but mostly starchy veggies). I ate 3 meals a day, 1 snack if I needed it, nothing in between. At meal time, I ate South Beach style with as much on a plate as I needed to feel satisfied - but not stuffed - till the next meal. But no second helpings.

That was a great plan for me, and it didn't obsess over anything, yet still removed my triggers. I easily lost about 30 pounds in just a few months and never once felt like I was dieting.

Why am I fat now, you ask? Because I listened to "friends" urge me to treat myself, and fell off the wagon HARD. I've been trying to climb back on since, and now I'm ready again.

Good luck to you! I know you can do this.
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Old 03-02-2014, 10:36 AM   #6  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davina View Post
...but the plan is pretty set in stone if there is sugar,flour or wheat cannot eat it.
Who set it in stone? Will you get fined or jailed if you tweak the plan to suit YOUR needs?

Even if you go on a packaged tour vacation, you have some freedom to explore on your own. To my mind, packaged diets are the same thing: take what works for you and modify the rest.

F.
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Old 03-02-2014, 04:11 PM   #7  
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Originally Posted by freelancemomma View Post
Who set it in stone? Will you get fined or jailed if you tweak the plan to suit YOUR needs?

Even if you go on a packaged tour vacation, you have some freedom to explore on your own. To my mind, packaged diets are the same thing: take what works for you and modify the rest.

F.
This! As to whether just 1 gram of sugar will derail you, I'll share my experience: I have used a lot of prepared foods on diets over the yrs. I especially fell in love with Trader Joes Asian vinaigrette, turkey meatballs, and a few other things. I noticed that I was seemed to crave more no matter how much I ate. Once I read the label, I saw two culprits, for me, anyway: sugar and salt. Even though the calories were reasonable, the effect on my palate and on my brain were sabotaging me. Some people don't have this sensitivity, so again, you are your experiment of one to see what works.

Fortunately there is a vast assortment of sugar free products and recipes for unprocessed food prep that makes it easier to eliminate sugar without meals being grim & monotonous. I say this as someone with little time to cook & no culinary genes, lol.

In addition to whatever support you find helpful, there are great books out there, my favorite Brain over Binge, but there are others too. I recently read about Food Addicts Anonymous, which may have a different slant than OA, though it's a 12-step program too.

Keep at it and you will find your own way by customizing a WOE to your needs. If something doesn't work, it's not failure, it's information.

Last edited by mars735; 03-02-2014 at 04:14 PM.
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Old 03-05-2014, 09:21 AM   #8  
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If something doesn't work, it's not failure, it's information.
Truth! It took alot of "information" for me to figure out what works for me!
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Old 03-21-2014, 06:22 AM   #9  
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Thx for the replies.
I am still experimenting,so far the only thing I am seriously attempting to avoid is wheat, flour and trigger foods. Reducing sugar as much as possible.
The problem is I frustrate myself so much.
It's going alright for the moment but whether Im going out for a drive thru binge or eating cleaner is still always there is my mind 24/7.
It may just be early in program but this is what I want to go away most of all. I just want to eat breakfast lunch and dinner because of normal hunger and completely forget about food outside of those 3 meals.
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