Binge Eating - The Root of Obesity?
Binge Eating - The Root of Obesity?
By Joseph Devine
I’m sure that we’ve all experienced it on some level. We get into an argument with a loved one, or we notice that we are particularly more stressed then usually. At some point along this somewhat linear thought process, we crave something. Suddenly a quick trip to the doughnut shop or McDonald’s seems like a good idea. We order the biggest thing on the menu because we are suddenly extremely hungry. By the end of the meal, some of us might have to unbutton our shirts just to be able to sit comfortably.
This phenomenon is known as binge eating. Lots of research has been conducted on this particular aspect of the human experience and very interesting things have come to the surface. There is now speculation that binge eating is actually an evolutionary defense mechanism passed down from the days before mass transport, globalism, and drive-through service.
There was once a time when food was actually quite scarce. Our human ancestors weren’t sure if they would have enough to eat for the next day. It was appropriate to binge on whatever food was available in order to fight against famine.
Researchers also found though, that the activity is linked to emotional centers of the brain that are triggered by high calorie foods. Thus, in an attempt at self-preservation, the individual is almost compelled to eat as much as he possibly can. Researchers believe that this fight, between body and mind, takes place as many as eight times a day.
During this state, individual feel immense amounts of pleasure. As pleasure is more and more associated with binging on high-calorie foods, the very act itself perpetuates a habit of eating large amounts of calories at one time. Psychologists have gone so far as to call this activity a conditioned response to stress.
The stress back then was related more to the physical (food, chased by an animal, physical injury, etc.). In modern times, human stress has converted to the psychological and speculative. Thus the net gain in calories is not being effectively used.
Researchers argue that perhaps those individuals experiencing an unusual gain in weight could in fact have the particular gene that triggers excessive binge eating. However, behavior is largely control by the human will rather than genetic composition or emotional sentiment. Overcoming weight issues is mostly about training the mind and body to behave differently during times of stress.
If you would like more information, visit http://www.healthdirectoryforyou.com
Living with Binge Eating Disorder
Live Life to the Fullest Even With a Binge Eating Disorder
By Kristin Gerstley
“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I have just lived the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.”
- Diane Ackerman
I know this has happened to all of us at one time in our life or another. You are face-to-face with something that you’ve always wanted to do, stop binge eating disorder, but something stops you. Instead of accepting something that’s always appealed to you, the words “no thank you” come out of your mouth. Instead of asking for something you want, you find yourself too afraid to even ask.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to help people. I was never sure how I would do that, but I knew that it was something that I was extremely passionate about. I want to make a difference in people’s lives. In college, I thought about being a teacher, but then I wasn’t sure that I was passionate about it enough. I switched to marketing, but then didn’t think that I would get much out of doing that. I was lost as to how to achieve my dream of helping people. I would wrack my brain over and over to try to see what things I was good at so I could help someone. Nothing came to mind. It was frustrating.
Once I told my husband about my binge eating disorder and after I was in therapy, I just knew that I was supposed to help people with binge eating disorder. I just had a good feeling about it. The good feeling lasted about as long as it could until I started thinking that I would have to share my struggles with binge eating disorder with strangers and people that already knew me. I started to take a step back because I didn’t want to make myself that vulnerable. I knew that I could help people, but something inside blocked me from doing anything about it for some time.
My mind would race about all of the things that I could do to benefit others with sharing my story. But then I would argue with myself saying “No one will care. I’m just a nobody. What will people think?” But then I remembered searching on the Internet for other success stories from people who had overcome binge eating disorder and finding nothing. “Just try it and see what happens. What have you got to lose?”
Finally without thinking too much about it, I started writing down everything that I could about my experience with binge eating disorder. I looked over my entire journal writings and realized that I had a lot of good information to share. I stopped thinking and worrying about putting myself out there, and realized that if I was going to help someone - this was just what I needed to do. I spent many days in my office just writing my binge eating disorder eBook, and not focusing any amount of energy on worrying about it.
