Binge eating

binana

In the house I share with my partner, we don't have lots of junk so after dinner I can happily have a cup of tea and feel satisfied. But when I visit my parents, I know their gaff is full of biscuits and ice creams and desserts so I do feel ravenous all evening and binge eat when I spend the night.

I'm not very over weight, I could maybe lose 3-5 pounds, and I'm not strictly dieting but I loosely count calories.

I know this binging is clearly psychological, but how do I stop it? Does anyone have any tips to ignore cravings like this?

jaykhunter

Ok! 1) Would you consider talking to a therapist about it? Binging and losing control of yourself is serious business.

2) Have dinner before going to your parents.

3) Bring shopping or go shopping to your parents, so they'll cook the food you brought. Including dessert!

4) Have a healthy hurdle - like, ok, you CAN have this bar, but eat an apple first. Want that packet of crisps? have a banana first.

5) If you know you're gonna eat a packet of biscuits etc, maybe reign it in completely calories-wise the week beforehand so it'll even out. But think wouldn't fix the stranglehold that this food has on you, but hopefully it'd minimise the damage.

6) and finally, something to let stew in your noodle - at some point during binging, you'll have a moment of clarity where you can stop or keep going. Think, if you have one flat tyre, do you slash the other three? Because you can still make it home with one flat. Don't slash the other three! (ie you don't have to keep going through with the binge)

mathie

binana wrote: »

In the house I share with my partner, we don't have lots of junk so after dinner I can happily have a cup of tea and feel satisfied. But when I visit my parents, I know their gaff is full of biscuits and ice creams and desserts so I do feel ravenous all evening and binge eat when I spend the night.

I'm not very over weight, I could maybe lose 3-5 pounds, and I'm not strictly dieting but I loosely count calories.

I know this binging is clearly psychological, but how do I stop it? Does anyone have any tips to ignore cravings like this?

So is the cycle that you don't eat treats for a while and then binge on treats when they're available?

If so would you consider having a treat every night?

It may be that not having a treat each night builds up and up until the pressure becomes unbearable.

A better approach might be to let off a bit of steam every evening?

binana

jaykhunter wrote: »

Ok! 1) Would you consider talking to a therapist about it? Binging and losing control of yourself is serious business.

Yes, I was just speaking to friends about this and it seems like a great place to start. Thank you!

_Brian

How often does this happen.

If it’s rare then I’d let it be, don’t beat yourself up about occasional overindulgence.

binana

mathie wrote: »

So is the cycle that you don't eat treats for a while and then binge on treats when they're available?

If so would you consider having a treat every night?

It may be that not having a treat each night builds up and up until the pressure becomes unbearable.

A better approach might be to let off a bit of steam every evening?

This is really good, I'm just never really aware of explicit junk food cravings until I'm surrounded by it. Although, adding some afternoon/evening treats will surely have many benefits mental and physical

binana

_Brian wrote: »

How often does this happen.

If it’s rare then I’d let it be, don’t beat yourself up about occasional overindulgence.

Not really that often, I just realised it the other night when I was eating a packet of crisps I didn't even like the flavour of but still scoffed them.

Alf Veedersane

I think just the availability of highly palatable foods is the issue. I don't necessarily think it has anything to do with depriving yourself of treats outside of that. In-laws used to always have choc bars, cakes, choc biccies which I would eat because it was there. I never had them at home because I had no real compulsion to eat them. Put them at hand and I would scoff.

binana

Thank you everyone. In the meantime while I explore what in my head might cause this response, I went over to the folks last night and tried out a sort of solution: I baked some of my own treats. They were so excited to try the home baked stuff that I wasn't presented with a trillion other options and I was satisfied with my work and didn't seek out anything additional. Yay all round

DubInTheWest

jaykhunter wrote: »

Ok! 1) Would you consider talking to a therapist about it? Binging and losing control of yourself is serious business.

A post like that is serious business, would you consider talking to a therapist ?

Alf Veedersane

binana wrote: »

They were so excited to try the home baked stuff that I wasn't presented with a trillion other options

Might be worth suggesting that they not present a load of food to you when yo call over as well

binana

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Might be worth suggesting that they not present a load of food to you when yo call over as well

I don't know if it's by parents social background, but that would be futile. They're very much the extreme hospitality sort!

Bunny Colvin

Congrats, you're a normal human being. Don't worry it too much. Maybe stock up on some healthier snacks and leave them there for when you visit?

Alf Veedersane

binana wrote: »

I don't know if it's by parents social background, but that would be futile. They're very much the extreme hospitality sort!

Then it's a case of stopping yourself from going for it. There's an element of habit to it as well...parents house = eat all of the everything. Breaking the habit will go someway.

Another tactic is if they bring a big load of cakes etc out, get a small plate and put some on the plate and then resolve to eating no more than that. You don't have to not eat some...just not turn into a cake hoover.

binana

If I could just "stop myself" or not turn into a "hoover" I definitely wouldn't be posting on boards looking for advice, but those are good tips re smaller plates and stuff, so thank you!

Alf Veedersane

binana wrote: »

If I could just "stop myself" or not turn into a "hoover" I definitely wouldn't be posting on boards looking for advice, but those are good tips re smaller plates and stuff, so thank you!

Appreciate that but ultimately it's what you're going to have to do, is it not? Exercise control on th3 bingeing. Any tips here are a means to get the ball rolling on that.

