Plan Your Meals And Create A Routine
Write out what your meal plan the following day or week. Get really specific based on your schedule and whats available to eat. Take the decision making out of it so youre not mindlessly standing in front of the fridge just eating random things all day.
Next, figure out approximately what time you eat. Create a routine so that you know when it is NOT time to eat. Your ideal meal timing depends on you, but generally speaking, if three meals a day works for you with one snack in the afternoon, get clear on exactly what youre planning to eat for each of those instances.
If you are going to want a snack at some point, pre-portion it out. Eat them on a plate or bowl, not out the container they came in. Slow down, minimize multi-tasking while eating, and enjoy every bite.
Causes Of Binge Eating Disorder
Although the exact cause of BED is unknown, various causes are thought to influence this disorders development. There are the following factors:
- Biological: Genetic defects can cause compulsive eating and food addiction.
- Psychological: A strong relationship has been established between depression and binge eating. Body discomfort, low self-esteem, and difficulty coping with emotions can all lead to binge eating disorders.
- Social and cultural: Stressful situations can raise the risk of binge eating. Social pressures to be slim, that the media influences, can cause emotional eating. People who have negative comments about their bodies or weight may be more vulnerable to binge eating disorders.
So How Does A Person Stop Binging At Night
The phenomenon of night eating is due to several factors and varies for each individual. Most people who overeat in the evenings do so because of calorie restriction during the day.
Their bodies simply didnt get enough food therefore a binge urge occurs in order to meet the nutritional needs. Others binge due to high-stress or negative emotions that are not being dealt with in a healthy manner.
Still others experience different reasons such as habit, loneliness, boredom, the presence of triggering foods that are labeled off-limits and several other factors.
Whatever the cause, the following tips can help you overcome night binging forever, allowing more time for fun activities and relaxation in the evenings.
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What Is Binge Eating:
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A disordered eating behavior categorized by recurrent episodes of consuming large quantities of food often to the point of discomfort
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It’s often associated with a loss of control during eating and extreme guilt after eating
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It can be the result of restrictive dieting
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Binge eating thrives in isolation and secrecy
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To be diagnosed with binge eating, the episode must occur at least once a week for 3 months. Please note that if you feel you may be struggling with binge eating disorder, I recommend reaching out to a health professional like your doctor and/or dietitian for individualized support.
The graphic below further depicts how being restrictive fuels the continuous cycle of binge eating. You cut out bad foods in order to be healthy but then cravings for these foods intensify. You then find yourself over indulging when you finally do allow yourself these foods. Binging is often followed by feelings of guilt, shame and disgust leading to the desire to once again, restrict and control food intake.
While getting individualized support from a team of health professionals is the best course of action taken to overcome binge eating, below are 7 simple tips to help you start working towards moving away from binge eating at night.
Common Causes Of Emotional Eating
Stress. Ever notice how stress makes you hungry? Its not just in your mind. When stress is chronic, as it so often is in our chaotic, fast-paced world, your body produces high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol triggers cravings for salty, sweet, and fried foodsfoods that give you a burst of energy and pleasure. The more uncontrolled stress in your life, the more likely you are to turn to food for emotional relief.
Stuffing emotions. Eating can be a way to temporarily silence or stuff down uncomfortable emotions, including anger, fear, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, resentment, and shame. While youre numbing yourself with food, you can avoid the difficult emotions youd rather not feel.
Boredom or feelings of emptiness. Do you ever eat simply to give yourself something to do, to relieve boredom, or as a way to fill a void in your life? You feel unfulfilled and empty, and food is a way to occupy your mouth and your time. In the moment, it fills you up and distracts you from underlying feelings of purposelessness and dissatisfaction with your life.
Social influences. Getting together with other people for a meal is a great way to relieve stress, but it can also lead to overeating. Its easy to overindulge simply because the food is there or because everyone else is eating. You may also overeat in social situations out of nervousness. Or perhaps your family or circle of friends encourages you to overeat, and its easier to go along with the group.
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How To Get Back Into Ketosis After Stress Eating
not to restrict your food intake.
You might be tempted to fast to get back into ketosis. But if you are already feeling emotionally stressed, fasting might make things worse.
Restricting food can trigger you to binge again, especially if you are already stressed.