If I wouldn’t have challenged myself to keep moving forward, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to develop great relationship with many of you. I wouldn’t have had the chance to read the emails that bring tears to my eyes. I wouldn’t have had the chance to be doing what I absolutely love. You know many people hate their jobs. They do not like getting up and going to work everyday. I’m so thankful that I listened to that voice in my head that kept on pushing me to do this because I wake up every morning and can’t wait to check my email and work on all of the great things that I have planned. I feel truly blessed to be doing what I’m doing.
When you do the things that you’ve always wanted to do, you expand your comfort zone, discover something new about yourself, and have a lot of fun doing it. The next time you have the chance to do something, don’t wait so long. Do the uncomfortable by going through with it and saying “yes”! You do have the power to change your relationship with food and stop binge eating disorder from progressing anymore!
Notice to publishers: You have rights to republish this article on your website as long as you keep all links in tact and clickable. Thank you.
Kristin Gerstley is a former binge eater that now has a very healthy relationship with food. Since 2005, Kristin has helped thousands of people who suffer from Binge Eating Disorder through her website: http://www.endbingeeating.com You can also get free tips and information by joining Kristin’s newsletter at: http://www.bingeeatingdisorderhelp.com
Commit to Stop Binge Eating
Commit to End Binge Eating
By Kristin Gerstley
When you want to stop binge eating, you need to make a decision and change your old habits. Perhaps these habits have been around for years, but no matter how long they have been your fallback, you need to make changes and create new, positive habits for yourself. You need to end the pattern of binge eating. You need to stop playing games with yourself.
How do you do this, you say? First and foremost, you need to make the decision and commit to fixing this disorder that has control of you and your life. Make a commitment now to yourself. Do not put it off until tomorrow, next week, or even next month. Like Oprah says, “The space to live in is not ‘I’ll try’, not ‘I want to’, not even ‘I really want to’. It’s ‘I have decided’.” When you make that decision once and for all, you are declaring a commitment. You are stating this to yourself and the Universe and this is powerful!
One of the most important things that you can do is to start seeing yourself as you truly are. Don’t look at yourself as the person that is a victim of your circumstance. Instead help yourself to get over the situations in your past that gave you that particular mentality. Do whatever it takes so that you can literally transform yourself into the person that you want to be, without hindering yourself and falling back into the old habits that you have become so used to.
Another important thing to remember is that no one is perfect. It is not necessary to constantly stab yourself for binging. We all have flaws. You need to let it go and keep on moving forward. All of the added stress that goes along with criticizing your every move will just keep you at a standstill and that will be enough to drive you crazy. Realize that you may have binged, but don’t keep nagging yourself about it. Let it go!
Finally, no matter how many times you fall down, always pick yourself right back up and press on. Do not dwell on your failure; instead continuing moving forward, keeping your goals fresh on your mind.
Most importantly, you deserve to feel good about yourself. Make YOU your number one priority and always strive to live your life to the fullest. Always keep yourself in mind. Believe in yourself and know that you will get past this and that the life that you have always wanted and dreamed about is just around the corner.
Notice to publishers: you have rights to republish this article on your website as long as you keep all links in tact and clickable. Thank you.
Kristin Gerstley is the owner of http://www.endbingeeating.com which is a site that helps people overcome Binge Eating Disorder. She also publishes a free newsletter offering encouragement, tips on how to stop binge eating, and regain control of your life.
Binge Eating No More - I Used to Eat the Whole Refrigerator
Binge Eating No More - I Used to Eat the Whole Refrigerator Plus Everything in the Cupboards
By Jana S.
What should you do if you feel like you are about to lose yourself in an eating binge?
I struggled with binge eating for many years. And I am about to share some ideas with you of alternative things you can do instead of bingeing. Choosing to do more healthy behaviors instead of bingeing is very important in recovery from binge eating.
However, I must tell you that for most people, another essential part of recovery and healing from binge eating is to do some personal internal work on what is causing you to turn to food as coping strategy in your life.
So, yes, these alternative healthy choices are very helpful and important to gaining freedom from bingeing - but you need to also know that working with a group or a trained compassionate counselor will also help you tremendously and is just as important as the following list of alternatives. Okay? Great!
