Help please - I am binge eating & I want to stop myself any advice?!
Question: I was anorexic when I was younger then I had a huge crisis and the world shut down for me and when I 'came back round' after a long foggy and black depression I found that I have lost my ability to control my eating.
Its like I have no connection that what I am eating is going to end up as fat and fuel for my body. I wish I hadnt lost my ability not to eat it is like that switch has been completly turned off in me and although I can keep in a healthy weight range I can swing close to overweight and back down to normal and sometimes try to starve myself to get back the control but it really has gone because then I just binge on junk. I dont want to be this way at all but it feels uncontrollable.
Any advice on how to get back my control?
Answers: I was anorexic when I was younger then I had a huge crisis and the world shut down for me and when I 'came back round' after a long foggy and black depression I found that I have lost my ability to control my eating.
Its like I have no connection that what I am eating is going to end up as fat and fuel for my body. I wish I hadnt lost my ability not to eat it is like that switch has been completly turned off in me and although I can keep in a healthy weight range I can swing close to overweight and back down to normal and sometimes try to starve myself to get back the control but it really has gone because then I just binge on junk. I dont want to be this way at all but it feels uncontrollable.
Any advice on how to get back my control?
"Interested" is absolutely right. And read your own question again, because I think you have the seeds of the answer for yourself. You have put much good information down on paper already.
In my opinion, if you were to print out the question and take this to a counselor, you could attack this issue with professional help (not ours -- remember we are not pros, just people who care). Eating disorders are very serious and strike at your very survival, so it's important you get help now and not wait.
Could you do that and then write back to let us know how it's going? Now for my lay person's story. I have always struggled with my weight, and after all these years (I am 62) finally this year discovered Weight Watchers, which is all about sensible eating. I would never advocate it as a substitute for the help I believe you need, but it does provide some structure, and your counselor might say it could be a second piece of the puzzle for you that could be helpful.
I will be thinking of you as you work on this control issue. I know you can do it, and I wish you all success.
keep busy. organise your (healthy) food at a set time each week and make time to cook.
talk to someone :)
You sound like you are feeling struggling.
Did you treatment when you were younger and dealing with anorexia? If so, then you know that eating disorders are a very high risk addiction. Other addictions one can go abstinent from i.e. gambling, drinking - "just stop". However, we are in need of food and can not survive without it.
Bulimia has restricting behaviors with binges.
I encourage you to seek counseling with a therapist who specializes in eating disorders.
Take care of yourself.
EATING PLANS: The idea is to become a grazer, eating mostly low calorie/kilojoule foods, and having several mealtimes, well spaced apart, so you never get hungry. We evolved over millions of years as hunter gatherers, doing that, rather than the farmers we became, during the last ten thousand, or so. ~~~~~ Go to: h t t p : / / c h o o s e d i e t . b l o g s p o t . c o m (you should type it in the usual manner) and select one, possibly changing, later. Eat 6 - 8 small meals, daily, with a little protein in each, preceded 20 minutes earlier with a large glass of water: this speeds up weight loss. Snack on any amount of celery sticks, with the occasional carrot stick, and/or slices of cucumber, tomato, bell pepper/capsicum, or raw onion, in any vinegar (a little salt & pepper/chilli powder is OK, but no oil, or sugar! Rinse your mouth with water, later, if using vinegar. Your body needs a small amount of [ preferably olive, grapeseed, or premium coconut* ] oil, daily, to be healthy: about 2 teaspoonsful, if not getting it in the rest of your food intake already). Understand and accept that many people use food in an attempt to fill an emotional void, which is unhealthy, and never works. Others eat out of boredom, so have plenty of things to keep you occupied. Sometimes I use http://www.stumbleupon.com/ or http://www.coolsiteoftheday.com/ EATING PLANS: See http://www.foodaddiction.org and http://www.ediets.com/ and http://www.oa.org/index.htm and http://www.fatloss4idiots.com EATING DISORDERS: http://emotionalhealth.ivillage.com/... and http://www.eating-disorder-research.com/ and http://www.webhealth.com/wiki/eating_dis... and http://www.edreferral.com and http://www.something-fishy.org/dangers/d... and
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/eating_d... and
http://www.selfhelpmagazine.com/articles... and
http://www.addictions.net/ Call EDAP on (USA) 1-800-931-2237 (8am - noon, Pacific Time) & Eating Disorders Center: USA 1-888-236-1188. More at: http://www.coolnurse.com/hotlines.htm EATING DISORDERS (this from http://www.pamf.org/)
847-831-3438 (USA)
National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders
Hotline, Counseling and Referrals
(go to http://www.pamf/.org for direct links to these)
Overeaters Anonymous
Find a local group.
(direct link at http://www.pamf.org/)
Weight Watchers
Find a local group.
(direct link at http://www.pamf.org/)
National Eating Disorders Association
Information on eating disorders and referrals for treatment.
Also view hypnotism for weight loss (if fairly suggestible) at http://www.ezy-build.net.nz/~shaneris on page 60. Put: "nutritional type" in the taskbar, at * http://www.mercola.com/ and enter: find out what yours is, and build an eating plan around it for the future: include considerable variety, so that you never get bored with it.
Talk to a psychiatrist. The drug Topamax is now being used for bulimia. It controls binge eating.
Drugs are not the whole answer though. If you do seek out a psychiatrist, ask for a referral to a therapist who is an expert in eating disorders.
Wishing you well.