Signal to your body that you are not in a famine, which may trigger more overeating, by making sure you are eating enough calories.
Follow these four steps to get back into ketosis:
Why Do Some People Binge Eat
Experts don’t know the exact cause of binge eating disorder. It’s likely a combination of things, including genetics, family eating habits, emotions, and eating behavior, like skipping meals. Some people use food as a way to soothe themselves or to cope with difficult feelings.
People with binge eating disorder are more likely to have other mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder , and ADHD.
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Strategy : Don’t Skip Meals
Skipping meals is another factor that can exacerbate binge eating. Similar to restricting your calories through a diet, skipping meals can leave you wanting to eat more later and increase your likelihood to binge eat.
Incorporating a regular eating pattern into your routine has been shown to reduce the chances of binge eating later on in the day. If you start skipping meals, youll begin to crave more. By skipping daytime meals and restricting calories, many people find themselves binge eating late into the night.
Breakfast jumpstarts your metabolism and provides you with energy for the rest of the day. Consider eating a high-protein meal in the morning so that youll be less likely to become hungry. Eggs, almonds, chicken breast, oats, and Greek yogurt are examples of high-protein foods.
Try to eat three meals a day, with snacks in between, about three to four hours apart.
Helpful Tips To Overcome Binge Eating
Binge eating disorder is considered the most common feeding and eating disorder in the United States .
BED is about more than food, its a recognized psychological condition. That means people with the disorder will likely need a treatment plan designed by a medical professional to overcome it.
People who are diagnosed with BED experience episodes of eating unusually large amounts, even when theyre not hungry. After an episode, they may feel a strong sense of guilt or shame.
Regular binge episodes can lead to weight gain, which can contribute to health conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
Fortunately, there are plenty of strategies you can try both at home and with the help of a professional to reduce episodes of binge eating.
Here are 15 tips to help overcome binge eating.
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How Can You Manage Stress Eating
1. Practice mindful eating. Know that your craving may be a result of a stressful event, and then ask yourself, are you truly hungry? Wait a few minutes before eating.
2. Find healthier options. If you still feel the need for a snack, consider a lower-calorie, lower-fat option than what you may have previously chosen. Here are some healthy snacks I enjoy:
- Something sweet: Cut up an apple and spread some nut butter on it. The combination of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fat should help curb your appetite and satisfy your need for a sweet.
- Something savory: Consider adding hummus to deviled eggs for a lower-calorie, high-protein snack option.
3. Watch portion size. Instead of taking the whole box with you, put a snack-size amount on a plate. Check the package to see what one serving size is, and try to stick to that.
Its always a good idea to consult your doctor or a dietitian when you make changes to your diet.
This article is written by Erin Gager, R.D., L.D.N., a dietitian at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
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Resisting Temptation To Binge
Clean Out The Kitchen
Having lots of or trigger foods in the kitchen can make it much easier to binge eat.
Conversely, keeping healthy foods on hand can reduce your risk of emotional eating by limiting the number of unhealthy options.
Start by clearing out processed snack foods like chips, candies, and pre-packaged convenience foods and swapping them for healthier alternatives.
Stocking your kitchen with fruits, vegetables, protein-rich foods, whole grains, nuts, and seeds can improve your diet and reduce your risk of binge eating unhealthy foods.
Summary Removing unhealthy foods from your kitchen and stocking up on healthy alternatives can improve diet quality and make it harder to binge eat.
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Identify Your Triggers With A Food And Mood Diary
One of the best ways to identify the patterns behind your binge eating is to keep track with a food and mood diary. Every time you overeat or feel compelled to reach for your version of comfort food Kryptonite, take a moment to figure out what triggered the urge. If you backtrack, youll usually find an upsetting event that kicked off the binge.
Write it all down in your food and mood diary: what you ate , what happened to upset you, how you felt before you ate, what you felt as you were eating, and how you felt afterward. Over time, youll see a pattern emerge.
Take 5 Before You Give In To A Craving
Emotional eating tends to be automatic and virtually mindless. Before you even realize what youre doing, youve reached for a tub of ice cream and polished off half of it. But if you can take a moment to pause and reflect when youre hit with a craving, you give yourself the opportunity to make a different decision.
Can you put off eating for five minutes? Or just start with one minute. Dont tell yourself you cant give in to the craving remember, the forbidden is extremely tempting. Just tell yourself to wait.
