Food Addiction Support Group

I have the same issue....humm..

I try to set a time to stop all eating for the night...say 8pm. Then I try to create an extensive mouth cleaning ritual...brush, floss, gum stimulator, mouth wash. It is soothing to me to have a replacement ritual and anything I ate would taste gross after the mouth wash.

Oh..I also eat when I feel emotionally deprived in some way...this especially happens in the evenings. I try to find a way to connect with others at that time....coming on DS....or on Facebook...or how about rousing up your hubby for some intimate time?

Oh..and another thing.

It takes A LOT of practice....but if I try REALLY hard...I can actually pinpoint the emotions that I am feeling at that moment that are causing me to want to turn to food.

For instance...I will be able to pinpoint what emotion is surfacing that I am trying to aviod...and then I try to link that emotion to the event that caused it.... such as a time in the day where an interaction with someone left me feeling insecure.

Then I can try to find a way to soothe myself regarding the experience.....I have to find a way to forgive myself. Sometimes talking to a friend about the event is helpful if it is a good caring and supportive friend. Then I can express my forgiveness to myself in a tangible way.....like going and giving myself a home pedicure....or some other "treat" that would have taken the same amount of time as going on a binge.

Boy, I get it. The more I get it, the harder it seems to combat it, because I find that, even though I can identify the source of the urge, I get angry that I have to analyze it and just want to be able to give in and stop thinking about it. And resisting it sometimes just makes me binge more later. Still, it IS important to try and identify what's causing this urge, like Lynnda says. And then just chip away at it bit by bit. I've not conquered it after years of dealing with it, but I still have hope. Keep writing! Staying accountable on this site has helped me from time to time. You can overcome this.

You need to do everything you can to get you out of that situation, out of that room. If you take youself out of the circumstance that you binge in then the habit pull isn't so strong. Write youself a list of things you can do instead of eating, some may be going to bed early when your hubby goes to bed. It may take awhile to get to sleep earlier at first but then you could wake up early and go for a walk and kick start your metabolism for the day.

Read a book, my cupboard has a note on it from myself to myself saying something positive, "You are stronger than you know, beautiful and you are worth it. Eating when not hungry only changes your waistline and self-esteem", it's amazing the amount of times that note has saved me. It might be embarrassing to admit to your hubby why you need it there (heck I had to explain it to my flatmate you must have thought I was a weirdo) but once it's there you hear the voice of reason begin to pipe up and talk to you.

Also I suggest sitting in bed and reading a book, taking a long hot shower, calling your mum/friend, logging online and writing about how your feeling or even write in a journal about it, doing your nails. You may feel you need to watch tv to relax but that is just the addict inside of you talking because it knows when you're in that situation then you will give in and binge. You won't even notice missing that episode of Grey's Anatomy or Jeopardy or whatever you like, and what's worse? Watching those and binging or missing them, doing something else and feeling GREAT about yourself for not giving in?

Good luck! :)

Thank you to all of you for your advise....It's 10 p.m. here...and I have been on this computer just sharing my problems about binging....and I made a list of things to do....I can hear the t..v. on but I am not going to watch it....I would rather crochet and then read a book in bed.

You guys have given me great suggestions . I would like to keep you up to date on how I am managing......if that is okay....I want you all to be my support system in this area.....so if you want to be my friend s I would welcome you with open arms.....

Love and blessings.
Gin