Remember to be kind and gentle to yourself when you are dealing with that all-consuming desire to go crazy with food and binge. See the desire to binge as an opportunity to really delve into what might be causing the pain in you that makes you want to turn to food to deal with your life in that moment.
Here are just a few of the things I choose to do avoid a binge:
-Take a relaxing bath
- Go for a long walk
- Do yoga - I love this for taking my mind off food. I get to breathe deeply, stretch my body, and enjoy the break from stress and pressure.
- Go out to my garage and beat on my punching bag - it relieves my stress and helps get any frustration out of me that I might be holding inside.
- Put on my headphones and listen to several of my favorite upbeat songs - and dance around if I feel like it!
- Get away from temptation. Since recovering from binge eating, I no longer bring foods into my home that trigger my binge eating tendencies. But if you can’t control the foods that are allowed into your home and your roommate or your spouse has stashes of foods in your home that you like to binge on then you need to prepared with a strategy that will get you away from the food that is calling out to you. If you have tempting food in your home, get out of your house and take a break. Go to a friend’s home and visit, or meet a friend at a park and walk together. Go to church. Pray.
Learn what I did to stop binge eating and become happy, healthy and slim.
http://RawFoodDietWeightLoss.com
Get many more free tips on how to stop binge eating
http://HowCanIStopBingeEating.com/
Binge Eating - How To Stop Binge Eating
Binge Eating - How To Stop Binge Eating And Get Back In The Driver’s Seat
By Melissa McCreery, Ph.D.
Binge eating is eating “gone wrong.” Binge eating is eating gone on automatic pilot, eating disconnected from physical body sensations like fullness and hunger. After a binge you may experience a glazed feeling and a “coming back to awareness.” “What happened here?” and “I wish I could undo that” are common thoughts.
Mindful eating is the opposite of bingeing. Mindful eating, conscious eating, and intuitive eating are all terms to describe eating that occurs when the mind and the body are in full communication.
When this process is happening, we eat in response to our body cues and our body’s needs. We eat
what we are hungry for and we eat until we are full (not stuffed). We are conscious of how we are feeling while we are eating and how we are likely to feel afterwards. Conscious eating does not leave us stuffed to the gills, sick to our stomachs and collapsed on the couch, too uncomfortable to move.
Conscious eating fuels us and gives us energy. The food we eat consciously gives our bodies and our
minds pleasure. It is a nice experience.
To stop binge eating, the first requirement is to turn off the automatic pilot and get back into the driver’s seat. This takes practice and won’t be easy the first or second time you try it. Like using a muscle though, your ability to stop a binge will grow stronger.
Try these tips:
Slow down. Don’t try to stop the binge at first, but communicate to yourself what you are doing. This means you are not on auto-pilot. Say to yourself out loud or in your head “I feel a binge coming on” or “Here we go” or “I’m starting to feel out of control with my eating.” Make the process
conscious.
Put your food on a plate. You’ve heard this before because it’s important. To be mindfully eating you need to be experiencing the food and how much of it you are choosing to eat.
Practice being a nonjudgmental observer. Try to notice what both your head and your body are doing–from a curious nonjudgmental standpoint.
What’s the dialogue going on in your brain? Is it silent, are you numb, are you criticizing yourself or already planning how you’ll do it differently tomorrow? Don’t try to change your thoughts, just be curious and collect data about what your mind is doing. Now put your hand on your stomach. Take a deep breath. Try to pay attention to how your body is feeling. Feel your hand on your stomach. Feel it move as you breath. Try to take note–nonjudgmentally of how your body feels. Is there tension anywhere, muscle tightness, are you holding your breath or breathing deeply? Does your stomach feel full or empty? How full? How empty?
If you feel courageous, put your other hand on your heart. Feel your heart beat. Keep breathing. Ask yourself what you are REALLY hungry for. Ask yourself what you could feed your self and your spirit IN ADDITION TO food. Sit for a minute and listen. Don’t worry or be afraid if you don’t know the answer this time. It’s asking the question that is important.
