Help... I can't stop bingeing!

[DeeRawGirl]

I am an emotional eater. I can't stop bingeing. I've been attempting to go raw for the past couple of weeks and I can't seem to stop myself from eating the house out of food. This is not a change... I was bingeing before I decided to go raw. I'm getting frustrated with myself though, because its sabotaging behavior! I'll be doing great, having fruit for breakfast, a small handful of raw nuts for a snack and then, wham!, I can't control myself. :eek:

I was diagnosed with PCOS about three years ago. I have insulin resistance (a precursor to diabetes) and controlled it on my own with my version of the Atkins diet for a year. I was able to finally get pregnant after 17 years of trying!!! :D But, that program is hard to do and never really made me feel good. I was tired alot of the time, had constant bowel problems and survived on alot of artificially sweetened junk food.

I know that the bingeing is a personal issue, more than a food issue. And I'm probably not following through on all my thoughts here. I guess I just would like to have a friend or two who might be experiencing some of the same issues.

[vegggeeemom]

I understand the emotional or stress eating. I am a big one on that.

When eating SAD I eat and eat and eat just because I was frustrated and the food would "stuff" down the problems or feelings that I didn't want to deal with.

I've been on raw again since May 1st and I can't say that I haven't had my moments where I wanted to binge, but Misslinda had a great thought on one of her goals for the day was to not eat when stressed, angry or sad.

That helped me SO much. If I'm stressed I tend to eat to take away that stress.

When you're binging now do you binge on raw foods or SAD?

It can be done. I haven't been not binging for very long, but I figure if I can stop a bad habit that I had of binging when stressed or mad, then I feel anyone can.

I have been really trying to not eat unless I am really hungry. Not just wanting to eat because it tasted good, but because I need fuel.

You are not alone by any means. If you search the banana you will find many people struggle with binging. Do a search and see what you can find. Probably some very helpful stuff!

Good luck and welcome to raw! You can do this!

Pam

[rawandama]

I find that I binge for two reasons:
1. I'm stressed and don't realize it (often from things out of my control) and I try and gain control with food. I will seriously eat until my stomach is in agony, cry, and then eat as SOON as the pain goes away (still full though). The summer before I turned 17 I gained 20 lbs.
2. I'm trying to get a high, since cooked food gives me a high. I find that the more chocolate and bread I eat, the more talkative and happy I feel (until the next morning when I'm very nauseated and tired).

What are your reasons for binge eating?? Once I recognized mine and gave them to God (my stress, my addictions) I found that it wasn't so hard to resist binge eating and starving anymore.

I hope this helps. I know how much it stinks to fall into that cycle and I want you to know that I'm sending up a little prayer for you. :o

[rawpriestess]

If you REALLY want to do something, you will find a way,
If you DON"T want to do something, you will find an excuse.

It is really THAT SIMPLE.

so, you are saying that you are bingeing about things that are out of your control. NOTHING is out of your control. all of your life IS entirely YOUR control.

You manifest what you focus on, so as long as you keep saying that you can't stop, then you can't, but as soon as you say, I am making a choice to eat only healthy raw foods, then you will be able to do that.

Now, we all have slip ups along the way, and we all have been where you are.

Chocolate and bread specifically have sugar in them, of course you will get a high when eating them, so sub raw sugar, like dates, fruits, grains, etc.

you will still get that high, and it's okay to over indulge on raw, if you want IN THE BEGINNING.

Just realize that you also NEED to do the internal work to get clear of your eating issues, you MUST go through your issues, instead of stuff them down.

you may be ready to do this, you may NOT be ready to do this, but good counceling can help, not just talking to a friend. Talking to someone who can actually help you work THROUGH your stuff.

And we all have stuff.

So, make the conscious decision when it feels right to you, to make this committment, and you can make this commitment to go raw for one year, one month, one week, one day or even one hour, but any committment, will be great to start with.

You see, we all have been where you are, there is not one person in this world, that hasn't dealt with issues of some sort, we all have pain and challenges from the past, that we want to escape from but you see the ONLY escape is to accept it, and get on with your life.

pushing your issues down with food or any substance of choice, will NEVER work, because all of that pain and fear is still there, just waiting to come back up again, until you push it down again.

You don't have to be a massochist to get through the pain, you don't have to relive it, you don't have to even know what it is, all you need to do is be willing to allow it to leave, then just do that, allow it to leave.

THAT is the easiest thing to do and the hardest thing to do, because most of us are really into our stuff, it keeps us from moving forward into that scary place called life.

so, when you are ready, and not one second before, you can release this stuff, until then, binge on raw, ripe, fresh and organic.

YOU will feel sooooooo much better.

[veggie]

I feel your pain, DeeRaw Girl! I too used to uncontrollably binge as well, and I found it was an emotional issue. It started out of the blue about a year ago, and I think it was due to a death in my family.

What has helped me besides prayer is to reprogram my mind. Anytime I think I want to binge I'm trying to determine what triggers it. It may help to write this down, and begin a journal. You may notice some common themes! I noticed that anytime I got stressed at work I desired to binge, or if I felt bored or lonely at home.

I'm now finding more outlets for my stress so that I don't turn to binge eating. I will either journal or I really enjoy hiking or being near the mountains. So, sometimes I will take a drive to the nearest mountain.
So, in short, I would suggest that you determine the root of the binge; try to journal, and choose an alternate activity when the emotion hits. Find out what you truly enjoy or are passionate about and redirect your food eating to that instead.
Now, if you have insulin problems, I've been there as well too, and sometimes your body craves that sugar to keep going. I was on a high protein diet a few years ago, which helped tremendously, but it wreaked havoc on my body. So, you're definitely on the right track with raw. It's just a matter of finding that balance. Have you used a barley green powder at all?
Hope that helps! Again, I completely feel your pain!

