I definitely agree that “legalizing” all foods can help with bingeing. I second the recommendation of Geneen Roth’s books.
In June I read her latest book “Women Food and God” (don’t freak out, the “God” is a much more Buddhist spiritual aspect, though still maybe a bit too woo for many Dopers) and was reminded of her eating guidelines…I’m not even going to remember them exactly, but what I’ve been doing is
-eating when I am hungry what I feel hungry for
-only eating when I’m eating…not reading watching TV. etc.
-pausing frequently to see if I feel full
-if I feel full taking some time to feel what that feels like
-stopping eating if I feel full (this is the really revolutionary step for me)
-going back to eating if I feel hungry again.
In June I weighed 165. This morning the scale was at 138. I’ve lost this weight while eating, among other things, chocolate smeared with peanut butter nearly every day, doritos, apple pie, chocolate scones… I’ve actually become a person who can have 3/4 of a pint of Ben and Jerry’s sitting in the freezer for days without feeling like eating it.
It’s not like I’ve never overeaten since I encountered this astounding concept (I’m sure that not eating when you are full is obvious to you naturally thin people! ), but I don’t feel like I’ve blown it… “oh, whoops, now I’m really full. But that’s ok, because I won’t eat again till I feel hungry and the system will self correct”
also if I notice I am having the desire to eat for emotional reasons…I feel full or not hungry, but I want to feel indulged/comforted, I try to do something indulgent that is not eating…like taking a nap, reading for pleasure when I would usually be working, watching something dumb on TV, etc.
This is SO true! I *feel *rebellious when I binge… I can feel myself screaming, “I’ll eat whatever I damn well want to and no one can stop me!!”
This is also very true. The second I feel any stress (I work at home a lot), I head for the kitchen. Discomfort also includes boredom or simply reaching the end of a task and not having to do something else immediately. Perfect time to snack, eh?
This is also very interesting. I remember one time I was meeting a friend for lunch and got to the (Mexican) restaurant first. I waited a long time, but my friend didn’t show, so I ordered enchiladas. Just as they arrived, she called and said she was sorry, had a phone call she had to take, etc., and she was on her way.
So I started eating v-e-r-y slowly. I mean one bite then put down the fork. Wait a couple of minutes. Another bite, put the fork down. Generally I can suck down 2-3 cheese enchiladas in a coupla minutes. Like John Belushi and the jell-o in *Animal House. *
After about three of these slo-mo bites, I COULDN’T EAT ANY MORE! Holy shit- who knew??? Surprised the heck out of me. My friend finally arrived and ordered, but I never could finish my plate of enchiladas. I wasn’t that I was full. I was satiated. My taste buds weren’t interested any more.
Eating super-slowly is a good technique. Tell yourself you can eat as much as you want, eat the whole damn thing if you feel like it- just put down your fork/spoon/food for a minute or even two between bites.
One thing nobody has mentioned is exercize. The next time you get an urge to binge, tell yourself that you will walk for an hour, then eat if you still want to. Get a nice low-cal drink and walk slowly. Take in the scenery, breath deep and enjoy yourself.
There’s an old saying “Get through the day. If you can’t get through the day, get through the next hour. If you can’t get through the next hour, get through the next five minutes.”
Binges have a sense of urgency–you must eat as much right now as fast as you can. You have to break that behavior.
Out of curiosity: where you ever punished as a child with(out) food? In other words, no dessert after dinner when you were bad, or being “grounded” so you couldn’t have sweets for a week, or something like that?
How many times have you binged while thinking “This is so disgusting. I’m never going to eat this much food again. I’m never going to eat (this food) again?” Then you do it again.
It’s much better to think “I really want this food and I’m going to eatit slowly and savor it. I’ll eat as much as I want, and if I wantmore tomorrow, I’ll eat it tomorrow.”
Easting 9,742 Mallomars in one sitting does not guarantee that you won’t want them in the future.
There is so much awesome in this thread that I can’t possibly comment on it all.
What worked for me is a combination of strategies, like EmAnJ described (in fact, I know from years of reading her posts that she and I share a lot of the same history). For many things, I had to wait until I was recovered before I could keep them in the house. Like cereal. Who knew that I could keep a box of cereal—even multiple boxes of cereal—in the house without eating it all (and then vomiting)? Today I can. But I definitely had an order of hierarchy with trigger foods and I had to respect that.
It took a lot of work, though, and a lot of allowing myself the dreaded weight gain without freaking out. I eventually stabilized and am now a proportionate weight to my height.
Yes, food issues are the first thing to crop up when I’m feeling like I need to exert some control, but it’s so much better than it was.
Gestalt, have you heard of the ‘Intuitive Eating’ movement? It’s pretty much a full-fledged online community at this point, and includes many women who have struggled with yo-yo dieting, overeating, binging, and other eating disordered behaviors.