*Raises Hand* I am an over-eater.

[SmilingRawDancer]

I never thought it was a major problem before, but I'm trying to be in constant honesty with myself, and today I'm facing my problem once and for all : Over-eating.

I've been 90-95% raw for almost 6 months, and though I did lose weight, I was counting calories like crazy, and walking for 1.5 - 2 hours a day.
Now I've decided to relax a little more into the raw food lifestyle, and I feel as though I've gained a couple pounds back - which is VERY hard for me to admit/deal with, and it makes me question raw foods......untill now, where I decide to deal with the fundamental problem.

SO: Over-eating.
Does anyone have any insights as to what I can do, now that I've recognized my issue?
I've placed a notebook on my desk, that I can write in my feelings and try to start rating my hunger on a scale of 1-10, and only eat when I'm truly hungry....but I'm looking for a little bit more information.
So if anyone has anything that has helped them get past/eliminate this problem...it would be great.


(And another thing: If my problem with over-eating isn't an emotional thing....what nutrients could I be lacking, that cause me to want to eat?
I take a multi-vitamin, so I figured all my bases were covered.)

Thanks!

[juliebove]

First, a multi-vitamin may or may not be all the nutrients you need. Calcium when put in a pill form winds up being a very large pill and one pill often isn't enough. Some brands tell you to take 2-3 pills per day. There is no way they can get enough calcium in a multi to cover your needs for the day. Also, check yours to see what is in them and what the dose of each thing is. I used to buy whatever was cheapest and learned that they vary wildly as to what is in them. Some contain dangerously high levels of certain things and others contain so little as to be worthless. The ones I am currently taking say to take two per day. I take only one because aside from the B vitamins I think I am getting pretty much what I need from my food. I do take added B vitamins and added C (and some other supplements), but I feel that I need these things.

I have seen two different naturopaths. Both have reviewed my supplements and pretty much agreed that what I was taking was fine. In both cases, they thought a few things were not needed and a few others (that I was not taking) were. I do take a lot of supplements but I do have a lot of medical problems and that's mainly why I take them. Not necessarily because my diet is lacking. Two of the meds I take can cause B deficiencies, so this is one reason why I know I need this.

As for the overeating, there could be many reasons. Emotions and boredom are but two reasons. I don't usually overeat unless it is raw veggies. I've always had a problem there. Or what others see as a problem. I don't. Since I eat a variety of veggies when I do eat them, and I choose to eat them in lieu of things others are eating, such as dessert, I fail to see the problem. I have cut way back to almost total elimination of the goitrogenic foods because I had a thyroid problem. Am not currently on meds for that but I believe it is because I modified my diet as such.

I know some people who will eat any old thing they find. I was never one of those. I did have the occasional binge on something I wouldn't normally eat. But those episodes were so infrequent I didn't worry about them. I recall seeing a woman shut herself in a closet at a wedding reception with a huge hunk of cake and all sorts of other foods. She was stuffing handfuls of food in her mouth. I never did anything that extreme.

Is there any particular food you tend to overeat? If it is anything and everything that might be lying around, then perhaps you are eating out of boredom or to fill some emotional need.

[sungoddess]

This is definitely my MAIN problem too.
After reducing my diet to low fat raw vegan, I am still not reaching my goals because of overeating.
GRRRR.

[DavidZaneMason]

The above suggestions are great. Here are some more:

1) Put on some extra muscle mass.
2) Drink more cold, pure water when you are not eating.
3) Get in more aerobic exercise than you do now. Give yourself reasonable (at least 2 days a week) recovery periods.
4) Incorporate more vegetables...which are naturally lower in calories per bulk content....leafy greens......crucifers....etc. Eat MEASURED amounts of fat with with every meal.
5) Find lo-cal snacks or fresh fruits that you can snack on.
6) Eat more often....as much as 6-8 meals per day.

-There is almost NO way you can gain weight on a mostly vegetable diet! Ha! ha! There just AINT enough calories in there! LOL. What do you think?

-Blessings, success and support to you.

-David Z. Mason

[SmilingRawDancer]

Thanks! Well I find that I am doing most things right:
I drink water before every meal, and try to drink something whenever I feel that full-but-desire-to-eat thing coming on, I've started walking on my treadmill while I watch the news/ Gilmore Girls (basically I've turned my pleasurable TV time into something a tad more productive)
I eat frozen peas or fresh veggies vs. nuts or high-calorie substances:
So my problem isn't over-eating on something awful like cake or ice cream, it's just that I don't like the feeling of being uncomfortably full, and out of control - yet I do.
I think one of the reasons I over-eat is because sometimes I get this fear that I won't be home/have access to food for awhile, so I over-do it subconsciously to "prepare".

And then I think there is a huge boredom/emotional factor in there somewhere.
I'm just trying to take more time in my day to relax and process my thoughts : )

Thanks!

