How to Stop Binge Eating
Dieting taught me how to binge eat.
It started with calorie counting. Often, I would save my allotted calories for the end of the day by either eating only low- or no-calorie foods and beverages or by skipping meals all together. I can remember many days when my first bite of food wasn’t until 3, 4, or even 5 in the afternoon. I told myself eating made me hungrier and that waiting to start eating meant I would eat less.
Reality regularly challenged that notion. During those hours of little to no eating, my mind would drift to thoughts of food. I would get cravings for foods not on my diet plan: pizza, burritos, chips and dip, and ice cream. Usually by the time I did eat, I blew way past my calories for the day and way past the point of physical comfort.
I got even worse when I tried counting points. You may recall there was a daily point number and a slush fund of flexible points to be used as you wish during a week. Plus, you could “earn” extra points from exercise. Instead of eating a little more each day, I would save points for the end of the week. Like counting calories, saving points almost always backfired. I ended up eating large amounts of forbidden foods that left me feeling sick and lethargic. I always promised myself it would never happen again. I would start over with a clean slate on Monday.
Perhaps you can relate?
What is Binge Eating?
Binge eating is consuming a large amount of food quickly and mindlessly without regard to hunger, fullness, or physical comfort. It often involves eating forbidden or restricted foods.
Binge eating can also be called backlash eating or rebound eating. It is a response to dieting or food restriction.
Binge eating behaviors can overlap with emotional eating. Emotional eating is eating to soothe, comfort, or distract from uncomfortable emotions like stress, boredom, or anger. I can tell you from personal experience that not eating enough can leave even the most stoic among us with an emotional short fuse.
You might have even experienced binge eating before starting a diet. The mere idea of your favorite foods, like chocolate or French fries, on a forbidden food list can be enough to trigger the desire to consume them “while you still can.”
Binge eating is a sign of a disordered relationship with food and can share traits with a diagnosable eating disorder like Binge Eating Disorder, but they are not the same thing.
What is Binge Eating Disorder?
Binge Eating Disorder (BED), like all eating disorders, is a complex mental illness. BED is diagnosed by a doctor or mental health professional based on DSM-5 criteria. The difference between binge eating and Binge Eating Disorder often comes down to frequency, duration, and psychological impairment thresholds outlined in the diagnostic criteria.
If you suspect you have BED, help is available. Call the free helpline for the National Alliance for Eating Disorders at 1-866-622-1235 to speak to a licensed therapist specializing in eating disorders or visit their website.
If you have BED or another eating disorder I recommend working with a team that includes a therapist, a nutritionist, and a medical doctor. The strategies discussed below can help with BED, but having the guidance and support of trained professionals is important to recovery.
Dieting Causes Binge Eating
Diets Disconnect You from Your Body
Toxic diet culture teaches you that you can’t be trusted to know when you are hungry or how much food is appropriate to eat. Diets tell you what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat it. The longer you are on a diet, the less sensitive you become to your own hunger and satiety cues.
Restriction Fuels Cravings and Food Obsession
The natural human response to restrictions is desire or craving. So, when you limit the amount of food you are eating during the day or eliminate a particular food or food group, your desire to eat that food grows. You might even describe yourself as food obsessed. You could be obsessed with one forbidden food, like chips or cookies, or with food in general.
Undereating Leads to Overeating
Dieters, or restrained eaters, tend to start each day with a desire to “be good” and to follow the diet rules. If you are intermittent fasting, this might mean not eating for hours after you wake up. If you are counting calories or carbs, it might mean eating specific serving sizes. Eating is based on diet rules, not the needs of your body.
Because you need to eat to live, the signals your body sends to eat get louder and harder to ignore the longer you go without enough food. It is common for clients to report that undereating during the day results in late afternoon or night binge eating.
This is due to a cascade of biochemical reactions hardwired for survival that set off both physical signs, like a growling stomach, and psychological signs, like a preoccupation with food, that it is time to eat. Binge eating is not a lack of willpower or motivation.
3 Steps to Stop Binge Eating
1. Eat Regular Meals and Snacks
Getting ravenously hungry can trigger the desire to eat a lot of food quickly, aka binge eat. Eating more filling and satisfying meals earlier in the day can reduce late-day or nighttime binge eating.
Practice tuning into your more subtle signs of hunger. Subtle signs of hunger can include things like more trouble focusing on a task, a drop in energy, or even increased thoughts about food. If you have trouble noticing these more subtle signs, you could try setting an alarm to remind you to eat every few hours. With time and practice, you will get better at sensing your hunger.
Skipping meals, even if you don’t think you feel hungry, also sets you up for later binge eating.
The goal is to eat enough food to feel comfortably full and satisfied at regular intervals throughout the day. Most people can’t go more than about 5 hours between meals without triggering primal, ravenous, biological hunger.
2. Reject Toxic Diet Culture
There are decades of research that shows that diets don’t work long term and that they can negatively affect mental, physical, and emotional health.
Trying to adhere to a long list of “good” and “bad” foods sets you up for failure. It might sound counterintuitive, but unconditional permission to eat any food will give you a more peaceful and healthy relationship with food.
Dieting erodes your trust in your body’s internal cues, or interoceptive awareness. Despite all of the diet and weight loss advice out there, the best guide for what, when, and how much to eat is your own body.
3. Practice Self-Care
I am not talking bubble baths and skincare here, though those are nice too. Self-care is literally, what you need to do to take care of your human form, like:
Resting and sleeping
Moving your body in ways that feel good
Connecting with others
Allowing time to reflect
Eating regular meals and snacks (see how I snuck that in twice!)
Managing stress
Practicing self-compassion
Intuitive Eating for Binge Eating
The three steps mentioned above incorporate the 10 principles of Intuitive Eating. Intuitive eating has been associated with lower levels of binge eating, emotional eating, and disordered eating. Best part? Anyone can learn to eat intuitively.
The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to be medical advice or to diagnosis, treat, cure or prevent any disease. This information does not replace a one-on-one relationship with a physician or healthcare professional. Dietary changes and/or the taking of nutritional supplements may have differing effects on individuals.
To learn more about how working with a nutritionist could help you, schedule a free 15-minute call.