This is a topic I addressed on my YouTube channel and we had come up with a small set of things that can be used as tools when combatting binge eating. None of these will solve the issue and I'm not claiming it will but these have been helpful to myself and others and may be useful to you as well!
Why are you eating foods late at night?
- For example: it's because I have protein bars and cookies nearby my bed, better choices are far away and require cooking.
NOTE: it's not always easy to identify the tirggers or reasons why it happens.
You could also be eating because of depression, loneliness, boredom and other emotional reasons. It could be completely out of habit from a previous life or from a previous phase of dieting.
It could be that you don't eat enough throughout the day leading to overeatting at home.
Other reasons:
- Emotional eating
- Habit
- Not eating throughout the day
- ...many more
- Keep a food/mood diary. Basically when you feel like eating, write down exactly how you are feeling emotionally and try to figure out whether you're truly hungry or if it's something else. Also write what you ate.
- Create a schedule/routine for you to eat. This can help you if you need to eat more throughout the day or if you need to make yourself eat an actually dinner instead of allowing yourself to eat "snacks" instead.
In general creating a routine and having routine meals will eliminate variability. - De-stress. This is hard to do but set aside 15 minutes to sit in the morning and listen to nature, do yoga, stretch, etc. Stress is such a huge push to overeat. Try to identify what destresses you personally...it might be something more intense like a mountain biking or racing even!
- Avoid REALLY salt, sugary or fatty foods. Salt and sugary foods sent a hungry signal to you and cause you to be hungry much earlier than you should be. Fatty foods fill you with calories but only offer a few bites of satisfaction.
- Try to eat fibrous foods, they help fill you up fast. Make huge veggie stir fries, have salads, oats, whole grains, etc.
- If you have specific foods that you binge on OR that start your binge, get rid of/limit them. Personally I love Clif Bars, Lenny & Larry cookies, etc.
- Find a new passion, interest, hobby, etc. This can help consume the idle time that allows you to be comfortable enough to binge.
- Create a support group. Explain your whole situation to a select few people.
- Join an online support group, you will gain closer friends than you could imagine because you share a very specific struggle.
This is a VERY small guide compared to how difficult this disorder is to deal with but it definitely gives you something to start with. If you are interested in hearing more of a discussion on this subject with myself as well as a few other youtubers who have experience with this, I'll post the video here:
I appreciate the support I've seen in my first week here on Steemit and really plan on developing more content as well as helping with the community any way I can. If any of you have ideas, please let me know - I would appreciate your follow and upvotes/resteems to help!
Brian Turner
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