10 tips to BEAT binge eating disorder
First of all do you ever get an urge to eat uncontrollably?
Do you consume huge amounts of food without realizing that you have done it, feeling like you are on auto pilot?
Or do you eat huge amounts of food and feel guilty because you view it that you have no will power and are helpless to control your own actions?
If you have answered yes to these questions then it may be that you have binge eating disorder (this does not give a medical diagnosis and if needed you are recommended to speak to your health professional)
I have had this eating disorder for more than 2/3rd’s of my life and understand totally what it means to actually live through it.
After doing lots of research over the last few years and working very much on a trial and error basis I have found that there are certain things that can really help gain control.
So hear are my top 10 tips to help you beat binge eating disorder.
1 Be realistic with yourself and understand that recovery will not be instant and that during the period of gaining control you are still probably going to have occasions when you binge. It is important to realize and understand that this does not mean that you have failed. Once you can accept that binging isn’t failing it will help you move on from a binge without the guilt which can lead to a chain of binging.
2 Be honest with yourself! Normally there are reasons why we all binge eat. For me there are a variety of them. They include things like trying to hide from my emotions if they are hard, or physical reasons like when I am tired. I have found that the best way to work out the reason why you binge is to start a journal. This is somewhere you record not only what you eat but also the other things like how you feel physically, mentally and emotionally. Once you have found the reasons for the binging it is much easier to work out effective ways of stopping them.
3 Eat regularly. The moment you get hungry or your blood sugar drops you are setting yourself up for a binge. Your body at this point relies on it’s amygdule (the part of the brain which is left from the times of cavemen) which says that there is a famine, so next time you come across food it is programmed to get you to eat as much as possible to stock up for the next famine.
4 Don’t skip meals. This is really important. If you do binge don’t try and make up for it by missing out on meals afterward. Go straight on to whichever the next normal meal would be. Skipping meals is a common bad habits of those dealing with binge eating disorder.
5 Find one person you can talk to about your eating and how it effects you. This is really important. Part of the power of this disorder is the ability it has to make you feel isolated and a freak. By finding someone you can confide in you take some of this power away, and once you do that it is easier for you to gain control for yourself. This doesn’t have to be a person in your life, for me the support has come from online groups (link to support forum is included at end of this article).
6 Don’t diet. Even if you are overweight! You will find that if you just eat a ‘normal’ amount of calories for a day you will start to lose weight when you gain control of your binging even without dieting. Most research on this disorder agrees that dieting can be both a trigger and a fuel to keep b.e.d going when the original trigger has gone. In fact some research says that there is a tie between yo yo dieting and developing eating disorders.
7 Find alternatives to do rather than binge. Have a list that you can turn to when things are bad so that you do not expect your brain to think of things during the crisis it just has to pick something you have already thought about.
8 Keep reminding yourself that you are more than an eating disorder. There will be lots of things in your life that are positive and you need to remind yourself about them daily.
9 Believe that YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10 Believe you WILL GET THROUGH THIS with the support and help of others and working through the reasons for it.
I recommend this binge eating support forum which I have found is one of the most supportive.