My failure

[Goddess_girl]

I feel my failure with raw is because I am a binge eater. Over coming this is the hardest thing I have ever done; and still have not battled it. This has been the one thing that has destroyed my health and every attempt at a healthy life. I have seen on tv today that "binge eating" is ,they say' genetic. They had some B.E. on tv and they said they were very relieved at this news.
To me it is horrible news, now I feel trapped in this BOX of despair. What horrified me even more was that all these women were HUGE. I dont want to be like that! I really dont. I want to change but dont know where to start.

Has anyone battled or have been battling Binge eating?]

[macybare]

I have never heard that its genetic. That is kind of depressing to hear tho. But I don't think it means you can't get over it. I have had bed on and off for about two years. That's actually how I started raw. I had gone off on a binge one night after countless times of telling myself I was done with it. My stomach hurt so bad and I just felt sick emotionally and physically. I wanted out. So I got on-line and to my luck I came upon this site. I started raw the next day and went for eleven days and then had another binge come on. It was a pretty terrible one too. Every bad unhealthy food you can think of was going in my mouth. the next day I jumped right back on raw again. I only had one binge day after that and it wasn't as bad. I'm on day 10 again today and don't know if I'll go back to it. I really believe I won't. Normally I can forcast when I'm going to do something like that to myself. I'm guessing the next time I know about to start binging I'll do it raw. But I really believe raw is helping me out a ton.

[Goddess_girl]

I saw it on the cbs news today; I was looking for a printed story, but have had no luck.

[jaurequi]

Why don't you try journaling your days. This will help keep yourself in check. It will also free others to comment and make suggestions for your goals.

Since you are a binge eater, you may need specific guidelines.
(Or do you feel you have an eating disorder? If so, I recommend you see a professional; it may be purely emotional, psychological. Getting this kind of help would be the first and most important step; then you can work on your diet.)

Do you binge on certain foods or at certain times? Stress?

Just try to continue reaching for good options instead of unhealthy ones. It helps to keep you at least from going really terrible processed foods.

Don't lose hope...

Best,

[Goddess_girl]

jaurequi
Thanks for the advice. I think I will start Journaling.
My trigger is sugary foods, starchy foods, bread, pasta ex.
When I attempt to go raw, I will dream about those foods and my mind will just talk myself into eating them. It is like there are two people inside of me. I have NOT been a binge eater all my life but have enjoyed food all my life!

Anyways I dont have a dehydrator and am a little fearful of getting one. I think it will trigger me into more binging. It really is something in my head. It is hard to fit into words. I guess the only thing I can do is keep a journal and write down my feelings and see what it balls into.

I think I will also stay clear of grocery stores and just shop at fresh markets. Just looking At some foods makes me change my mind about raw. My thinking is so rapid at times , I dont know what I have done until I get home!


Off to make my journal....

[Sheryl]

Here's a quote from the author of the study:
"In a new study doctors from Mclean Hospital found that people who have family members who are binge eaters are twice as likely to suffer from the disorder themselves. "This finding for the first time establishes that this disorder probably has genetic components." Dr. Hudson said. "

http://www.wfsb.com/Global/story.asp?S=4635799

To be this looks like rubbish. Genetics is only one reason things run in families... if a parent has bad eating habbits it's so much more likely to be the same for others in the family.

I think it's all about looking for ways to be 'innocent' and not responsible for your actions that things like this come out in many cases. It's just as likely to be learned behaviour!

Goddess_girl
Don't take any notice of this - keep up the good work and you will find what works for you!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[Alithia]

Hi
I can relate - I too have battled the binge demons, and there's hope, because I rarely binge anymore, it used to be daily, at my worst it was multiple times a day... now maybe once or twice a month.
If you would like to talk about this more, for sure let me know.. I always have found it helpful to talk to someone else who is going through the same things as I am, because really, we are never alone in our struggles, no matter how much it seems like we are the only one in the world with ______ (fill in various problems here)
I think it is wonderful you have found raw foods, and that you are aware of your bingeing and that you are ready to stop it before you become one of those women; I thought the same thing -- when I realized I had better do something or else I was going to end up gaining weight forever and living my life always thinking about food - no way to live.
Take care,

Alithia

[purtyflowrr]

i can totally relate!! binging is what put 60 pounds on my body in two years. what i can tell you is that you are not under the control of your genes! you HAVE to believe that!!!!! ultimately, you are in control of your mind. when you feel a binge coming, write it out. express everything you are feeling. why do you have these feelings? stress? anxiety? fatigue? depression? find out what triggers a binge. for me, i was just addicted to the absolutely full feeling you get from binging and it is like a crutch. when i feel sad, i binge. then i feel even more depressed and binge more. well, i decided to STOP THIS DETRIMENTAL BEHAVIOR! i am in control of my mind. i am not going to let a feeling set me off on a binge.

find other things you can give your time to besides eating. anything.

every morning.....start the day off with positive affirmations. you are strong. you are in control of your mind. food does not rule you.

these things have helped me. i hope they help you. also, coming to these boards have tremendously helped!

you can do this! you are in control!

