If you’re here, you’re trying to stop binging, so I think you are no stranger to what binge eating is: The obsessive thoughts, the need to have it now, the urge to shove it all down at once without fail, and of course, the proceeding guilt and shame that drives you into another binge ( Visit – StatPearls – NCBI Bookshelf for deeper dive ).
If so, know that I understand you. I was there and only recently, at my big age, finally ended the awful painful cycle that is binging.
Now, I know you think binging is only in regards to food, but actually it affects how we consume our media as well. Why do you think Netflix purposely puts out all episodes of a series at once or Tik Tok automatically plays the next clip?
They want you hooked; and it has us hooked. We become completely consumed by our environment: food, series, phones, everything surrounding us. And we end up neglecting something more important, ourselves.
Which brings us to my first tip:
Time for your reality check…
1) Listen to yourself for a change.
I think your immediate response to this might be “What do you mean? I always listen to myself”, but the truth is you don’t. If you did listen to yourself, you won’t be so heavily consumed by your surroundings and pay such little attention to the pain you cause your mind and body.
You’re here because you are trying to listen to your body more, you are aware that this behaviour is destructive and want, neigh, need it to change.
You know you’re in pain. You know that this dysfunctional cycle will only worsen the more you, yes, feed it lol.
The beginning of this change starts with listening to yourself both consciously and subconsciously.
I mean think about it. Whenever you binge, you eventually reach a point when you’re full, but because you’ve subconsciously decided that you must finish all the food in front of you (be it because of boredom, simply the food being there, or coping mechanisms) you don’t stop binging.
You keep mindlessly eating, and eating, and eating until you’ve finished what is in front of you, or until you are so full you consciously can’t eat anymore.
Binging, be it food or any media is mindless – not thinking, done without justification and with no concern (for the consequences). Your brain feels dead, your stomach is aching, but who cares right?
*See the importance of listening to yourself?
Once you listen, you become more mindful of what your body is telling you at any given moment. You’d be surprised how many ‘I’m full’ or ‘it’s enough’ or ‘please stop binging’ signals we choose to ignore.
You need to be more considerate towards yourself and more considerate towards you health. Your mental, physical and emotional well-being depends on it.
I know, it is so much easier said than done, but the fact that you are here, shows that you’re extremely capable of doing so. You clearly want better. You see the fault in these ways and know there’s more to life than this.
There’s more to you than this.
When you start to pay attention to the self-inflicted pain and how you genuinely need to be more thoughtful and considerate to yourself, you’ll begin to see a minor shift on how you consume anything that enters your body.
You will make a more conscious effort towards treating yourself better and altering your subconscious behaviour.
It all takes baby steps. Hopefully this will begin your journey towards real self love, which brings me to point number two…
2) Love yourself
Have I struck a nerve?
We just need to be brutally honest here. And if you truly want to get better and get rid of this disorder, it takes brutal, sincere honesty with yourself.
As much as you think you do, that is just your ego talking to mask the way you really feel, because if you did, you would not be reading this blog post.
I am just trying to help.
Loving yourself is not doing daily tasks and rewarding yourself with a binge, loving yourself is not excusing your awful behaviour and habits because you can’t control it, loving yourself is not assuming that ‘a binge is fine because you’ll just work it off during the week’.
Loving yourself is definitely not eating all the food in front of you like a pig (pigging it out). Because you most certainly are not.
Loving yourself, is taking care of yourself like you care for a child, friends, and relatives. There is a reason we binge in private. We do not want anyone to see us. Why? Because we subconsciously know that what we are doing is wrong so we try and avoid the public shame.
And for those of you who binge in front of others and have had no one try to tell you lovingly (yes, in a kind manner to help you and not insult you) that you have a problem and need to work on how to stop binging; you may need to reconsider the people you hang around.
Loving yourself also consists of surrounding yourself with people who want better for you, to see your grow. You need to ask yourself if people are holding you back, but that’s a story for another day.
I get that it sucks reconsidering how much genuine self-love you have, because the more you dive into the subtle ways you don’t, the more it hurts. I mean trust me, I went to the gym consistently, I went to work, I would cook and clean, keep my bedroom tidy, mostly lol, dress quite well etc.
But the truth is a I hated so much about myself that all the real, tangible positives could not outweigh the negative emotions…
I fear a lot of you are in the same boat.
You are so much better than your negative emotions, yet we get so stuck there. Always craving something to make us feel better – hence a binge.
Is it worth it?
