How do I stop this?!

I have spoken to many women over the years, who are convinced they are addicted to sugar, chocolate, salty snacks or whatever else. They claim that they simply cannot stop bingeing on these food items, and they cannot have them at home or else they eat everything in one shameful eating session. Everyone always wants to know: how do I stop this?

Most of the advice given for binge eating behaviors (generally defined as eating large amounts of foods in uncontrollable way) is to avoid the “problematic” foods, learn to deal with emotions without using foods, and/or go on a diet. Let’s dig into the problem of binge eating in a little bit more detail.

The definition of binge eating is very much based on subjective assessment. For one person, eating a whole 100-gram chocolate bar is already considered out-of-control chocolate consumption. For another, a couple of chocolate bars, pack of chips followed by some ice cream is somewhat over the top. Sadly, in general, most people raised in our rabid diet culture, consider smaller and smaller amounts of foods to be unacceptable. We deal ourselves harsh critical judgement when we eat anything containing fat, sugar, carbs, salt or whatever it is that our diet mentality deems “bad”,

What then is binge eating, really? How much do you have to eat to claim you are bingeing? How about the feeling of being out-of-control then?

Again, we believe we cannot control ourselves when our behavior is not adhering to a rule or norm, we have decided is the right way of behaving. If I decide that people should not ever get drunk because it is immoral or dangerous (which it can be of course) and I drink too many beers and feel intoxicated, I can define my drinking as being out-of-control. I think the similar model can be applied to eating. Therefore, it is highly dependent on your decision of what amounts or what foods are OK or not OK to eat. Change your decision on how much or what is OK to eat and voila! Suddenly your earlier defined “out-of-control” binge on a whole bar of chocolate, becomes just eating a whole bar of chocolate.

Anti-diet dieticians, diet-recovery coaches, and Health at Every Size practitioners usually label binge eating quite differently though. We strongly believe that eating in a way that seems uncontrollable and in excess, is simply a reactive eating. It happens in reaction to any kind of restriction. Let me explain this on a couple of examples.

Imagine that you decide you need to lose some weight to fit into a pair of jeans you stored in your closet since your college days. This time it is for real, so you plan your diet, perhaps even with a help of a dietician. Nothing crazy, you think – just some “healthy” lifestyle changes and a small reduction in either calories or limiting certain food groups. You follow your diet, eat planned meals and, of course, since they are on reduced amounts or limited food groups, at the end of the day, you feel a bit tired and hungry. If you are strong willed, you may be able to continue this for many days, without giving in to your night-time hunger. But eventually, your body, which is designed to make sure you survive even self-induced famine, takes charge.

One evening, you come home from a stressful day at work. Your family is eating a nice big take-out dinner because you lack energy to cook for them perhaps. You look at their plates with envy while nibbling on your own diet-prescribed meal. Even if you live alone, that meal somehow does not satisfy you at all. You still feel hungry, angry, numb, or sad – the actual sensations or emotions don’t actually matter much because you are now opening that fridge or cupboard in search for something to soothe you! And BAM! A binge (reactionary) eating has started!

The above example describes the most usual, physical restriction, where either limiting calorie intake or macronutrients leads your body and brain to crave more food or certain types of foods. You feel out-of-control but, it is your body that takes over the control and tries to return you to your equilibrium. It works very hard to maintain your weight set point!

Here’s a different scenario. You have finally decided that diets do not work. Awesome! You started eating regular meals and snacks. You say you are not limiting any food groups or macronutrients. You eat bread, pasta, and rice after all! Still, every evening you seem to crave that chocolate after dinner. You cannot understand how it is possible! You know for sure you are not calorie deprived because you are not feeling any physical hunger. You are sure you don’t need carbohydrates because you eat them throughout the day. Yet, you can’t stop yourself from eating chocolate! How is it possible, indeed?

Well, as you analyze a bit your daily meals, you notice an interesting thing. Your meals might include all food groups, but they are really a bit boring. You are a health-conscious individual, so you pick nice lean meats, leafy greens, whole grained breads, pastas, and rice. Generally, there is nothing wrong with such a whole-foods diet, but you don’t feel really emotionally satisfied with it. Your chocolate binge in the evening is probably simply filling that gap. An emotional restriction – not allowing ourselves to eat due to internal emotional states – can also trigger reactionary eating.

There are of course other examples of restrictions which will lead you (most likely) to binge eating. There is a medical restriction – for example, a strict diet before a surgery or a food allergy that is not properly managed with substitute foods. And there is an accidental restriction, when you simply do not realize how little you eat during the day or that you have stopped eating an entire food group without noticing (e.g., by converting to a vegan diet).

So, we can now answer this question: how do I stop it? Look for where and how you are restricting your food consumption. Don’t believe the general diet culture prescription of how much calories you should be eating in a day though! These average suggestions of calorie intake are not to be trusted in individual cases. You need to assess your own internal hunger and satiation cues. You need to look for your emotional and physical sensations. In the end, where there’s reactionary (binge) eating, there is a restriction for sure.

Finally, it does take time to figure it out and then consistently feed yourself appropriate amounts of satisfactory foods before your body is convinced that you are not restricting anymore. Give it time and don’t rush it. It’s good to work through this process with a help of a professional and if you wish to check how I can assist you, feel free to schedule a free call with me. Good luck and may you find your way out of the reactionary eating for good!