I have much trouble w/ binging, and have certain “trigger foods” (mostly sugary and salty snacks) I was reading a blog about the subject, and one commentator mentioned that the way she overcame it was buying tons of her trigger foods, such that she couldn’t ever eat it all in one sitting, and constantly replenishing her stock. She said that eventually she overcame junk food’s hold on her, and now can keep a candy around for months without eating it!
I know the standard practice with trigger foods is to tell people to just avoid having them in the house. But, is that a true path to recovery? Aren’t you still kind of beholden to them? What about when you go to parties or eat out? Or if you move in with someone else? Also, I’ve sort of tried that, and I usually end up going on a midnight run to the grocery store for chips or whatever, binge that night, and throw the rest away in the morning and hate myself the whole time.
I would so love to be free of this. I would love, love, love to have snacks around and not within 24 hours get this crazy feeling like I have to eat the whole bag. I’m so mystified at how my roommate can eat one small piece of cake like every other day and just leave the rest sitting on the counter!
This does work. My bugaboo was ice cream, so I started keeping four half-gallons in my frig and gave myself permission to eat as much as I wanted. Eventually, I started eating no ore than a cup at any one time.
Also, like, if I were to list my triggers, it something like:
M&Ms
other chocolate-y candy
whipped cream
chips
crackers (esp goldfish)
trail mixes
snack mixes
popcorn
So do I need to buy tons of all of those things? Or let’s just say I went hog wild with the chips, could I correct for all the salty snacks?
It would not work for me. I use the example that I am like a dog when I eat pizza. I will eat so much that I throw up, then I will go back for more pizza. So I guess it depends on the individual. Food to me is very specific. If I want potato chips, I want potato chips. Corn chips or cheeze curls won’t do.
I also struggle with trigger foods. I don’t binge, but I could certain foods every day (and I mean every day) and never tire of them. My solution is to keep those foods out of the house. Fortunately I live alone so I don’t have to deal with roommate or spouse. But if you do, make it a mantra that her/his foods are not yours and you do not have permission to eat them.
I think food is an addiction just like drugs or alcohol or cigarettes or gambling or all the other addictions. You are never free from it; you just learn to manage it. I’m 53 and would love to know the secret of never wanting Lays Wavy chips or Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies.
I’d say that it’s worth trying… I wouldn’t say that I’ve ever been a binge eater, but I do get strong cravings. I’ll buy the food, usually in a big American-sized container, and eat it for a while then feel thoroughly sick of it long before it’s gone.
If you’re a binger like Annie-Xmas (but not like peedin) it could be valuable to have felt the feeling of eating the food until it just wasn’t good anymore.
Peedin, do you ever cheat? Like let’s say you make it a point not to buy pizza or whatever during your weekly grocery trip, but do you find yourself craving it at 1 AM and go to the store just for that?
See, my problem is that I always live near 24 hour grocery stores and when I crave something it’s like something takes a hold of me . . . it’s so bizarre too . . . i’m so anxious while going to the store, shopping, checking out, eating, and then once I’m done i just kind of hate myself. I’m kind of like, “If I feel so anxious about the binge that is about to happen, why don’t I just not binge?” My mind is strange.
After 20 year of either dieting (not eating when I was hungry), and/or binging (eating when I was not hungry), I gave myself permision to eat whatever I wanted for a year. It took about seven months to get to the point where I ate only when I was hungry and what I wanted.
Food is not an addiction. You can live without booze or pills, but not without food.
Buy all the treats. Buy mor than you could possibly et in one sitting. Yes, you will binge for a while, but eventually your body will realize it can eat only when it is hungry. Then it gets easy.
It depends on how long it takes, although yeah, that could be a MAJOR problem.
Although honestly, for me, this cloud has been hanging over my head for like at least 10 years (and I’m only 26!) so it would almost be worth it just to be able to move on.
Like, for example, if I know that I’m going out with friends for Mexican that night, it will stress me out the whole day cause all I can think will be, “There will be the huge bowl of tortilla chips and salsa. Can I avoid ruining my diet? I’m so gonna eat 700 cals of those things.” I would love not to feel that way
The problem ain’t the eating, the problem is the guilt about the eating. Try it for three months–eat what you want when you want. Refuse to feel guilty. Realize that you are a human being who has the right to enjoy food. You will start to realize that food is only food, not good or bad.
