Do you eat until your stomach is bursting and you are in pain? Do you eat in private or hide food from others? Have you tried diets with little success, gaining every inch back because you can’t stop binge eating?

Here are 3 tips to help you stop binge eating once and for all.

1. Start observing yourself – take a few days to just observe your eating patterns. Keep a journal to record how you feel before, during and after bingeing. Write down whether an emotion is attached to your eating e.g. you are bored so you grab a bag of chips. By taking the time to observe you will be able to see when and why you use food other than for nutritional purposes or true hunger. This is the first step in being able to overcome binge eating – by being aware of your triggers and feelings.

2. Feel your feelings – if your binges revolve around emotions then you need to start learning how to feel your feelings. . Both digestion and feeling emotion are two energy-consuming activities, so the body can only do one at a time. Eating therefore is a great way to numb yourself but isn’t good for your health.

When you start to allow yourself to feel, at first you may have a rush of heavy emotion flood out of you. This will not happen every time and the more you practice being in the present moment with your feelings, the easier they become to manage and the less frightening or intense they will be. Letting go can be quite daunting but remember the feeling will pass and it will only last a short period of time. The relief and feelings of satisfaction and calm you get after allowing yourself to feel is amazing. Don’t be afraid of emotion. If you find it too much of a challenge to feeling emotions there is a great 12 week program by ShrinkYourself.com that can help you address your underlying concerns and aid you in overcoming your fear of emotions.

3. Exercise. Exercise has many benefits including:

  • A great stress reliever (stress is a major contributor to binge eating – if you don’t exercise you may resort to eating to cope with stress)
  • Makes you more productive – you will find exercise will give you more energy and keep you more positive. I always feel really good after exercise, not as hungry and just overall feel healthy.
  • Weight loss – of course exercise is helpful in losing weight.

If you implement these 3 tips, you will find that you have more control over your binges and they may happen less often. If you know exactly what causes you to binge, why you do it and how you feel before, during and after – you are well on your way to stop binge eating.

Conclusion: Know Your Enemy!

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