Today our conversation is about tactics that do not work when it comes to trying to overcome binge eating. We'll cover all the things from foods that are keeping you stuck in that binge eating cycle, to different tactics that might be seeping through from old kind of diet culture days that you don't even realize are still impacting you, but are actually making your binge eating worse.
Today our conversation is about tactics that do not work when it comes to trying to overcome binge eating. We'll cover all the things from foods that are keeping you stuck in that binge eating cycle, to different tactics that might be seeping through from old kind of diet culture days that you don't even realize are still impacting you, but are actually making your binge eating worse.
Hello, today our conversation is about tactics that do not work when it comes to trying to overcome binge eating. We'll cover all the things from foods that are keeping you stuck in that binge eating cycle, to different tactics that might be seeping through from old kind of diet culture days that you don't even realize are still impacting you, but are actually making your binge eating worse. We'll also touch on why the white knuckle ride just doesn't work, and much, much more. Welcome to the way of the cookie crumbles, I'm your host, Emma Cook, and I want to make sure that everybody has the resources they need to stop binge eating. So, without further ado, let's jump in. Number one, what foods are keeping you stuck in a binge eating cycle? Now, that's a little bit clickbait. Obviously, there isn't food specifically that is forcing you to binge. But, I do want to talk about diet foods. Diet Coke. Diet Lemonade. Diet Yoghurt. Low fat this, low fat that. Or maybe even now, we're starting to look at high protein stuff that's coming in and like, this is healthy. You see that protein bar and you go, that's the healthy option. Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes these foods are really helpful. Perhaps we are wanting to lower our caloric intake for the day and we want to go, okay cool, like I'm going to choose this one because it's got a little bit more protein, it's got a bit more to it than a chocolate bar, might keep me feeling fuller for longer, and I'm going to choose that protein bar. Or I'm going on a night out, I want to be able to enjoy myself, I want to have a few drinks, but if I choose a diet coke, that's going to have way less impact on my overall Energy balance for the day. Awesome. Both positive lines of thought. However... Diet coke or those similar kinds of food when they are used as a I'm having that because that's the one I should have And that's the one that is going to keep me from gaining weight. That's where we start to see problems with people who binge eat Why? Because when we are binge eating we often have cravings for certain foods and like wanting to have something But we are restraining ourselves restricting ourselves into choosing certain foods or drinks all the time. Now, why does that become a problem? It becomes a problem when you are constantly choosing the one you feel like you should have. And then, you know, day to day, you don't feel confident in enjoying foods that perhaps aren't the diet version. And instead of having a diet Coke, you go for a normal Coke. Then you feel, oh god, I've lost everything. I've, you know, it's already been been rubbish for the day, I may as well default into a binge. These foods, when they're presented as the ones we should have, the one, the better one, you know, when we're giving food that moral, good or bad, it's going to be unhelpful to us in the long run. So sure, diet cokes, like this kind of thing, they can be good, they can be a good tactical choice in the future, but while you're trying to recover from binge eating, it's good to experiment with these foods. Stop to eating the diet food, stop focusing on the low sugar, this, that and the other, and try to allow more foods into your life. Enjoy a full sugar coke if you want to, you know, enjoy a normal yogurt that's not low fat if you want to. These kinds of changes are going to start to show you that you can actually have that power back over food, you don't have to let it run your life. Because if you choose diet all the time, the moment you don't and you switch into binge mode, you disappear, you know, you're completely... I'm going to be a different person and I understand that because I've been there. I really get it when it feels like you aren't in control of your own actions. So number one, choosing diet all the time. Try to mix things up, see if you can choose something that's a little different. Number two, let's have a look. So this is one I heard about recently on Instagram and it was someone sharing like ways to reduce your calorie intake for the day and they said you should get a small spoon. They had some other things in there, they were like drink this stuff, it gets rid of your appetite, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and to be honest, I was so bored listening to it, I just thought, I really thought we were over this and we were going to start making better choices and better decisions but anyway, I'm going to explain it because it could be something that's seeping through from your old kind of diet, dieting days, choosing small spoons, choosing small plates, making it feel like you're eating more when you're eating less. Now, the spoon thing, or the small bowl thing does not work and I will give you a great example of why. Let's say you're finishing up your dinner and sometimes you have a bowl of cereal after dinner and a lot of times that triggers you into a full blown binge. Now what that small bowl does, if you pick a small bowl at that time and you say I'm just going to have a small amount. Then you have that one portion and you're like, Oh God, well, I kind of want to keep eating because you're probably in a space where every time you binge eat, it's just more of a step by step process. It just starts happening, there's nothing you can do and you just keep going. If you have a small bowl, your brain starts to justify you can hear the voice in your head. Saying, Oh, well, we only had a small one at the start. So we'll just have one more. We'll just have one more. And I genuinely remember being sat at like, say midnight, having eaten small bowl after small bowl after small bowl of cereal until I've eaten an entire box and probably four pints of milk in the meantime, you know, it's that kind of logic that you're going to be, your brain's going to battle with you and you're creating all these decisions and making it harder, you know. Oh, it's okay, because I've only had a small one, but then I'll have another one, and another one, and another one, and by bowl four, you're not even on bowl four of a normal size of cereal, where you might be feeling kind of full. You've now eaten a regular ish size of cereal, maybe two, and you feel awful about it because you've gone back time, after time, after time. So that negative feeling towards the actions that have happened then