Afterwards, if you can do it, try to write down what you noticed about the whole experience. Work very hard not to be critical but to write from the standpoint of a curious observer. As you think about what happened, can you identify anything that brought you to that binge? What was going on before? When did you decide to do it? Can you identify how you were feeling–both in your mind (bored, lonely, happy, sad) and in your body (tired, tense, hungry)?
Practice doing one small, nice, compassionate thing for your body and soul every day that has nothing to do with food. It doesn’t have to be earth shattering. Put your feet up and sit for fifteen minutes before you tackle the laundry, take a bubble bath instead of a shower, wear something that you feel lovely in, put music on that you love, kick off your shoes and wiggle your toes.
Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. is a Psychologist and Life and Wellness Coach who helps her clients create and live their very best lives. She is also the creator of the Emotional Eating Toolbox (TM), Tools for Taking Control and Moving Beyond Dieting. Subscribe to her free newsletter, Mindspa, at her website: http://www.enduringchange.com
Copyright 2006 - Melissa McCreery, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article as long as you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit and follow all of the EzineArticles terms of service for Publishers.
How I was able to stop binge eating
Binge Eating No More - I Used to Eat the Whole Refrigerator Plus Everything in the Cupboards
By Jana S.
What should you do if you feel like you are about to lose yourself in an eating binge?
I struggled with binge eating for many years. And I am about to share some ideas with you of alternative things you can do instead of bingeing. Choosing to do more healthy behaviors instead of bingeing is very important in recovery from binge eating.
However, I must tell you that for most people, another essential part of recovery and healing from binge eating is to do some personal internal work on what is causing you to turn to food as coping strategy in your life.
So, yes, these alternative healthy choices are very helpful and important to gaining freedom from bingeing - but you need to also know that working with a group or a trained compassionate counselor will also help you tremendously and is just as important as the following list of alternatives. Okay? Great!
Remember to be kind and gentle to yourself when you are dealing with that all-consuming desire to go crazy with food and binge. See the desire to binge as an opportunity to really delve into what might be causing the pain in you that makes you want to turn to food to deal with your life in that moment.
Here are just a few of the things I choose to do avoid a binge:
-Take a relaxing bath
- Go for a long walk
- Do yoga - I love this for taking my mind off food. I get to breathe deeply, stretch my body, and enjoy the break from stress and pressure.
- Go out to my garage and beat on my punching bag - it relieves my stress and helps get any frustration out of me that I might be holding inside.
- Put on my headphones and listen to several of my favorite upbeat songs - and dance around if I feel like it!
- Get away from temptation. Since recovering from binge eating, I no longer bring foods into my home that trigger my binge eating tendencies. But if you can’t control the foods that are allowed into your home and your roommate or your spouse has stashes of foods in your home that you like to binge on then you need to prepared with a strategy that will get you away from the food that is calling out to you. If you have tempting food in your home, get out of your house and take a break. Go to a friend’s home and visit, or meet a friend at a park and walk together. Go to church. Pray.
Learn what I did to stop binge eating and become happy, healthy and slim.
http://RawFoodDietWeightLoss.com
Get many more free tips on how to stop binge eating
http://HowCanIStopBingeEating.com/
21 Binge Eating Symptoms
Binge Eating Disorder - How to Figure Out If You Have it - Take the 21 Binge Eating Symptoms Test
By Jana Suzzane
I was a binge eater for over 20 years.
For me binge eating meant that I ate WAY PAST the comfortable place of feeling full - eating to the point of pain sometimes after eating so much food.
Binge eating was a frenzied hectic behavior for me - where food became the primary focus and everything else was ignored. A binge might last from 1 - 4 hours and during that time everything - even the food would become a blur. The only thing on my mind was eating another bite of something I considered a “forbidden” food such as chocolate, or caramel, or high calorie full fat haagen dazs ice cream, or deep dish pizza, or potato chips, or nachos with loads of cheese.
If you are wondering if you might be a binge eater answer the following questions:
Do you choose to eat when you are not hungry?
Do you overeat or binge on food when you feel stressed out?
Do you binge on food when you are bored?
