I've been chewing sugar-free gum lately to offset my need to snack and also to relieve dry-mouth from allergy meds. Anyway, this is the fourth time this has happened:
I bought different flavors at the grocery. I put some in my purse, some in my bedside table and some in the kitchen. I woke up in the middle of the night and HAD TO HAVE SOME!!! I ate the whole package in my purse. Half the package in the kitchen and all the gum in my night stand.
I know each piece has about 3 calories so I probably only ate 50 cals but this is not normal behavior.
Ahahaha! Yes! Yes! I have been there!
About a month ago, I was chewing my way through 3-4 backs of hubba-bubba gum a day. I needed gum. NEEDED IT.
and then I realized the calories, and figured that i was eating an additional 100cals a day through gum.
Haven't had any since then
Hmm...that's kind of an interesting one. I've never binged on gum, but I don't think it's really something to be concerned about if it's only happened once.
Are you on a super-restrictive plan? Maybe your mind just had to have some cheat and knew gum was one of the least damaging things to binge on. At least it was just 50 calories!!
Hmm...that's kind of an interesting one. I've never binged on gum, but I don't think it's really something to be concerned about if it's only happened once.
Are you on a super-restrictive plan? Maybe your mind just had to have some cheat and knew gum was one of the least damaging things to binge on. At least it was just 50 calories!!
No - my plan is calorie counting (w/South Beach principles). I eat between 1500 and 1800 calories per day and I lose about 2 pounds per week. I eat plenty of protein, fiber, good fats, veggies & some fruit.
I don't eat white sugar, white bread & like that. Maybe my tastebuds think the sf gum is white sugar and they think "Aha! We can run her life, again!!"
MissKoo,
It might be the low calorie sweetner in the chewing gum. You may want to ween yourself from the gum to see if that helps. But I also have these cravings if I drink a diet drink.
I know what you mean! well... sort of... I don't believe I've ever woken up craving gum.... but I have binged on it!
It happens to me when I get in the habit of chewing fun flavoured gum. The sugary fruit flavours get their claws on me and I end up treating it like candy. When one loses flavour, pop in another.
I had to kick the habit as I was going through far too much and that just can't be healthy. Now I stick with peppermint and have no problems. I don't crave it, I just pop a piece after coffee or when I'm avoiding grazing while not hungry.
I am fighting this problem right now. I call it "chain gum-chewing" because it reminds me of a chain smoker whom I knew once, who was also absent-minded, and capable of lighting up a new cigarette when he already had one in his mouth. (He's since quit, BTW.) I start craving a new piece of sugarfree gum the moment the one already in my mouth doesn't taste as strong. And I don't like fruit-flavored gum -- in fact, I only chew sugarfree peppermint.
My other problem is that I get stomach issues if I chew too much gum because my system doesn't like the sorbitol or xylitol or whatever they use to sweeten it. You'd think that would stop me. But no, it means I only chew in that quantity if I'm going to be home alone for a while.
This habit frightens me a little because it's too close to bingeing behavior. Also, it seems to mean that I always want something in my mouth, or need to be experiencing a flavor as a stimulant, or need to chew to work off nervous energy. (I'm already a night-time teeth grinder in my sleep.) I am still working at overcoming it.
But Stride 3-packs are on sale this week at CVS, and the Sweet Peppermint is my favorite flavor, ever.
Still, I'm trying hard to stay strong. I'm trying to remind myself nothing good ever comes of foodstuffs bought at CVS. (Even the nuts are overpriced when on sale, compared with Trader Joe's.)
Ok, if we are in true confessions mode... I'm a gum binger too!
I also prefer the "fun fruity" flavors, although I can binge on peppermint if needed.
I've NEVER woken up at night to chew it, and I'm okay if I don't have any-- but if I have it, I mow through a pack in short order.
Frankly, I think it's harmless. It helped me get through the early month or too when I was trying to wean myself from all my bad habits. Now, it satisfies that little "I want something" feeling.
I am a former binger too, and I seem to have that very well under control right now... I think I just kind of aged out of it as I just don't struggle with it that much any more.... when I was a true binger, gum never cut it.
Chewing my Orbit Mist - Watermelon Spring, right now!
I don't think I have binged, but I definitely have cravings that I use gum to curb. The afternoons at work are the worst for me, and I have several packs of gum stashed places that I know if I need a piece it will be there.
I like the mint flavors but also like the fruity flavors. My current fave though is Trident Layers Pineapple/Apple.
I have become a big gum chewer too. I limit myself to 3 pieces a day though, because I will keep eating it too. I mostly chew it in between lunch and dinner or after dinner when the desire to just eat sometimes effects me. But somedays I don't chew any at all.
Add me to the chewer list - nothing to wake up in the middle of the night about, but I have always loved gum and it has been a very helpful mundless mouth activity in place of eating, for me.
Another gum chewer/mint popper here. I bought a pack of gum at the checkout the other day, and it was gone by the same time 2 days later, and it was a 15 piece pack. I'm a spearmint girl, or the trident citrus. Great, now I want gum.
Weird low calorie "binge"- I don't understand it
They probably are, devious little things! Don't let them get the best of you!
