10 Tips to Avoid Binge Eating

I would like to note that I when I refer to binge-eating and my own issues with binge-eating, I’m only talking about binge-eating, not bingeing and purging.

This is a list of some ways I deal with fighting the urge to binge and I plan to refer back to it when I need motivation (I considered tacking it up on my wall, but I don’t really want anyone seeing it and making assumptions).

Some ways to avoid binge-eating:

1. Ask yourself: Am I actually hungry? If the answer is no, wouldn’t you rather save those calories for when you actually are hungry? I don’t know about anyone else, but scarfing 2,000 calories for breakfast doesn’t keep me full for the rest of the day. It just makes me hate myself for the rest of the day.
   
2. Ask yourself: Am I fixated on one particular food? If you’re fixated on eating a particular food (say, getting a spoon and attacking a jar of Nutella), you’re in binge-mode. If you’re actually hungry, you’ll be open to eating different things.
    
3. Tell yourself: It’s not too late to stop. It doesn’t matter if you ate half a bag of Oreos (which, by the way is 1,575 calories). Finishing the bag is only digging you deeper. This is a big one for me. I’ll eat and eat and eat and then hate myself. But hey, the day is ruined, so why not enjoy it and eat the rest of the bag and some whipped cream while I’m at it? Wrong. It’s never too late to stop the damage.
    
4. Go online and read a weight loss article. Read someone’s blog. Read some inspiration diet quotes. 3 Fat Chicks has some good ones, whether you’re overweight or not.
    
5. Eating too much of anything isn’t good, but if you just need to eat something and you’re about to snap, fill up on any kind of lettuce, spinach, green beans, broccoli, or any other very low-cal, low-carb veggie. Even if you eat the whole bag it’s a far better option than a lot of other things.
    
6. Throw out whatever it is you’re bingeing on. Just throw it in the trash. Squirt dish soap on it if you have to. Just get rid of it. I know it’s a waste, but it’s also wasting your body if you’re going to eat it all.
    
7. Identify what triggers you and don’t keep it in the house. This can be really hard if you live with other people. My roommates keep peanut butter in the cupboard and it drives me fucking nuts because I know as long as I replace it, I can totally eat it. There are other things that I just do not buy (regular nuts, for instance) because I will eat the entire container in one day.**
    
8. Everyone knows this one: Water. I try to drink a full glass of water before    every meal. I don’t as often as I should, but when I do make myself it helps a lot. If I’m thinking about pigging out, I suck down a couple glasses of ice water and it makes me feel full and sloshy and less in the mood to binge.
    
9. Sometimes being way, way too hungry is what leads to a binge. Lately, if I feel like I’ve just waited too long to eat in a reasonably manner, I have something fast like a can of veggies (green beans only have something like 65 cals in a can). Then I drink a glass of water and wait 15 minutes. After that I’m not starving and I can make something with a reasonable portion & calorie count.
    
10. Remember: You’re going to be happier and have more motivation to keep eating correctly tomorrow if you make yourself proud today.

**This is why it really irritates me when people get on me about watching my weight. The only reason they think I’m perfectly fine and need to pig out is because I’m thinner than they are. There are around 800 calories in just one cup of peanuts. If they admitted it’s not healthy for me to eat an entire jar of nuts, they’d have to take a closer look at their own eating habits (which they don’t want to do).