Do you eat food as a form of comfort?
Do you eat way past the point of comfortable fullness?
Do you hide food wrappers so no one will see what you have eaten?
Do you eat alone so that no one can see the food you consume?
Do you feel bad or guilty after bingeing?
Do you eat when you are not hungry?
Do you feel compulsive about eating? Like you are driven to eat ALL of something - like an entire box of chocolates or a whole container of ice cream?
Do you feel like you are always thinking about food?
Do you plan for and look forward to times when you can eat all by yourself?
Do you hide food?
Do you eat like a normal person when you are with others and then binge in private?
Do you plan binges and go on special shopping trips to the grocery store with the sole purpose of getting special forbidden “binge” foods?
Are you concerned that you are out of control with food?
Do you eat to escape from your daily pressures?
Do you find that dieting never really works for you and that it causes you to binge even more?
Are you miserable about your relationship with food?
Do you feel like your food problems control your life?
Does your weight have an overall negative effect on your life?
If you answered yes to three or more of these statements there is a good chance that you either have trouble with binge eating or you are well on your way to creating a binge eating or emotional overeating problem in your life.
There is a natural way to be free of binge eating. I suffered from Binge Eating for over 20 years and I have recovered from it. It was a dark lonely place and I am so glad to be healed and healthy and happy and free from the food issues that seemed to control so much of my life. You can be free too.
How I got free from binge eating and became happy, healthy and slim. - http://RawFoodDietWeightLoss.com
Learn how you can stop binge eating - http://HowCanIStopBingeEating.com/
8 Common Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating - 8 Common Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder
By Jana S.
Are you a binge eater? Are you afraid you might be suffering from Binge Eating Disorder?
Listed below are 8 common symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder.
Keep in mind that all binge eaters are different so not all the symptoms listed may apply.
A binge eater tends to:
1) eat an unusually large amount of food at one sitting - eating way past the point of comfortable and sometimes eating to the point of pain from stuffing down so much food.
2) eat lots of food when they are not hungry
3) eat quickly and not really thoroughly chew the food - not savoring the food in any way.
4) eat alone during a binge so that no one can see just how much food they are shoveling down
5) hide food wrappers or any evidence of food that has been eaten so others will not know how much was eaten
6) feel manic or frenzied about bingeing - may feel like bingeing is triggered by emotional pressure but have no idea why
7) feel bad after a binge - usually disgusted with themselves, and often depressed or guilty about the lack of self control.
feel sick after the binge and often lethargic - almost in a daze of numbness
Now some of those 8 symptoms listed above may not seem that much different from an overeater.
Bingeing is way different than overeating.
Overeating is usually an occasional occurrence of going overboard with food - like people tend to do on a special occasion or holiday meal.
Binge Eating Disorder is more about a person having little control over what, when and how much food she puts into her body at one sitting.
When I began to deal for the first time with my binge eating I did not even realize that my out of control behavior with food was an actual eating disorder. I just thought it was lack of self control and I beat myself up mentally every day for not having it together when it came to food.
Now since recovering from binge eating disorder I can tell you it is a legitimate disorder. It is not just a lack of self discipline. In fact many binge eaters are some of the most disciplined people in the world. They usually get good grades, are dependable, loyal, have good jobs and are upstanding members of society.
There is hope and recovery from binge eating. I have been free from binge eating for many years and my life is no longer centered on food. I am at a slim healthy weight and my life and health are growing in a positive direction.
Learn what I did to stop binge eating and become happy, healthy and slim. http://RawFoodDietWeightLoss.com
Get free tips on how to stop binge eating http://HowCanIStopBingeEating.com/
Binge-Eating in New York Colleges
Binge-Eating in New York Colleges
By Dan C.
Binge-eating among female college students in New York has more that doubled in recent years. Many of these young women are away from home for the first time and are confronted with situations that result in high levels of stress. Their counterparts that are first time college students and stay at home are less likely to succumb to binge-eating. The research would suggest that the behavior of those students that are away from home and attending universities could lead to more serious eating disorders in the future.