While youre waiting, check in with yourself. How are you feeling? Whats going on emotionally? Even if you end up eating, youll have a better understanding of why you did it. This can help you set yourself up for a different response next time.
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Eat Regularly Throughout The Day
Try to spread out your calorie intake throughout a regular meal and snack schedule. This may keep you more full and less hungry than eating the same number of calories on a less regular meal schedule .
If youre feeling content with your food choices for the day, you might be less likely to reach for a snack when youre bored.
Whats more, knowing that you plan to eat a meal or snack in the next few hours could be motivation to hold back from eating until then.
The same meal schedule doesnt work for everyone. Some people like to have three meals and a few snacks each day, while others may prefer to have more or less.
Finding a routine that works for you and sticking with it seems to matter more than exactly how many meals and snacks you have each day.
Strategy : Stay Hydrated
Staying hydrated has many benefits, but it can also help curb unwanted cravings and reduce overeating. In one study, 24 adults who drank 17 ounces before eating consumed fewer calories than people who did not drink water before a meal.
Water can also boost metabolism and may contribute to weight loss.
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Binge Eating Recovery Tip : Develop A Healthier Relationship With Food
Recovery from any addiction is challenging, but it can be especially difficult to overcome binge eating and food addiction. Unlike other addictions, your drug is necessary for survival, so you dont have the option of avoiding or replacing it. Instead, you need to develop a healthier relationship with fooda relationship thats based on meeting your nutritional needs, not your emotional ones. To do this, you have to break the binge eating cycle by:
Avoiding temptation. Youre much more likely to overeat if you have junk food, desserts, and unhealthy snacks in the house. Remove the temptation by clearing your fridge and cupboards of your favorite binge foods.
Listening to your body. Learn to distinguish between physical and emotional hunger. If you ate recently and dont have a rumbling stomach, youre probably not really hungry. Give the craving time to pass.
Eating regularly. Dont wait until youre starving. This only leads to overeating! Stick to scheduled mealtimes, as skipping meals often leads to binge eating later in the day.
Not avoiding fat. Contrary to what you might think, dietary fat can actually help keep you from overeating and gaining weight. Try to incorporate healthy fat at each meal to keep you feeling satisfied and full.
Fighting boredom. Instead of snacking when youre bored, distract yourself. Take a walk, call a friend, read, or take up a hobby such as painting or gardening.
Choose Filling Nutritious Foods
Stocking your kitchen with filling, nutrient-dense foods can not only help improve your overall health but also combat the tendency to stress eat highly palatable foods.
For example, filling your fridge and pantry with foods that can help fill you up in a healthful way rather than foods rich in empty calories like candy, chips, and soda is a smart way to prevent the chances of noshing on unhealthy choices.
Filling foods are ones that are high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats. Nuts, seeds, avocados, beans, and eggs are just some examples of nutritious, satisfying choices that can help fill you up and prevent overeating (
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A Weird But Systematic Way To Stop Overeating And Binge Eating
If I said I could show you how to permanently stop binge eating and overeating today if you wanted to, would you think I was crazy? Many people would, especially if they’ve been struggling for a lifetime. Some even report feeling compelled to binge, as if someone were pointing a gun at their head saying “keep eating or I’ll shoot!” Others feel they ‘need’ their junk, not so much for pleasure, but just to feel normal. I know this pain all too well…Not only from my 27 years of experience as a psychologist, author of a popular weight loss book, and a consultant to the food industrybut from personal history as well. I’ll spare you the full story, but let’s just say theres probably nothing you’ve done with food I haven’t done myself…
- Eating out of the garbage…
- Stealing my roommate’s food without telling him…
- Driving to multiple fast food restaurants just so no one person would know how much I was eating…
- Eating off the floor…
- And repeatedly stuffing myself way past the point of physical pain.
STEP ONE: Understand and Confront the Forces and Myths in Our Culture That Keep People Fat.
There’s some very interesting research which may shed light on the impact. Mammalian studies which bypass the normal pleasure apparatus show an abandonment of survival needs to self-stimulate via artificial means…
STEP TWO: Make At Least One Clear Food Rule.
STEP THREE: Separate Your Constructive vs. Destructive Thoughts About Food
How to Stop Binge Eating at Night
References