That struck a chord, Annie. So many people I know obsess about food, and honestly, it seems to create a negative-feedback loop where they get stuck in this unhealthy guilt cycle. Some folks on this board talk about cognitive behavioral therapy, and I wonder if that could help the OP. The idea of stressing out for an entire day because you’re planning to go out for Mexican that night struck me as exactly the kind of obsessive negative cycle that CBT is supposed to help. (Right? Guys? CBT fans? I’ve never encountered it IRL, just going by what others have said here.)
I mean, if I’m planning to go out for Mexican, my thought process earlier in the day is, “Wheee! Should be fun. Maybe I’ll get the flautas.” Period. The end. No fixating and obsessing and guilt-tripping. But if I sat around beating myself up all day because I’m pre-guilting about the salsa and chips, then, as soon as that salsa & chips got set down, I’m sure I’d be all over them, because I’ve been thinking about them all damn day.
Not sure how to advise the OP to stop that obsessive negative crap, but, yeah, Annie’s post really struck a chord. The healthiest people I know treat food as food - nothing to be either guilty or self-righteous about - and I know the whole correlation vs. causation thing, but it seems to me that their attitude has gotta be influencing their overall health and not so much vice-versa.
Yes, I think CBT could be helpful. I used to binge eat quite a bit, and here is what has helped me:
Therapy and treatment for my depression
Self-administered CBT techniques, combined with mindfulness practice
Learning to love and accept myself 100% at the weight I am right at the moment (this is something I’m still working on, and again, mindfulness helped me see how horrible I was to myself over weight and eating).
Not assigning shame-based categories for foods, like “good” and “bad.”
Constantly reminding myself that I’m “allowed” to eat whatever the hell I want, while accepting that different foods have different consequences.
Combining that with not keeping junk food in the house. I find it quite easy not to impulse buy, but very hard not to impulse snack if it’s around. I guess I’m lucky enough to have a deep vein of laziness to mine here, because I’m so not going to the store for ice cream at 9pm just because I get the impulse.*
Not “dieting,” but paying attention to how much I’m eating, and having a rough idea of how many calories I need to maintain, and how many I’m eating.
*anymore - I think if I hadn’t been working on 1-5, it would be a lot easier for me to convince myself to go out to binge
Not much to contribute, but just wanted you to know I’ll be watching this thread with much interest, Gestalt. I could have written your posts almost word for word, so you’re definitely not alone in this boat!
I avoid trigger foods nearly entirely. I only eat those types of foods in situations that are easy to control - like, a single scoop of ice cream from an ice cream parlor or splitting a dessert in a restaurant. I pretty much NEVER eat chips, crackers, pretzels, cookies, etc. After over 6 years of my lifestyle change, it’s pretty easy to resist the first one, but if I start eating those types of food I have a really hard time stopping (I don’t want one Oreo, I want a sleeve of Oreos, for example).
So, the method of “have tons in the house, eat as much as you want” wouldn’t work for me. I mean, that was my 20s, pretty much. I would eat until I felt ill and be back at it the next day.
Are you talking about true binging or just overeating your favorite snack? I’ve been dealing with a true binge eating disorder for about 30 years. It wouldn’t matter if I kept the house stocked or had nothing at all. I will find a way to appease the demon. It generally involves 5000+ calories of any crunchy gooey salty sweet food I can get my hands on. Even then I’m not satiated, I’m just so sick to my stomach and ashamed I just give up trying. If I had four cartons of ice cream I’d eat them all at once. If I had nothing in the house I’d go get it or send my SO out. And I can be quite manipulative about it too.
So far the very best success I had was through eating a pre-planned very low carb diet. The daily cravings went away, but I never tackled the emotional need to shovel food, so I fall off the wagon fairly regularly. Just got insurance last week so I plan to start seeing someone I hope will be able to help me.
I couldn’t see that ever working on me. I love food. I manage my weight (quite well) by not keeping food in the house. As much as I like food, I am too lazy to go out in the cold or wait 30 minutes for a bus at 11pm to go to the store.
I can’t imagine ever getting sick of peanut butter or chocolate or well you get the idea
Gestalt you’re a medical student, right? Can you apply what you’ve learned to yourself? I know (at least I think I know) some high-achieving women have trouble with eating disorders. Does that describe you?
I hope you find a solution. We need a healthy Doper-Doc!
I used to binge and purge and totally get the anxiety about what you’re going to eat, and the guilt afterwards (which is partly why I purged). It took a few years, but a combination of CBT, regular therapy, and completely avoiding my trigger foods have led to my being able to stop. I don’t binge any more, and eat what I want (for the most part), but I am about 20 lbs. heavier then the weight I’d like to be at.
