Hey, kmac!
Yes, I think you can be on SBD without thinking about food as much. When the cravings go, you'll find it's much easier to avoid binges and avoid obsessing about food, too. That said, the thing about being on a plan of
any kind is that you are going to have to think about food...a lot. You think about food in order to plan what you should eat, plan ahead for special occasions, etc. Geneen Roth (author of
Breaking Free from Emotional Eating,
Feeding the Hungry Heart,
Why Weight? A Guide to Ending Compulsive Eating, etc.), who believes that the way to end compuslive eating is to stop dieting, says that's why diets never work--you spend just as much time thinking about food as you did when you weren't dieting...just for an ostensibly different reason. Obviously, some plans
do work...just look at our
maintainers! (check out the Maintainers forum for more...) But I think it's not so much that the plan works as it is that the person working the plan has found one that is compatible with their needs and lifestyle.
This is just me, another chick, talking here...not as a moderator, but I think it's really helpful, no matter what plan you follow, to work on the emotional/psychological aspect of your eating. You can work with a therapist, visit a nutrition clinic/nutritionist (one that works with people who compulsively overeat), or read books like Geneen's to help you gain insight into
why you binge. SBD has helped me immensely in that it took away my cravings and made the desire to binge nearly nonexistant for a long, long time. But in the last year my emotional/psychological issues with food have become more prominent and I've been forced to deal with them. If I'd done it earlier, I'd be in a better place now.
Read the SBD book and see if it sounds like the right plan for you; one that suits your needs and your lifestyle. If so, I hope you'll join us here!
If it doesn't seem right, you might find help in the
3 Fat Chicks: Because We're All In This Together book. It lists tons of diet plans and explains for whom the plans work best.
Good luck!
Hello
kmac! My opinions are the same as Schmoodle's and Femme's. I couldn't have said it better myself. 
I think after the initial Phase 1 and easing into Phase 2 that you'll find this way of eating will just come natural to you, and you won't have to constantly think of what to eat. I hope you decide to join us, and good luck!