[Drawn]

You definitely have to deal with the emotional issues for overeating but you may want to try adding some fat in earlier in the day or even when you feel hungry. Try putting some coconut oil in a morning fruit smoothie or do what I do and just eat a tablespoon of it straight. You are getting some fats in the nuts in mid morning but it sounds like you might want to stay ahead of your hunger. I used to binge at night mostly and I find that if I take a second and think about it, eat a tablespoon of coconut oil, think about it again.... I don't binge.

Good luck! You will get through this.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

I don't know if this will help or not . . . .

If I wake up in the morning and eat right away, I eat all day long. But if I get up and force myself not to eat for 3 hours or even longer, I find I eat very little over the day. Not sure why this happens, but it just does.

My daughter was diagnose with PCOS. They put her on a drug that started with "G", and it made her sick. Anyway I told her to toss it and we started her on natural progesterone cream. Her periods are now more mellow. Her emotions are better. The facial hair is less. She has a healthy 2 1/2 year old now after being told she couldn't have any children. She eat very high raw now :D When she gave birth she weight about 215. She is now 140, dipping down in the 130's occasionally.

Anyway, I hope through the posts here on this board you find something that may work for you. I'm sure there are a lot of suggestions and ideas and eventually you'll figure out what will work for you. Just hang in here. Eating raw will definately cause you to feel better and eventually, I've been told, after you been raw a while, you just naturally start to eat a little less. Don't know if this is true for everyone, but I've read this quite a few times.

[Guppy]

Hang in there! You are certainly not alone in this disorder. I am a recovering binge-eater myself.

Now you say that binging is a personal issue and not a food issue. Are you sure of that?? The reason I ask is that this was my assumption all along too. I had no idea that binging was, in large part, tied to the foods I was eating as part of a "healthy diet."

I recommend the book Thin Tastes Better by Stephen Gullo. This book helped me understand that there are "trigger foods" that set me off into binge land. When these foods are avoided, no binging. For me, the list of triggers is quite extensive: bread (I think wheat may be the problem here), sugar, animal protein of any kind, potatoes, and many (most? all?) cooked food. I found the Raw Food Diet to be the only one that - so far - avoids triggering a binge.

Of course there are emotional reasons for binging as well. For those, you need to become super aware of your emotions and how you feel leading into a binge. If I think about eating something and I find that my heart is racing, I am sweating, and I want to rip the package open and stuff the food into my mouth... Look Out! A binge is on the way! When you become more aware of what is happening, you start noticing patterns and which situations are likely to trigger you. In time, you can learn how to manage yourself in these situations w/o binging.

So, my advice is to know your triggers: both food and situations! Then take your life and the management of your disorder ONE DAY AT A TIME.

You can beat this. Be patient with yourself.
Best,
Emily

[Svadhyaya]

It would be nice if it were as simple as RawPriestess said.....however, I strongly disagree. REALLY wanting something very often isn't enough. Failure at overcoming addiction is not a matter of simple willpower or even a concentrated desire to overcome the problem. Compulsive behavior it is much, much more complex than that.

Please don't feel guilty if you truly want to stop bingeing and can't seem to find the strength to resist these compulsions. It usually takes many tries and many fails to stop a severely addictive behavior (like binging, unhealthy food, drugs, cigarettes, etc.) Just continue to try your best to follow the good advice you've received so far on this thread and most of all, don't give up. Fall down. Get back up. Eventually, if you don't allow yourself to despair and feel guilty (which is very counterproductive in food addiction situations) you will find the binges slowing, then stopping.

My heart is with you.

[dreamrawalwz]

I was bulimic, but stopped the purging once I went raw. I still binge though and it's really frustrating. I don't gain weight (thank goodness) from the foods I am eating. I'd like to know how to stop as well. I don't have any advice though unless you're binging on SAD foods. Corn, sugar, wheat, milk, and soy were my main triggers.

[Brianna]

I too have done a lot of emotional eating in the past and I still do occasionally. This past year has been especially hard for me in that way, because my parents are just going through a divorce and we've moved from Ohio to Florida, so there's been a lot of stress in my life.

I seem to be on a pretty good track right now. I find that the first two or three days are the hardest and if you can get through those, then it's much easier after that. Drinking lemon water sweetened with stevia helps me through a lot of cravings.

[LNdolls]

Actually, I found an interesting change happening after being raw for awhile... all my cravings for binging and eating sweets went away. When I forget green smoothies or add back cooked food, the cravings return.
One of my sisters, also a binge eater began having a green smoothie first thing in the morning and in just a few weeks she stopped wanting and eating her old binge foods.. when she stopped the smoothies, the cravings came back.
Appropriate nutrition often eliminates binges, cravings and overeating... and what we humans seem to never get enough of is greens... So in addition to taking care of your emotional needs, you could start the day with a fresh green smoothie and see how it goes for you. Worth a try!

[shadow]

If you're going to binge, binge on raw. Eat 20 medjool dates if you want. Don't ever limit yourself on raw foods - eat as much as you like! This seems to help me.

Willpower baby, willpower. We're all working on it :)

Be kind to yourself. It's what I always tell people. Be kind to yourself.

[exurb]

hey guppy, I think that book is pretty cool too! Thin is a skill! Sure you can eat that but you have to wear it! LOL! Gullo is a clinical psychologist in NYC who works with overweight clients.