Binge Eating
This service is funded by Derbyshire County Council and provided by Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust.
What is Binge Eating?
Binge eating basically means rapidly
eating a large amount of food in a
short amount of time, accompanied by
feeling loss of control over what or how
much is eaten. Most people will binge
eat from time to time throughout their
lives, but it can become a problem if it
starts happening regularly.
The sorts of foods that form part of a
binge can often be the sweet or high
fat foods that might typically be
avoided when trying to lose weight. We
know that strict rules about avoiding
previously eaten and enjoyed foods can
trigger cravings for them, where we
find ourselves having frequent thoughts
about and feeling strong impulses to
get and eat these foods.
Bingeing on these foods can give initial
pleasure and satisfaction from eating
them, followed by feelings of shame
and guilt. When we feel ashamed
about our behaviours we often want to
keep them secret; binge eaters will
often go to great lengths to hide their
eating habits from their friends and
family. Learning strategies to control
your binge eating and manage your
cravings is an important part of
successful weight loss.
2
Binge Triggers
Mood and feelings
Our feelings and mood can have a big
impact on the types of food we choose
to eat and the habits and patterns that
we build up over time. Binge eating
might be triggered by unpleasant
feelings and occur at times of stress,
upset or boredom. Learning to separate
your feelings from the foods you eat
will help you to reduce your binge
eating and become more aware of your
relationship with food. Take a look at
our Emotional Eating leaflet for lots
more tips and advice around
understanding emotions.
Dieting or skipping meals
You might think drastically reducing the
amount of food you eat or banning
certain foods will help you to reach
your weight loss goals but doing this
can actually increase your risk of binge
eating and gaining weight.
By setting strict rules to diet or
completely deprive yourself you are
more likely to become preoccupied with
eating ‘banned’ foods and to feel a
failure if you break one of your rules. If
you do end up eating or bingeing on
these foods you are likely to feel guilty
and have a sense of failure. This cycle of
denying yourself and then bingeing can
turn into an unhealthy and familiar
habit, both for your body and mind.
This is why we never encourage our
clients to diet, we simply try to help
people find a healthy, happy balance
where no food is forbidden.
Eat Your Way to a
Healthier Pattern
Developing regular eating patterns and
avoiding long gaps between meal times
can help you to avoid bingeing. We
recommend 3 small planned meals a
day plus 2 healthy snacks to keep your
energy up and don’t leave more than
3-4 hours in between each one.
Taking Control
One of the first things we recommend
doing is to keep a diary of when your
binges might occur and see if you can
notice a pattern, for example more
binges at weekends or evenings.
It’s also good to keep a note of the
sort of foods that you eat during a
binge and if these specific foods are
different to what you normally eat, or
are things that you have cut out of your
everyday diet.
You might also want to keep a track of
any triggers that you pick up on, such
as feeling sad, lonely or angry. Keeping
track of your binge eating is an
important step in taking back control
and putting plans in place to avoid
further problems.
Taking the time to really savour your
food and avoiding any distractions such
as reading or the TV will also help you
to feel fuller quicker (take a look at our
Mindful Eating leaflet for more advice
on avoiding distractions). Once you’ve
got all of these elements working
together you will find that your cravings
will reduce and you’ll start to feel more
in control of what you eat and when
you choose to eat it.
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Shopping & Cooking Tips
My Binge Breaking Activities
With so many high sugar, fatty and
fast food options surrounding us
everywhere, being organised and
planning ahead is a great way to
avoid impulse buys and reduce your
temptation to binge eat.
Try writing down five of your favourite
things to do that could act as an
alternative to binge-eating, such as
going for a walk, talking with a friend,
having a relaxing bath etc.
Here are our top 5 shopping and
cooking tips to keep you on the
right track:
•
Plan your shopping and meals in advance. Keeping lists will help you to stick to your plan and avoid any unexpected cravings.
•
Avoid buying the foods that can
trigger a binge and fill your cupboards with healthier alternatives instead.
These should come in handy when
a craving strikes and you need an
alternative activity to keep your mind
and body occupied. Keep your list
handy and with you when you go out
so you can quickly remind yourself of
your binge-eating alternatives when
you really need them.
• Keep the amount of change you carry to a minimum to avoid any fast food impulse buys.
•
Try not to take too many tastes of your food while you’re cooking as this could trigger a binge before you’ve eaten your main meal.
•
Don’t go shopping on an empty stomach as this can lead to lots of
unplanned, impulse buys which can result in binge eating when you
return home.
livelifebetterderbyshire.org.uk
© May 2014 DCHSFT