I could have written your post today Mel. It is as if the binge has a mind of it's own. I think part of it is habit. For me it is a self comforting technique but I can do it when I am not even feeling outwordly stressed. I just know it keeps me feeling full and comfortably numb. If I didn't have excess food I would probably be addicted to Xanax. Of course my goal is to be healthy, strong and addicted to nothing so I need to keep working at this and trying different approaches. Sugar is a huge problem for me as are crunchy refined carbs like crackers and chips.
I just ate a boatload of chocolate and chips even though I promised myself it would not go like that today. I am stopping now though. Right now. Right here.
Let's try to be kind to ourselves as best we can. I believe we have suffered enough and deserve it.

i've been sugar or refined sugar and binge free for 79 days. i think about that kind of food non stop. although i've held off i am no where near being rid of this demon.

with some reflection and hard self analysis i think i started over eating to stuff away emotions as a younger kid. in time i got very over weight and then that became an excuse to keep people away from me, to stay clear of true emotions, either my own or others. in that time of bingeing i think i developed an addiction to sugars. phsiologically i think i am predisposed to it as i seem to have a very low threshold to sugars. my body has a hard time regulating it, the sugar so craves more quickly as with such a surge of insulin my brain needs more as you can't release stored fat with insulin out=no energy= eat more t get a quck fix from the refined sugars, which eventually get stored as fat.
all of this then leads to being depressed cause you feel like crap, and then it just keeps repeating.
abstaining has helped, but the addiction is there and i don't know how to get rid of it.
sucks.

I believe that sugar is definitely a physiological addiction. I am reading the book "Potatoes Not Prozac" which another member suggested and it describes the sugar sensitive individual to a tee. (me). We are born with this I am sure. My mother told me I would cry and cry as a baby until given sugar water. (I was adopted but my birth mother was an alcoholic and obese, signs of intense sugar sensitivity). So yes it is an addiction and the cravings can drive you insane. I am only a quarter of the way through the book but she suggests that adequate amounts of protein and tryptophan calm the cravings and induce a feeling of wellbeing.
Good luck and hugs to all.

You know, not to mention the affect food has on the brain. What happens to our brain chemicals when food reaches our mouth? Apparently, I've read, we get hit with seratonin and dopamine. I mean, c'mon, of course we are going to want that! The best way I deal with my cravings is gently. When I try to get real "serious"--that's when I focus on it more. So, today I walk gently.

Thanks for the comments. Sugar was my nemesis for so long. I have almost managed to kick that, and I mean a couple of years ago after a particularly painful break up it was BAD. I would eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's Cookie Dough ice cream every day, as well as everything else. I'm sure they lace that stuff with heroin!

I vowed to myself to let myself eat whatever savoury stuff I wanted as long as I stayed away from the white stuff, so now of course I feel just as addicted to pizza, chips and dip!

It may sound like psychobabble but I started really bad with my eating after having my heart broken for the second time and I've been wondering if it's not a subconsious way of keeping men away from me. I know outwardly I say I would like a relationship but yet I sabotage myself by eating this way and putting weight on. I noticed this even more last week when , after being asked out on a date, I proceeded to eat like a pig everyday, knowing the way I would feel by the time the date came round. It was like some devil inside me.

Just a thought, tho I don't know how one overcomes these things, begininng to think I can't do it alone.