[slenderella]

I have to tell you, the Brain Over Binge book was EXACTLY what I needed!
I have been a binge eater since age 13, and I am almost 53 now. That's 40 years of bondage. I have done therapy, OA, WW, South Beach Diet, Shrink Yourself...on and on. I read this book on Feb 26 and from that day one I have been totally binge free. One month and counting!!

[JenMusic]

Originally Posted by slenderella

I have to tell you, the Brain Over Binge book was EXACTLY what I needed!
I have been a binge eater since age 13, and I am almost 53 now. That's 40 years of bondage. I have done therapy, OA, WW, South Beach Diet, Shrink Yourself...on and on. I read this book on Feb 26 and from that day one I have been totally binge free. One month and counting!!

Slenderella, that is AMAZING! I am so happy for you!

[lin43]

I read most of the book, and I just don't get what is so special about the cure. Basically, she is touting willpower and forming a habit, right? She's saying that when we succumb to binge after binge, the neural transmitters in our brain are "trained" so to speak, to desire that binge when given the right triggers. Am I right about that? What am I missing here?

I'm happy that this worked for, Slenderella; I think it has worked for others, too, if I judge by the reviews on Amazon. Sometimes, I think that even a simple solution just "clicks" right with us sometimes; I wish the advice in her book would click with me. I realized while reading her book that I may not be a "binger" to the degree that she describes herself (e.g., I never would eat food I didn't like just for the sake of eating; I wouldn't eat the amount of food she ate, even though I definitely overeat, etc.). However, I definitely have disordered eating/thinking about food and would like to rid myself of that.

[surfergirl2]

I didn't get it either. After i read the book, i tried to tell myself to stop binging, but it didn't work.

[Kery]

I read it months ago, so I'm not sure anymore of all its exact contents, but the way I understood it, it's not a matter of "willpower" but of detachment. I understood it as "look at the urge not in an emotional, but in a scientific way." As if I was looking at an experiment unfolding, and analysing its process along the way. It wasn't about exerting willpower, telling myself "don't binge!", or anything like that. It was more like questioning the process: "I'm having a urge now. Am I hungry? No. Do I need to eat because I'm starving? No. Am I having a specific problem (emotional, financial, etc.) right now? Yes? Will eating do anything to solve my financial problem? No, on the contrary, it'll just cost more money. So is there any point in bingeing, anyway? No." The more I addressed the issue, the more it felt completely stupid and useless, and since I don't like doing stupid and pointless things, I usually ended up not bingeing.

(But, as I said in the other thread linked to above, I was also "helped" last year by teeth problems, so urges or no urges, I had no physical means of eating, and I just didn't even have a choice anyway.)

I hope this helps.

[saef]

Those who weren't helped by the book are not alone. I get it. Totally. I do. But getting it is different from feeling it or acting on it. I was left feeling that I am a far more emotional and illogical creature than the author of this book, as if Mr. Spock were trying to help me with my binges. Talking myself through a logical sequence gives me no more help than completing a proof in geometry would.

[TriciaV]

Detachment works for some things and not others depending on who you are. I was able to detach from my anxiety disorder, for instance, but have used 12 step recovery for other things. I later learned that the guy who wrote my anxiety book (Albert Ellis) wrote a "little book" of rationalist addiction recovery and was Susan Powter's guru. That kind of bothered me, but it worked, so why look a gift horse in the mouth? 12 step also worked, though I consider relief of depression and codependency my main victories there and abstinence from chocolate a side effect. I did reach my high weight in that state, but it was 212 and not morbid obesity.

I have wondered about whether I had Binge disorder, or if I fell into the range of average behavior. I would eat large quantities, but I was not distressed by it.* I thought I was fit and fat, and I worked in scrubs so how was I to know different?

*Now if we go back to what preceded 12 step recovery, I guess I was starting to worry about how much I was eating then. I had a breadmaker habit. I could make a parody: Breading Bad