If you are someone who has an unhealthy relationship with food, it can be really hard to make the right choices and eat the healthy things that will support your well-being and help you to maintain a healthy weight. This is particularly true for people who have issues with binge eating.
The good news is, whether you have a diagnosed binge eating disorder, or you’re just someone who often finds yourself unable to control the volume of food you eat, or just plain what you eat, then there arw a number of things you can do that, over time, will help you to conquer your binge eating, and you can read about them below, but of course, it’s always worth speakign to a qualified health professional about your issues before you make any significant changes.
That being said, let’s take a look at what you can do to help yourself if you feel like bingeing.
Eat Little and Often
Often, people feel the need to binge and make poor choices about the food they eat, when they are hungry, so one thing that a lot of binge eaters find useful is to eat small healthy meals and snacks more often. Work out your calorie allowance for the day, and then plan how you can make it work with 6-8 small meals, and maybe a healthy snack or two (nuts, fruit, veggies). You’ll feel fuller for longer, and because you know your next meal won’t be too far away, it can often be enough to help you stave off a binge.
Don’t Diet
When you have bibe eating disorder, you naturally want to get your eating under control, so you might be tempted to put yourself on a very strict diet, but you know what? That is often the worst thing you can do. As we alluded to above, the more restricted you feel when it comes to food, the more you will obsess about it and worry about it, and the more likely it is you will end up bingeing.
Obviously, this does not mean that you should not consider what you eat at all, or that you should not be making an effort to make healthier choices, but what it does mean is that you should not ban yourself from eating any food, whether it be carbs or chocolate – you should take the approach that you can eat anything you want in moderation. This is much less likely to lead to all-or-nothing thinking, and you might actually find that, by taking this approach, you naturally start to eat in a healthier way, and build a more favourable relationship with food, along the way.
Make Time for Fun
Another binge trigger for a lot of people is boredom. When you are at a loose end and you’re not physically or mentally stimulated, you might find yourself reaching for that packet of crisps or eating that whole box ofc chocolates simply because it gives you something to do and it releases endorphins that make you feel good.
So, you need to plan lots of fun activities that will give you the same endorphin hit without reaching for something to eat. This could be anything from seeing a movie with friends to learning a new craft like knitting or crochet – it doesn’t matter as long as it keeps you busy and makes you happy along the way.
Try Weight Loss Injections
If you are eligible to do so, then you might want to consider taking a weight loss medication like Wegovy which you inject once a week and which basically turns off food noise – that little voice in your head that is constantly thinking about food, what you’re going to eat next, whether you have chocolate in the cupboard – so that you can make healthier choices more easily. It has been revolutionary for many people with binge eating issues, and it could well do the same for you, so talk to your doctor or an online weight loss injection provider and see if it could help you.
Talk to a Therapist
Often, binge eating issues stem from some deeper-seated trauma, whether it’s because you had a lack of food when you were younger, and now you feel the need to eat whenever food is available, or because you use food as a comfort and a crutch. Speaking to a therapist who understands these issues can, then, help you to get to grips with the underlying problem, which will make it easier to make healthier choices over time.
Binge eating disorder is not easy to overcome, but there is help out there, and there are things you can do to help, so don’t be afraid to tackle the issue head-on.