result in you feeling more guilty about the situation and making it harder. To stop that in the future making it harder to have a different thought process when the urge to binge comes up So that's number two why you should not use small bowls or plates when you are trying to stop binge eating number three Why the white knuckle ride does not work. Now, I really hope that I don't have to tell you this because if you're listening to my podcast, you probably know, you probably have tried many times to stop binge eating. You've said to yourself, this is the last time I'm doing it. This is the last weekend I'm ever going to binge. Monday I'm on it. I'm just gonna, you know, I'm never going to do it again. I can't do this to myself anymore. Only to find within a day, 24 hours, 48 hours, you're back binging, feeling really unhappy about yourself. The white knuckle ride doesn't work because you're not changing the way you think. You're still telling yourself, I shouldn't eat that, I shouldn't eat that, and I shouldn't do this, and I shouldn't binge eat, and I know that all these things are bad for me. But you haven't done any of the work on the other side of that, which is... What is my body asking for? Why is it trying to make me do this thing that ultimately hurts me? What is going on here? And how can I discover the parts within me, find the parts within me that don't binge eat and get them to help me move on? So the white knuckle ride just doesn't work and you know it already, but I wanted to explain that there is another option You know, you can instead of saying I'm just never gonna binge eat anymore Accept that this is what is happening right now and start to learn from each and every part situation to be like, Oh, hang on a second. I can, I can hear what is happening now. I can understand it and I can do the things that get me in a position where I don't want to binge anymore. So it's, that's the difference. We've got white knuckle riding it, where I'm going to stop myself from binging every time. And it gets really hard because you're battling yourself constantly, where otherwise you could move to a place where it's like actually. I don't like binge eating. I don't want to binge eat. It's not an urge that crosses my mind anymore. And that's, it's a big transition. There's a lot of work to do in between those two people. But I know from experience, it's possible to get from this person to that person. Not only have I seen it in myself now, but I've seen it in loads and loads of my clients. And I just can't wait to share it with as many people as possible because I know how impossible it felt at the time. And I know how possible it is now. So quit with the white knuckle ride. You need to change your approach. And finally tactic number four. So this one I find quite interesting. Banning foods from your house, or trying to completely mitigate them from being in real life. Now, in some ways, this might be helpful. You might find that it helps you stop binge eating for a week or so, because you don't have those foods in to eat. But, really, you're hiding from the problem. You know, we might hear lots of people say, I can't just have one cookie, I just have to eat the whole box, or I can't just have a small amount of chocolate, I have to eat the whole thing. That's not true. That's a limiting belief that you have within yourself that means that if you're presented with that situation, that's what has to happen. You can control that, but you need to do the work with your own mind to change how that thought process is going to go. So, mitigating foods from your house or your kind of close circle of how you live your day, your life day to day, can be helpful in starting to like break the cycle of what's going on. So instead of like falling into the same behavioural pattern, sorry, it might be helpful to push that away for a little while and give yourself a chance to feel better, feel more positive. Thank you. But what doesn't work is hiding. So if you can't bring those foods back into your life, if you can't be around them without feeling stressed or scared or upset, probably, like we're likely to feel really upset if you get close to that because we know how negative the binge eating place is to be, then that's not what we're aiming for. Eventually, and you know, with my clients, I do this sooner rather than later, I want people to bring more foods into their house to create this vision of. ample food, you know, we don't have a scarce food situation if you're living in kind of a first world country at the moment and we are so lucky to have that, but when you're dieting you really feel like what is available to you is scarce and that scarcity makes you want it more. So if we can bring foods into your life, into your day, and start to make that a more positive experience where you can choose actively between what you want to eat based on what makes you feel good, then that is what we are aiming for. Okay, so that is my kind of top four on the things that people do to try and stop binge eating and ultimately fail. We had number one using and leaning on diet drinks and foods all the time and then when we're not leaning on those things really defaulting into like an aggressive binge. Number two using small plates and spoons it's just Silly. Honestly, I know for such a long time in dieting It was like put your food on a smaller plate and it'll seem like more and I mean You know guidance on what a portion looks like is just not particularly helpful You know There's so many variables when it comes to what is actually on your plate in the end and you probably know If this feels good, is it full of veggies, and a protein, and a carb, and some fat? You know that already, so don't start to try and trick your own brain into thinking that you're eating more when you're not, and you kind of also know you're not. It's not a tactic that works. Number three, white knuckling it. Yep, you've tried it before. That's where we need to start changing the mindset. What you want is, I am not a person who binge eats anymore. I just don't relate to that thing at all. And I don't have those urges. And if I do, I know exactly what to do to deal with them. I know how to talk my mind through it as opposed to. I should never binge eat, I'm never going to binge eat again, and then eventually running out of the ability to hold on. And finally, banning foods from your house. Instead of creating that scarcity, we want to create a space of ample food so that you have the power and feel comfortable and confident in choosing what you're going to eat. That's it for today if you have any questions or any thoughts, I, I always love to hear from you guys so please do send me a message on Instagram or even drop me an email emma at cookie, c o o k i dot info and I'll get right back to you as soon as I can with any answers and any explanations as to, as to what you've asked. If there's anything I can do to help or you have any ideas for what we should talk about here, I'd also love to hear it so do drop it in the comments and I will see you next time.