Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

Food binges can erase many days of watching a low cholesterol diet. This post considers what binging is and how one might go about dealing with it.

Binge eating is the most common eating disorder amongst millions of people worldwide.  It is even more common than anorexia and bulimia.  Even so it is a disorder that is not openly discussed nor understood.   Binging occurs in two ways.

Food Trances and Regret
The first occurrence of binging produces something called a ‘food trance’.  A food trance is a mind numbing experience that happens during eating.   It can be described in different ways.  While in the trance a person feels that they belong.  They feel loved, appreciated, important and happy.  They remember happier times and this soothes them.  Food trances have even been likened to heroin cravings.  When we are ‘doped’ on food we don’t have to deal with our problems and nothing in the world matters to us at that time.  Binging is a perfect escape form having to deal with emotions.  Depression, anger, loneliness, rejection and even stress take a back seat for a while. Binging is a form of self medication that provides short term relief.

When the mind is overrun by uncomfortable thoughts, binge eaters run toward food as a way to find some peace.   However when emotions are pushed to the background and not dealt with, it is then that binging can become uncontrollable.  When the mind needs food to deal with problems it is difficult to control eating, no matter how hard one tries.

Regret is the second way binging occurs.  It may seem inconsistent on the surface yet once a binge is over it is replaced by feelings of regret.  You keep telling yourself how terrible you were to give in to the urge and in turn give yourself something else to stress about. These feelings of regret replace having to deal with real issues.

People binge in order to cope with their feelings, to create the illusion of feeling good shut out the world and feel safe.  It is a cycle that keeps repeating itself.  It starts with binging and the promise to stop.  When it happens again we hate ourselves for being so weak which often prompts another binge.

Dieting as a means to stop binging and is a recipe for failure. If you can understand the cycle and what drives you to binge, it will be easier to find alternative ways to deal with emotional emptiness.

Recovering emotionally after a binge
It is never easy to prevent each and every binge so the key element is to take back your power each time a binge occurs.

Before loading your plate take a moment to investigate what has triggered your need to binge.  The reason often boils down to an emotional incident that has triggered the conditioned thought that food equals comfort.  However, there are bingers who are not even aware they are binging until after it is done.  If this is the case, it is still possible to back track and identify the trigger.

Many find writing out their feelings helps settle their mind.  Be specific as you can, dates, times, names and places.  Being aware is equivalent to donning battle armor.

The next important step is to forgive yourself.  Forgiveness is the road to rectifying guilt and self hatred.  Think of it this way.  The voice in your head that caused guilt and self hatred needs to be stopped.  After all you wouldn’t dream of speaking to a loved one or a friend in the same way.  Replace the criticism with kind and soothing words.  Forgive yourself and remind yourself that you are finding healthier ways to cope with your feelings.

The final step is recovery, or bouncing back.  It is crucial that you don’t wait too long after a binge as it makes it harder to bounce back.  If you practice investigating the reason for your binge and forgive yourself you will bounce back faster.  Each time you bounce back you are getting back on track.  If you go off track simply arm yourself with a soothing voice and an insight into why it happened.

No matter how much you might be afraid of letting go of your method of quietening your mind, this isn’t so.  Each and every person is constantly learning how to overcome negative thoughts and voices.  Focus on the good instead.  Letting go of binging will bring with it a loss of weight and a change in lifestyle.  And it is these things that can help change the negative thoughts and voices to positive ones.

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