Has fasting helped anyone with food control issues/binging

[sarahrjm]

Has fasting helped any of you on here with food control issues, or binging issues?.....

[Azaria]

I think it would be inevitable if the person took the opportunity to really examine their relationship with food.

I have never felt like I had any issue with food UNTIL this fast. I still don't think I have an 'issue' so to speak, but now I can see the role it plays in my life with great clarity, and look at whether or not I am content with it.

What do YOU think, sarah?

[sarahrjm]

well 1 side of me is saying that this fast might help because I am learning about true hunger, and learning to enjoy the more "empty" feeling, rather then thinking I need to stuff myself when I feel it.

The other side of me is saying fasting might feed my control issue. I think fasting is so easy for me because all I have to do is drink. It is when im not regimented that I end up binging.

I am not sure.

[Azaria]

The other side of me is saying fasting might feed my control issue.

I feel so unqualified to even be talking about this, but it seems to me that it will only feed your control issues if you don't listen to your body? Isn't that what separates what we are doing here - fasting - from the realm of the pathology of self-starvation?

I agree with both sides of you:) Much love and support!

[Morn]

I think fasting can be a double/edged sword. In one regard yes it helps me tremendously because it helps reel me back in so to speak and get refocused in on my goals, etc. It also helps shrink back my stomach to eating less again when I do go back to eating. However, I have had times when I fasted that I wasn't quite geared up for and it ended up being a failure because when I "gave in" to eating I lost control again very easily and I felt like I had deprived myself with the fast so I deserved "that whatever" and fed my self that whatever.

I think mentally you have to be in the right place when you fast and really do some soul searching about behavioral issues that you may have that might even be subconscious that you continually fall into. There is so much depth to this question that it really depends upon the person and circumstances.

I am fasting right now and I needed to fast so I could concentrate on some issues I have in my life with out the distraction of food. For me this fast has been a fabuolous gift in so many ways. But really I think that even once you achieve an awareness it still takes a lot of focus and extra effort to apply it once you go back to eating. If you have a problem with being out of control and binging you won't learn how to control that with fasting you will only learn how to successfully overcome these issues when you are eating. With fasting all you have done is taken a temporary break away from food but a lot of times the real problem is still there. You have to figure out why you are doing what you are doing and learn to change your behaviour accordingly. I.e. if you overeat because your stressed or depressed you have to figure out a more positive way to deal with that stress instead of turning to food. I.e. take a bath, get a massage whatever it may be. Also you have to come to terms that instead of the reward you think the food is you have to realize that you are really punishing your body and start coming to terms with the patterns you continually fall in.

Hopefully this makes sense. I have seen fasting be both a benefit and a detriment depending upon where I was mentally at the time. My take on it is fasting really doesn't solve food addiction problems because eventually you have to go back to eating and you have to learn self control and deal with life and not "use food" to do so.

[Bananna]

Very well said Morn. I think I would have to agree with everything, from my own experience.

You Really have to have a positive attitude about it, just to be able to even do it....otherwise, Morn is right, you will turn to food as a surrogate friendship. If you can look at food not as the enemy, but instead just what it's for...with enough love to let it nourish you, but with an objective perspective as opposed to a romantic love affair.

I think fasting Can allow you to think about food with some distance and proper appreciation. But positivity about the whole experience is key.

[Aleesha Sattva]

i haven't responded to this thread cause honestly, i don't have food control or bingeing issues. but i agree with morn. (great post morn)

[RawSar]

I'm on the same page as you sarahrjm, i keep wanting to fast just so i stop binge eating but i just feel like i'm going to fail if i try like I have soo many times.
Morn is right though, because after the fast you have to go back to eating again...
I have always had problems with binge eating since i was little.

If you want to try and work on this together you could msg me if you'd like :)

[sarahrjm]

Well, I am fasting. I am not having a problem with it at all! im on day 7? I think? I am not even counting.

Morn - Thank you so much for taking the time to post what you did. I am greatful, you sort of put some of the things I was thinking into words. I know that when I stop fasting I am going to have to put in an intense amount of effort to be where I want to be with eating. Eating is comfort for me, When I am bored, so I dont have to think, I am hoping that fasting will help me figure out what it is that I dont want to think about (I know that sounds really really confusing).

I am going to think very positively about my fasting experience, I have never been one to have a lot of self control, this fast has showed me that I actually do have a crazy amount of it, I just need to learn to apply it to other things!

[Morn]

Your welcome. Emotional eating is very common with us women. Happy, sad, stressed, bored, etc. We eat when we are truely not hungry all the time! That is why it is so key to identify the things we do and learn to consciously change the behavioral things we do. I could have told you, you don't have a problem with self control! A lot of times we have tons of self control but we just don't care that we are using food in a negative way. I think Banana is so right - if you are using food for its intended purpose as nourishment we wouldn't have a problem. Its when we use food and substitute it to give us our entertainment, fill a void, use it as a temporary escape, etc. that is when we get in trouble.

Now that you know you eat when you are bored use this time while fasting to figure out how and what you are going to do instead of eating next time you get bored. Come up with a plan so you are more prepared the next time when it happens. And realize that it takes time - Aleesha said something very wise - we have been doing these behavioral patterns for as long as we have been alive and don't expect with one fast that you will have everything nipped in the bud when you go back to eating. It is a process that takes time!

Be good to yourself and stay warm!:) Happy fasting!

[Aleesha Sattva]

every time i fast... i grow. i learn how to break my fast healthier, i learn how to fast healthier, i learn how to eat between fasts in a healthier manner.

am i perfect... nope, but i am growing! for me... that's the true measure.

morn your posts here are worth reading over and over again. thank YOU.

[sarahrjm]

They totally are worth reading over and over again :)

[oai]

i usually over eat but just don't gain the weight beyond a certain #. so i'm lucky in that aspect but unlucky in a way that since it doesn't show on the outside, i didn't have motivation to stop. :rolleyes:

for me, fasting has helped tremendously. mentally, i wanted to eat & eat. but after my 2nd 14 day water fast, i was appeased with 1 fruit. ONE fruit. :) mentally, i wasn't used to that, but i just wasn't hungry anymore. the only thing i was thinking "hm. should i eat more? don't i need certain # calories to survive?" then i just went "screw it." :p i'm not hungry. so i don't eat.

[Nubianess]

Fasting definately highlighted my food issues. I used to be bullimic years ago, and ive always eaten for comfort.

My first fast helped clear this some as I realised the role of food in my life.
I can fast and avoid junk foods, But its harder when thats all there is in the house!

When im at my place and theres no junk food around me, I dont think about it, But when Im at my parents and thats all there is,..e verything is in a packet/tinner/in a box/ overprocessed, I start to fret,. thinking "what if......"
And then IT happens.

SO i dont know,. I know im not totally comforatable with food, but fasting helps me come into myself and achieve the steps I need to become more comfortable with food.
At the moment im doing a green smoothie fast/feast, alternated by juice fasts,. I'll see where this goes,. my 2nd attempt so far,..:rolleyes:

Step by step