[Rawbin]

I'm also a binge eater and new to raw. Whiel I have binged 4 or 5 times in the last few weeks, I've managed to stick to raw! A small victory. I hope that as I continue on my raw journey, I'll stop bingeing altogether.
Has anyone had this experience- binge SAD eater, gone raw and binged raw, stayed raw and overcome cycles of binge eating?

[juliebove]

I guess I am lucky. The one thing I tend to binge on is raw veggies. Now perhaps some wouldn't even call it a binge. I am not one of those people who sneaks food or hides to eat it. But I have been known to eat an entire head of lettuce all by myself or to continue eating raw veggies long after the other people have finished eating. And I'll eat more while they are eating dessert. I've been told by three dieticians that I eat too many veggies. I don't much like fruit. But I do love veggies. They are my favorite foods! So this type of diet is one that works well for me.

Now I have overdone it on other foods, but not for a very long time. I used to eat too much candy on holidays as a kid and once while putting together a dollhouse (wood and glue), I ate a whole small bag of cookies.

Now I have diabetes and also food allergies. I simply can't eat some things. Like most cookies and candy. These things make me sick. I don't like being sick. That's incentive enough for me not to eat these things. But perhaps my not eating these things is just something in my nature. I know other people with food allergies who crave the foods they are allergic to and can't stop eating them. I know one person who has tooth pain if she eats really cold foods. Yet she loves frozen treats like ice cream and she can't stop herself from eating them. Really cold foods hurt my teeth too and for that reason, I do not want them.

For me, it seems all it takes is a bad experience with a food and then I do not want it. And a recent magazine article I read (can't remember the source) said this is common nature. But the bad experience doesn't have to be a real one. They did an experiment with people where they told them they had gotten ill at age 2 from eating strawberry ice cream. The people were told that they were young enough that they didn't remember the experience. But they were given details about how sick they had gotten from eating the ice cream. They were told this same story day after day for several days. Then they were served a meal that ended with strawberry ice cream. Most of the people refused to eat it. A few tried to eat it, but couldn't get past a bite of two. Some were even repulsed at the sight of the ice cream. Some found they couldn't eat any ice cream at all, no matter the flavor. And this aversion was still with them two years later.

So perhaps if you find yourself wanting to binge on foods that you know you shouldn't be eating, then you could find something bad to associate this food with.

[Goddess_girl]

I am sorry to say this is a EVERY DAY THING for me. I gained 52 pounds in 3 months. No kidding. My first raw day will be tommorow. I am really going to put forth a effort of 10000000%.

Please leave a comments in my journal or e-mail me..I need support!

[Sheryl]

We're here to support you - please stay in touch daily and journal too!

The first few days or week take the most will power. After that your body starts to adjust and it all gets easier. I highly recommend setting up a place that will allow you to stay away from foods you might binge on when you start. Even if it means cleaning out the house and staying home for a week!

Talk more soon,
Sheryl

[PhoeniX]

Hello Goddess_girl,

I believe that we get what we focus on in life. An example is when people hit telephone poles in the cars the majority of times they hit it dead center. They were trying to miss it, but they were looking right at it and so they hit it straight on.

I also believe that when you visualise something with a lot of strong emotions then you tend to create this in your life. Right now, it seems to me, you are putting a ton of emotion into picturing yourself being a binge eater. My suggestion to you is to transfer your focus to what you want to become and not what you want to avoid. Focus your attention on being a strong, lean, heathly person in love with life filling yourself with foods that nourishes you and gives you joy (and do this with strong emotion). At the same time, if you binge, let it go. Do not spend time beating yourself up and giving that vision emotional fuel. Let that emotional channel die away.

Be gentle with yourself.

[jennplas]

Hi,

I understand what you are going through. i am a compulsive overeater that has gone through many binging periods.

I dont believe that this is genetic. I think the reason it runs in families is because you learn from your families behaviours. If you had been born from a totally "normal in the way of eating family" and then adopted into a family who binges... you would probably end up as a binger. Kids learn from what they see and live on a daily basis.. so i dont believe you are stuck this way forever. you have come a long way! just discovering raw foods gives you more knowledge to move forward.