At New York’s SUNY at Albany a study taken among those female students that had decided to leave home to attend collage showed a three fold increase in binging compared to those that stayed at home to further their studies. The student’s grades appeared to have no consequence in this study. Social acceptance, change in activity patterns and coping skills were areas of concern during the study.
Some of those students interviewed at SUNY Albany admitted that they never had to cook for themselves. This experience alone changes their eating pattern and could lead to binge-eating. Binge-eating is itself a serious behavior and if not addressed may lead to the more serious conditions of Bulimia or Anorexia. Either of those conditions could require an admission to an Eating Disorder Treatment Center.
Shame and Guilt often accompany these Eating Disorders making it difficult for the sufferer to admit to a problem. Family and friends must be cognizant of the pitfalls that these women face and be willing to address the situation when questionable behavior becomes apparent.
Dan C’s career in the addiction field spans twenty-five years. He has held positions in all phases of administration and clinical services in Treatment Facilities throughout the state of Florida. He is currently employed by http://www.recoveryconnection.org
4 Binge Eating Help Tips
4 Binge Eating Help Tips
By Kristin Gerstley
Does thinking about food so much ultimately turn into a binge eating session for you? Does this sound like you?
You are sitting at home and you can’t stop thinking about food. You get up look in the pantry, close the door, and look in the refrigerator. You don’t know what you are looking for, but you feel obsessed with food, like you need to eat it because you are at home. You try not to eat it, because you know what will happen. It’s the same cycle as always: A little bite of something will turn into a binge eating session.
This happens to many people. Harmless snacking initially turns into a massive binge eating moment and they feel like they just cannot stop. It’s true that most of the time people do turn to food for comfort and because of some kind of emotional issue that happened to them in the past, but what about the people that can’t relate to that? The people who really can’t trace their binge eating to anything in their past? These kinds of people just know that they really enjoy food and feel like they can’t stop eating, which always turns into a binge for them.
So when you want to learn how to stop binge eating and curb any cravings, what do you do?
Here are some tips that used to help me stay away from the pantry and focus on things other than food and binge eating:
1. Chew gum.
Many times we are bored and eating sounds like just the thing to do to pass time. Instead of leading to a potential binge with a trigger food, try chewing gum. The constant chewing of gum will trick your mind and you won’t find that you are drifting off to snacking. You will find satisfaction with picking a gum that has a long-lasting flavor.
2. Do something.
Working from home I find myself in the kitchen just because it’s convenient. It’s the same thing with people who work at an office. The community candy bowl or the kitchen seem to just be convenient, and before you know it, you’ve consumed food that you weren’t even hungry for. Instead of falling victim to convenience, why not remove yourself from the situation. If you are at home and the kitchen keeps calling your name, leave the house. Making the kitchen invisible to you will really help you to not snack as much and will definitely curb future binges.
3. Find motivation.
What motivates you to stay on track? Is there a blog that you visit regularly or a website? Do you have a friend that will keep you on track? Think about your motivation towards not binging and do it. Not only will you become motivated to not binge and snack, but it (hopefully) won’t even be on your mind anymore.
4. Find the alternative.
This tip really worked well for me. If you start to crave a food, don’t deprive yourself of it necessarily; just find a healthier version of it. If you are craving tacos, make them at home because they will be healthier. If you can’t get sweets out of your mind, instead of reaching for the bag of chocolate, try an apple or another sweet fruit. Many times you will feel satisfaction because you are still fulfilling your sweet tooth… just in another way.
The next time you can’t seem to stop obsessing over food, or if a craving just seems like it is too much, try some of the tips. They worked for me when I was thinking how to stop binge eating for myself and hopefully you will have success with them as well.
Notice to publishers: You have rights to republish this article on your website as long as you keep all links in tact and clickable. Thank you.
Kristin Gerstley is a former binge eater that now has a very healthy relationship with food. Since 2005, Kristin has helped thousands of people who suffer from Binge Eating Disorder through her website: http://www.endbingeeating.com You can also get free tips and information by joining Kristin’s newsletter on: http://www.bingeeatingdisorderhelp.com
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