[daisyduke]

How do you know that you're overeating? At first, when I went raw, I ate all of the time. Our bodies are starved of nutrients from years of cooked food. If it's raw and a fruit or vegetable, you probably need the nutrients, so I say eat!

[mershwista]

daisyduke, it's more than that...it can get to be pretty out of hand, and binging is not healthy....especially if we're just eating to satisfy cravings and we're not really hungry. That's why we have so much obesity...our bodies are still programmed like they were back in the days when the mindset HAD to be "eat eat eat because tomorrow there may be no food...me caveman, me forage and store."

Nowadays...well, most of us don't have to forage and store, and our bodies' natural tendencies are often to overeat because our bodies are still programmed to forage and store. But when the fridge is full and one doesn't have to do more than open the door to "forage"...therein lies the problem.

We live in a highly artificial world, and we must recognize that and adapt to such.

David, I'm sure your vegetable diet would work wonders....but I wonder how many of us would actually have the willpower necessary to stick to it!

[SmilingRawDancer]

To me overeating means eating beyond one's needs: Feeling uncomfortably full, eating it because it's there, and then the traditional food ties such as: Popcorn with a movie, tv and a soda....that's where my problem is. I like the "entertainment" of food a tad too much. I'll want to eat something while I watch TV purely because of the habit of it.

[sungoddess]

yea, you know whats a binge and what is not. Overeating for hunger is different from having a binge take over and know that you HAVE to eat for no reason and you stop far past the feeling of comfortably satisfied. I eat mostly fruits.... but binge on DATES. ARGH!

[Vegan Princess]

If you think it might be emotional, you need to write in your journal (or just take a mental note) of how you are feeling before you eat and while you are eating. Are you tense, wound up inside, anxious, lonely, etc? I have dealt in the past with binge (and purge) behavior and by working with a therapist I realized that binging was a way of trying to relax when I was wound up inside or anxious over things (even if it wasn't on the forefront of my mind). By trying to work through the anxiety issues, the binging has pretty much gone away. So try to be really concious of what you might be trying to relieve and then see if you can address it another way. Or maybe you might consider talking to someone if you can't fix it on your own. I don't go anymore, but it helped me alot. Good luck!

[Vandy]

I find it very difficult to believe that if one is eating primarily fruits and veggies (with low fat) that they could be overeating. Even I find it hard to over-eat; now, my body will stop me. I think it has more to do with the fact that at first, we are not used to eating such quantities; therefore, it may feel as if we are overeating, when we are not. Also, I ate more when I first began raw than I am now. Possbily, your body is indulging in and replacing nutrients in the body. Think about it...technically, you have been "starved" your whole life. Allow yourself to enjoy your meals and listen to your body, it will let you know when you are satisfied. What helped me to overcome this emotion was to eat 2 large meals a day without snacking. That way, I built up hunger (with a good workout between meals), and I worked at allowing my stomach to fit in the volume of food I am able to do now. Remeber, we are eating foods that are less calorie dense (unless you are packing in the seeds/nuts/oils); therefore, it makes sense to eat more. Listen to your body when an "emotional craving" comes up, and try to talk yourself through it.

[juliebove]

To me overeating means eating beyond one's needs: Feeling uncomfortably full, eating it because it's there, and then the traditional food ties such as: Popcorn with a movie, tv and a soda....that's where my problem is. I like the "entertainment" of food a tad too much. I'll want to eat something while I watch TV purely because of the habit of it.

I'm not much of a TV watcher. When I do watch it is usually late at night and I'm only half paying attention because I'm on the computer as well, or it is one of the few select shows I like or am watching because I know someone who is on it. So in those cases I am usually just focused on the TV.

I will sometimes work on a craft project like stringing beads, crocheting or sketching while watching TV, but really I do watch so little of it that I haven't done that in a long while.

We have a rebounder. It is placed directly in front of the TV. If you want to turn the TV on, you have to stand on it to get to it. Heh! So guess what my daughter does while she is watching? Yep. In fact I sometimes have to tell her to stop because she overdoes it.

I keep my weights near my computer. So when I am sitting here, I stop between posts and use them.

[dreamrawalwz]

I've dealt with binge (and purge) behaviors and still do struggle with it a bit. Binging is an out of control feeling while you're eating and you eat when you're not hungry. It can be on bread and pasta, or apples and grapes! Now, if you're first going raw it could be a combination of factors such as your body was starving for nutrients so it's craving the nutrients therefore you binge, and or it's emotional. Before, during, and after try your best to snap out of that "mode" and write down your feelings. For me it's emotional. I eat when I'm depressed, I'm depressed when I eat, lonely, anxious, every feeling it seems! For me now I feel like I'm binging, but I kind of have to to get all the nutrients and calories I need because the foods I can/choose to consume are very low in calories (no fat, no banana, ect.).