For some people , certain support groups like OA who offer hope to people with food issues, are really good. perhaps you would even like to check that out for some support. we are of course here to support you as well, but i understand sometimes you just need some *in person* support too.

one thing for sure, you are not stuck in the pattern that you grew up in. you can change anything you like in your life. there IS hope and i am sure you will do it! :)

jennP

[theresaann]

I too have experienced this in my life. I went through about 5 years of this when my children were really young and I was on my own with no money or family support at all, and lots of judgement and abuse from their father. My life felt like a nightmare. I binged a lot on pastries, shortbread cookies (my joke to everyone was that I could "mainline" shortbread cookies), and of course that would make me unbalanced, so I would also crave fatty meat, like fast food hamburgers, taco bell-it was a relentless cycle. and I just could NOT stop. If I started to detox with raw or even just whole healthy foods, I would feel really anxious and HAVE to have the junk-like heroin.

NOw that I have eased virtually ALL of that stress in my life, which I did by participating in intense personal growth work for a year straight through landmark education, what I've come to see is that the emotional stress I was putting MYSELF through was the real problem. I see that EMOTIONAL healing is the heart of healing this problem, and that personal growth work and meditation, spiritual practice and study is the MOST impt. aspect. The food is important too, but until one gets a handle on the THINKING driving the creation of the emotional stress, which the food we seek to self-medicate with the carbs and sugar and fat, then we won't be able to stay on healthy food for long-at least I wasn't.

FOr me what finally worked was a combination of the above approaches WITH raw food, which I did for a few weeks at a time, going back to mostly vegan food in between, for a year, before I was ready to go 100% raw long term, where I am now.

just sharing-cause I have been there and I can relate!!

[Rawmommie]

I have gone through this and I have overcome MANY of my binging issues by eating 100% raw. Take baby steps. Commit to 30 days of 100% raw and stick to it. You may still have the urge to binge, just keep it all raw! (you may not lose weight this way, but just stay raw and things will begin to change)

I found that I was binging raw on nut butters, avacado's, and dates. I tried to identify what it was that caused me to binge, but my main focus was to stay all raw. I've been raw for about a year and a half and I have overcome binging almost completely. At this point, I have cut down on the foods that trigger binging (listed above) but I can have them now occasionally without it triggering a binge. This is a journey though, and you must take it step by step. Try 100% raw for the 30 days and the longer you are raw, the more clear things will become to you. Binging on carrots, or smoothies, or even dates is a step in the right direction.

[aisah]

Surely we are and will be here to give one another support to be on the raw path. Providing you help and support and in turn helping myself to be stronger in raw principles too, so we both will gain and so will many others.

Anyhow, I do not believe that any eating disorders is genetics, even if it is, our genes/cells of the body can be re-trained and they are in fact much more intelligent than our brains. It is the mind/brain that alters our thoughts and actions.

The visual came to mind - would you say that you gobble your food down, more than your mouth can chew and you are most likely to be standing in front of your fridge with your hands busy shovelling food down the mouth while at the same time searching for more food.... you keep on searching for that food that you think will satisfy you but the search seems to be never ending?

Truth is raw natural food does this the best!! The next time you feel a hunger pang, reach for a juicy fruit. Savor it slowly and enjoy every bite, inhaling its fresh natural aroma and note even the smallest detail as to when you bite into say a juicy apple and your teeth chewing into the apple, how the crunchy apple oozes out plenty of goodness and abundance of minerals/vitamins/energy from the Sun and replenishing each and every cell. Keep practising so and you will notice your cells jump with joy!!

Thing is many eat too fast. When eating too fast, one tends to overeat. The next time you feel like 'eating' get connected to your stomach and really ask yourself are you that hungry or is it the brain/mind is giving out false signals for it is 'bored' not consuming.

These are just my thoughts and it did help some people whom I have advised. Key word is and has always been - awareness.

yes journalling is a brilliant idea, when you write down what you ate, it is like bringing to your own attention, hence awareness, what you overdid or may benefit from toning down on it.

There are many reasons why people overeat. One of it could be to provide substance to 'relieve' one of that 'emptiness' deep inside one's gut. Remember you want to feed your body with nourishing food and not matter how much nourishing food you eat, overeating will only bring adverse effect.

Once again these are just my thougths, hope it helps you in some way.

my best to you ~ a

[faith4u]

Maybe you could try a more gradual approach instead of jumping in at 100% and fighting terrible cravings.

Maybe before each meal eat your fill of say fresh fruit. Then eat your meal. You can do this until it feels naturally and then gradually keep increasing your raw content.

It truly doesn't matter how fast you do it if you end up at the same place long term.

If you try to go 100% and constantly fail you will never get there but if you do it in an easier way you can definitely make it there. It is a journey rather than a race.

Just a thought..

[Guydiane]

goddess_girl

Don't beat yourself up Copy this and give it a try to help you out. I helps me alot I keep it on my mirror.

THE FRIEND IN YOUR MIRROR

Speak gently to yourself.
Speak freely in praise of all you are.
Speak clearly with pride in all you've been.
Speak bravely with hope for all you may become.

Find in yourself the powers that only you possess,
the pains that only you can overcome, the promises that only you can keep.

Look deeply into the mirror of your life and discover the very speical person that only you can be.