You know it’s not worth it, it never is. You eat a lot, then you eat more because your cravings are higher from all the junk food you just ate, and of course, you play something to watch in the background to pass the time which ends in the either of the following ways:
1) You do not want to face how much you’ve eaten because the thought of it is so heart breaking that you choose to distract yourself instead by, you guessed it, eating more and of course consuming more media.
2) Or two, you realize how much you’ve eaten, and mind my language begin to feel like utter poop and horde all your negative emotions in, making you feel more like poop so you binge more, again to distract you from the consequences of your actions.
3) Or maybe you aren’t a binge eater, you’re a binge watcher. The same applies to you… you watch things to distract yourself from the reality of your life because it is so much easier to watch 20 episode of a show you’re half interested in than to feel hurt.
Regardless, you choose to distract yourself instead of love yourself.
The harsh reality is in front of you. That what you are doing is a result of a lack of self-love. That’s why you just can’t seem to stop binging.
Self love is not just telling yourself you love yourself everyday. It’s actively showing yourself the love, care, nourishment, health and fulfilment you deserve. Self love is health, real mental, emotional and physical health.
Self love is discipline. It is knowing how to say no and sticking to it. It is making decisions that are beneficial for you in the long-term.
Once you choose to seek self-love, aka real health, not for glory, not for likes, not for attention from others, but to make you mind soul and body healthy, binging will merely be part of your story you look back on and thank for bringing you to a place of true inner peace.
And part of seeking that self-love also means to…
3) Occupy Yourself
In line with everything discussed, by being mindless and distracting yourself, I think its safe to say you are not being as useful to society and to yourself as you could be and actually are.
You may have lost touch with reality and your value.
Think of all of the times you couldn’t stop binging. There was lots of food, probably something playing in the background and of course, the mindless scrolling through Tik-Tok/ Twitter, a game or whatever your preferred vice is.
You can’t concentrate on one thing. You brain is so clouded by all the food and media; you turn into a sloth. It is nothing to be proud of.
This put’s you in such a sluggish state, where you can’t be in any position to think clearly, be creative, or do better.
And this all feeds into the binge cycle you are trying to avoid.
To put it plain and simple to those of you who need to hear this;
Stop being lazy.
When you are active and productive, you barely have time to wallow in your sorrow because you’ll be too busy being a constructive person, contributing to life than being stuck in a whirlwind of your thoughts and emotions.
Mostly, that distraction that you so crave will be a positive one. The right kind of distraction. It makes it so much easier to stop binging when you aren’t even thinking about it.
Try fill out your negative habits with positive ones. Instead of scrolling through social media, read more, read anything beneficial (such as this blog, thank you for your support). Instead of playing any games, play games that teach you in some way, instead of just watching tv for the sake of it, watch educational documentaries and podcasts and pay attention.
Try preparing and eating foods that are healthy and mostly delicious! Make healthy snacks that feed into your cravings because cravings are normal (try 30+ Healthy Snacks for Every Craving – Downshiftology). Go take a walk, workout, clear your head so you can get back to freely creating.
Not only will you be actively exercising your brain, but also showing all the self doubt that you are capable, and we shan’t forget, loving yourself.
That makes you feel a heck of a lot better, doesn’t it?
Push yourself, those goals are merely dreams without you planning and acting on them.
And maybe you think you can’t do better. All I can say to that is, you will never know slouched on the couch eating chips being a zombie now, will you?
And last but not least…
4) Be Kind
A bit of a non-conventional tip but bear with me.
All those days you feel useless, be useful and share your food with others who would appreciate it. Invite your friends and or family over. Isolating yourself only feeds depression. They will be grateful to see you and be fed!
Or, donate the food or the funds you were going to use to buy the food. Think of how may people you can make happy. Whether it is in your local area or overseas, the impact will be greater than you know.
You are useful. There is so much you can do for yourself and mostly for others.
What better way to stop binging by sharing? Instead of all the guilt and shame you feel after a binge, you will be met with smiles and hugs for the lovely invitation. Or tears, from seeing how much you have helped others. Something you may have never imagined.
Or, be a little extra and save up the money to get yourself something of better quality. You’ve spent enough money on expensive food wearing the same 2 torn sweat pants of shame, you deserve to switch it up.
Stop binging, look better, feel better, do better.
Remember …
As my people like to say, “this life no be easy”. This life is not easy. Stopping binging is not easy at all. It takes hard focused work. But it is worth it.
I strongly encourage you to read more of my blog posts and follow my journey From Binging to Bliss. I broke down a few points here, but I get into the nitty-gritty details that I know could help you on your journey.
Can’t wait to hear about how life has changed for you!
