What is Binge-Eating?
Binge-Eating is considered to be a disorder in which you overeat to the point where you can not seem to make yourself stop. A lot of that can be caused due to; stress, anxiety, sadness and a range of overwhelming emotions that you want run away from.
Our relationship with food as a society is far from perfect…but realising this and wanting to better the way you treat yourself physically and mentally is already a huge step. Below are some tips to help you on your journey <3
How can you overcome binge-eating?:
1.Realisation
I will be the first to admit that acknowledging a problem area in our lives is quiet difficult at first. We are raised around sugar and normalise over-eating. Consuming foods when we feel happy, sad or stressed as a coping mechanism for all emotions in our lives. When food should be used to fuel our bodies and make us feel stronger.
Self-destructive habits are hard to change in the beginning especially when people do not realise they are destructive. That could be because those habits have become a part of our comfort zones. But as Tony Robbins once said; ” You change when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.”
Firstly, well done. You are here doing research, trying to heal yourself and these habits that you have realised are no longer beneficial in your life, growth and health.
Success begins in the mind. Our minds are heavily influenced by what we expose them to and what we feed them, literally. So well done you! Taking the initiative to better your diet, health and ultimately your lifestyle.
The pyramids in Egypt were not built in one day! Prosperous health is a consistent, everyday process with ups and down which in the long run make you a stronger person.
Before we get into some of these tips one more little thing…Enjoy the process. You are trying to break free from what feels like a never ending cycle of gluttony and over-eating, be patient with yourself and know that the results you desire and more will come to you.
2. Honesty & Goal Setting
Honesty is the best remedy. Have you ever tried to make a drastic change in your life or habits and getting so discouraged that your quit? Let’s overcome it…
Grab a journal or a piece of paper and a pen. Find a quiet space to write questions to yourself, which you will think about and answer. The trick is to be completely honest with the questions and the answers. You can make the questions up yourself but here is a list to help you get started:
- How do I feel, emotionally, when I’m Binge-eating?
- How does my body feel when I am Binge-eating?
- What thoughts are going through my head?
- What emotion is making me feel like I need to Binge and why?
These questions are so simple but may be hard to confront because as a society we do not like acknowledging flaws or weaknesses. Being totally honest with yourself will guide you towards a clearer way of thinking. Honesty will not only enable you to deal with binge eating but other areas of your life also.
Goal Setting
If you have reached this far down the post then I know that your health matters to you. This section is about analysing what you want to achieve in your well-being journey. The “How to be More Productive Post” talks about achieving your life goals in general.
Anyway, back to Goal Setting. Here are 3 simple questions we can work through together:
- How do you feel about your health right now?
- Why do you feel this way?
- How would you like to feel?
Firstly, How do you feel about your health. Are you tired of feeling tired, physically weak and mentally strained? Do you feel guilty about your eating habits? Does that guilt drive you to consume other elements of escapism, like endlessly scrolling down social media or binge watching Netflix series?
Even if there is one little thing you would like to change about the way you are feeling you have to analyse it first…
Why are you feeling this way. Are the relationships in your life (personal or professional) toxic or weighing you down, causing you stress?
Stress is one of the main emotions involved in making people binge eat. It is an interesting emotion because stress can be seen as subjective. You chose what stresses you out, you chose what takes control over you mentally and emotionally.
Stress is a physical response and it can damage the brain and other organs when activated too often or for too long. The way you allow yourself to respond to problems in your life will impact your levels of stress.
How can I deal with Problems that cause me stress?
Break.It.Down.
Remember in maths class, those 2 step questions we were taught. As we got older we were able to tackle 4 step, 5 step questions. Even if the maths in those lessons has long been forgotten I believe we can extract a real lesson out of them.
No problem is too big.
Take the Problem or challenge and acknowledge it. Taking Binge eating as the problem at hand. Similarly to maths, we want to find the answer to the question.
Here is my question to you. What can you do right now, that is within your control, to improve your health?
Is it to go to bed at a certain time every night? Eating your meals around the same time everyday to regulate your circadian rhythm? Is it exercising, stretching or using your body for its function, movement? Or is it to chew your food slower, really acknowledging its texture and not rushing onto the next bite before having finished your first?
Once you have pin pointed the target problem questions in your life it is time for you to break them down and solve them.
3. Breaking The Goals Down & Consistency
Kaizen. A beautiful concept it is, deriving from a Sino-Japanese word meaning “continuous improvement.”
This concept suggests that you can achieve your goals by changing one thing everyday. A small change which will bring you closer to that ‘end’ goal. Consistently implicating the change(s) into your routine will add up over time to produce a bigger outcome.