Penn

I think a lot of the time when it comes to binging, it's because you feel like you're missing out on something. It can be the trouble with dieting, you eat so healthy that when an opportunity for a treat comes along, you go overboard.

Try to find room in your diet for healthy treats. For a while, I was having Dairy Milk choco bars as the occasional snack. They were only about 160calories, but it helped satiate some cravings for chocolate/treats. Even when faced with being in a place with treats, like you are in your parents house, it helped me stay away from the treats there as I'd allow myself one of the bars at home. A lot of the time when I got home, that urge would be gone, or I could have the bar but wouldn't feel the need for anything else because I was back where I controlled things.

You're binging because you feel like you're missing out on something, so find a way to incorporate some healthy treats into your diet. Find a nice yoghurt or snack that feels like a treat but still works as part of your diet. There does need to be some willpower involved though.

mathie

banana you might find this blog post interesting in it's treatment of "self-control" ...

Understanding the Difference Between Overeating and Binge Eating

Given that overeating from time to time is normal behavior and binge eating is not, it can be hard to understand the difference. I hope to illustrate the differences and to dispel the myth that people with Binge Eating disorder “just need more self-control” or “just does not care about themselves enough”.

The motivation to binge eat is deeper and more devastating than some would guess. People who suffer from binge eating will tell you that it is rarely about the taste of the food that they are eating. Enjoyment of food, if any, is fleeing.

Some have even experienced significant weight loss via extreme diets for some period of time before they return to a regular binge eating pattern. It is not that they are not trying. What they are doing will not work! Any attempts to control binge behaviors and lose weight with an extreme or rigid diet increase the odds of periods of binging and unrestrained eating.

https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/information/binge-eating-disorder/dispelling-the-myths-of-binge-eating-disorder

Alf Veedersane

mathie wrote: »

banana you might find this blog post interesting in it's treatment of "self-control"

The motivation to binge eat is deeper and more devastating than some would guess. People who suffer from binge eating will tell you that it is rarely about the taste of the food that they are eating. Enjoyment of food, if any, is fleeing.

This.

While it possibly reads like it above, I wasn't suggesting that it was a simple case of stopping oneself if it is binge eating. Believe me, I know.

And if it is binge eating as distinct from overeating, then I would recommend that the OP seriously considers CBT as they would need to get to the root cause of binge eating to fundamentally address it.

cronos

I had this exact same problem.

My simple solution was to buy a nutribullet for my parents and get them into fruit smoothies. Now when I go home we all have these, they are quite sweet so enjoyable without being too bad.

silverharp

I think a solution of bringing your own stuff would work and just decide before hand not to eat anything there that’s not part of a sit down meal, some other ideas are bring a bag of brazil nuts or some assortment, maybe a bar of 90% cocoa chocolate, have some fruit teas peppermint etc. Another one if you are having coffee is to put a tablespoon of non-sweetened coco powder in it as it supresses appetite.

mathie

silverharp wrote: »

I think a solution of bringing your own stuff would work and just decide before hand not to eat anything there that’s not part of a sit down meal, some other ideas are bring a bag of brazil nuts or some assortment, maybe a bar of 90% cocoa chocolate, have some fruit teas peppermint etc. Another one if you are having coffee is to put a tablespoon of non-sweetened coco powder in it as it supresses appetite.

I think with binge eating it's not really a decision that can be controlled so easily.

Also do you really want to suppress appetite in this scenario? Is it putting off or compounding the inevitable?

I'm far from a doctor and I'd suggest you get medical advice OP but I'd assume that there is a reason behind the binge eating. You need to find out what that reason is.

From www.bodywhys.ie ...

What causes an eating disorder?

There is no single cause that can explain why a person develops an eating disorder.

It is usually a combination of factors (biological, psychological, familial and socio-cultural) that come together to create conditions in which an eating disorder is more likely to develop.

The disorder often develops gradually as a response to an upset in a person’s life. This could be a traumatic event, a loss or major change in a person’s life, bullying, an overload of stress, and/or critical comments about weight or shape. Sometimes, it is not obvious what the trigger may have been.

A person with low self-worth or without a strong sense of identity may be more vulnerable. People who develop eating disorders tend to be overly concerned with meeting the standards and expectations of others, and are super-sensitive to other peoples’ feelings.

This explains why eating disorders occur so often during adolescence when identity is an issue, the opinion of peers is so important, and parental expectations are resisted.

Eating disorders do not start out as a conscious choice and are not a wilful form of ‘attention seeking’.

Understanding the emotional background of the eating disorder is crucial to developing an appropriate response and treatment approach.

silverharp

Its the “scientific” idea of inertia , once you start eating something it can be difficult to stop so it can be as simple as deciding beforehand once you have a strategy in place and its one which wont depend on “everything in moderation”, the American crisp company Lay have a tagline which goes something like they dare you to just eat one, and they are right. The individual doesn’t have a general problem with over eating everything, its just certain processed foods, high sugar high fat foods which are designed to override satiety. Its much easier to have no slices of cake than just one if the risk is it becomes 3 or 4. There are plenty of other tasty food out there that wont leave a person feel like a failure after eating them.
I did something similar over xmas, I just said to myself Ill enjoy whatever is presented at the table but I wont eat anything sweet when sitting around, it wasn’t much of an imposition and if I was peckish I just had nuts, berries and yogurt , dark chocolate with a coffee or similar