For example, if you go to bed earlier, like around 8:30pm every-night it will give your body so much time to heal itself because that’s what it does when you sleep. Of course, we are humans and not robots so you might go to bed earlier or later than you would have wished to on some days.
The key to kaizen is to acknowledge the weakness in the areas you’re improving and setting yourself the goal to wake up the next morning and do better.
The word ‘diet’ nowadays is usually viewed as a painful chore of self-restriction and self-denial which is why the last section of this blog post is about the diet itself because straightening your thoughts out first is the most important step to prosperous health.
As you will see below your diet does not have to be self-restrictive, Lord knows how much I love my brownies 😉 But that does not mean that you have to over-do it.
Some people may engage in Binge-eating or overeat regularly because they have a sense of scarcity within them that they have not yet acknowledged or confronted. But know that the world provides for you and that you are cared for.
Now, let’s get into the idea of a ‘healthy diet.’
4. Improving The Diet itself
One person I would highly recommend following on instagram is @eatburnsleep. Yalda Alaoui is a gut health and inflammation expert who is deeply passionate about her topic and her information is very well researched. She has a vast range of recipes and blog posts on her website you can check out here if you are interested
The diet:
Your body needs YOU to feed the person that you are. The diet of a long distance runner will differ from the diet of an actor or a corporate worker or a swimmer.
Your body will support you in anything that you do, so help it by taking care of the things that are within your control; like your diet.
Breakfast
After 8 hours of sleeping your body had not had any water. One thing you can do in the morning is to drink a big glass of water or a warm cup of water with some fresh ginger or lemon.
With the abundance of beverage options out there it may be hard for some people to even remember to drink water! Here is a motivational water bottle I think is great to have with you as a little reminder throughout the day 😉
Personally I like working out in the mornings, a short 45 minutes sessions starting with cardio, then abs, followed by stretching.Even a morning walk is great! It really wakes you up physically and mentally starts your day off positively. Of course, tailor your workouts to your schedule and routine.
Lunch
The gap between breakfast and lunch is around 5 hours which is enough time for your body the have digested most of your breakfast.
Really, lunchtime options are endless, eat whatever you like but keep your portions in mind. Just because you shouldn’t overdo something doesn’t mean you should minimise it so much that you become miserable. It is not about that, it is about finding a healthy balance.
Your body knows what it needs and will guide you, all you have to do is just listen.
Dinner
Again, not much to say about this because your diet should be tailored to you, your lifestyle and the person you are. However, one thing I can say is try to avoid or reduce the amount of grains you consume before bed. This is because grains require much more effort from your body to break down.
Therefore, during the night, when your brain should be healing you it is too busy leading the digestion process of you body. t
It is also the reason why you may have trouble going to bed because your digestive system is still so active when you should be calm and ready to rest. Alternatives include vegetable soups, asian soups or stews…
Enjoying without over doing it:
Now, it doesn’t mean you can not have grains AT ALL at dinner. Maybe you just need to reduce your portions a little (or by a-lot) so that your sleep is beneficial to you and you can wake up the next day to be more productive.
Another positive thing that you may receive from good quality sleep is mental strength and clarity. Binge-eating and over-eating can often be due to the fact that the person is tired and feels like they need energy. Or because their brain was not able to heal and regenerate during the night. As a result, their thoughts are unclear leading them to make decisions they will later regret and once again fall into that cycle of guilt.
Trust yourself and the process. You are growing mentally, physically and emotionally everyday. There is no blueprint to life so do not let mistakes and ‘failure,’ bring you down. Failure is a natural process of growth and makes the end result so much more beautiful and satisfactory.
You got this!
What should I do after Binge-eating?
Learn from the experience. Do not overthink or bring yourself down just be kind to yourself. Don’t let that one mistake make your whole week a binge-eating spree because you feel bad! You can tell yourself something along the lines of:
“Okay, I binge ate again.That decision does not make me feel good right now but I will not let it bring me down. I am strong mentally and I can overcome it. I will do better today than I did yesterday.”
Going on a walk outside or even walking around your house may help you digest a little bit. Additionally, you could use that time to sort through your emotions and thoughts. Building a mental plan on how you will not make that same mistake the next day…
Power to you on your journey to a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle, I hope this blog post has helped you. You can let us know what you think about our posts in the comment section <3
We love!
Book recommendation: The Yoga of Eating
I do not want to make this post too long but I will write a book review on ‘The Yoga of Eating” by Charles Eisenstein as it is beautifully written and a great read if the topics in this post have interested you.
Have a great rest of your week and don’t hesitate to comment under our posts and follow up on our instagram page! 😉
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