Skip to main content

How I Stopped Binge Eating Naturally


I secretly binged on food and junk for years.  For as long as I can remember my cardinal sin has been chocolate.  I have an 18 year old son (Junior) and I remember when he was just an infant if I ever felt stressed I would eat Hershey chocolate bar after Hershey chocolate bar.  As a mom with a new baby boy I signed up for a Sam's Club membership (strictly for the bulk diapers of course). Well it wasn't long before I found myself in the bulk candy aisle. 

Q:  Doing what, you say? 
A:  I was buying Hershey chocolate bars by the case.

Ashamedly I must admit, I would eat those chocolate bars until I literally became sick.  This bad habit along with the poor portion control habits I learned as a child would stick with me for the next 18 years.  

Honestly I wouldn't have called myself a binge eater at the time. The only disease that I understood to be a food disorder was "bulimia".  In my mind if I wasn't purging then I didn't have a disorder.  

As you can imagine my weight began to balloon and balloon with this growing habit.  If  people struggling with bulimia view themselves as overweight even when they are at a healthy weight, then those with an overeating disorder must have the same problem-just on the opposite end of the spectrum.  What I mean by that is- I didn't see myself doing anything that far out of the ordinary and honestly thought I still had "my girlish figure". It was like a smokescreen or veil was over my eyes. 

Wake up calls started to ring in:  One day I volunteered in my daughter's then first grade class and her schoolmates began teasing her "your mom's fat"!  I began borrowing my husband's size 34 jeans because my women sized clothing would no longer fit.  

I started to realize I was overweight but felt too powerless, too busy, too stressed and too out of control to do anything about it. Finally when my son was around 4 years old I randomly decided to give weight loss some effort.  There were actually some really good results, but because there had been no change in my mind frame or acknowledgement of binge eating- the weight loss was short lived.

By the time Junior was in middle school, after being a housewife for many years, I decided to go back to school and learn a new trade myself. I enrolled in Ross Medical School to learn Dental Assisting.    

While studying Dental Assisting we came to a section in our book on eating disorders. We mainly learned about eating disorders in order to spot someone's teeth that were eroded from purging and needed help. Then all of a sudden I read about "IT"  The disorder that had been plaguing me for so many years. Binge Eating Disorder/Compulsive Eating disorder.  The words started popping out at me on the page. Things like: eating past the point of normal or feeling full, eating until you become sick, feeling powerless over food and out of control. FEELING ASHAMED!  

Oh my gosh! This was a real "thing". It wasn't ok to do. It was harmful to your teeth and health. Here I was staring at the truth in that medical book in black and white. 

I wish that I could say to you that after reading and understanding that I had a Binge Eating Disorder, I stopped.  Let's be real I DIDN'T. Information alone is a start but not a cure.  I began going to weight watcher's meetings (that got expensive).  I went to an Overeaters Anonymous meeting (to be honest, that got weird). To be brutally honest with myself and you- I gave the fight against Binge Eating Disorder an inconsistent effort and had some inconsistent results.

So what has changed?........Unfortunately like so many Americans it took a health alarm TO WAKE ME UP!  Inactivity along with the years of over indulging in chocolate, cream frosting, sugar etc had started taking it's toll on me.  At 40 years old I knew my body well enough to know it was not responding correctly.  I had symptoms of constant fatigue, shakiness, marked by other tell tale signs that diabetes was on the horizon.  I went to the doctor and sure enough they said I was prediabetic.  Since the beginning of this year (2016) I have started making a concerted effort against binge eating in order to not develop diabetes.  

As with any new habit there will be an adjustment period and setbacks, but I am happy to report that I have lost 15 lbs and have been binge free for over 30 days.

The above video gives some of the tips I have learned to be consistent in through this journey. It was a very enlightening health discovery to find out that cocoa (chocolate in its clean form) is a natural appetite suppressant. So the enemy of my enemy is my friend I see.

P.S.  It is my sincere hope that you glean as much as you can from this article and video.  Most importantly turn your knowledge into action. Don't wait for health alarms to hit you.  Take this info as your sound off to march into a healthier you.

God Bless


Comments

  1. Isn't it amazing that the wonderful gift of food can be a blessing as well as the source of shame and confusion. I am glad your journey towards healthy eating and living has caused you to lose weight as well as taking the initiative to help others.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for that insight Principles Publishing. Yes I guess when we really think about it anything taken out of moderation can become harmful to us even food. Self control and moderation are key. If I can overcome it after 18 years, I believe others with encouragement can too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Create An Eclectic Decor That Doesn't Look Like Someone Threw Up

ec·lec·tic:  deriving ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources. Wow, eclectic decor is the most freeing decor style, in my opinion.  If you are a thrifter, it can be fun and almost magical like to discover design and color elements for your interior.  The trick is to add color and design in artful ways that compliment each other and don't dispense a feeling of chaos. So how do you create an eclectic design decor that doesn't end up looking like someone threw up in the room?  Turns out there are a few tricks. 1.  Use black and white patterns to stabilize vibrant colors Black and Yellow Eclectic Living Room Vibrant Eclectic Living Room  Vibrant Eclectic Entrance Way 2. Use the color wheel to create themes The Monochromatic Theme The monochromatic color theme makes use of one color in various hues, tones, and patterns to create an aesthetically pleasing design. Bronze and Beige Monochromatic Living Room Turqu

Are You Eating Chocolate Made By Slaves?

Recently I stumbled upon the documentary "The Dark Side of Chocolate" by Miki Mistrati and U. Roberto Romano. (Click the link for the full documentary) This documentary vividly brought the hidden secrets of the production of chocolate to light. Facts Did you know that 70% of the worlds coco beans come from Africa?   (The other 30% comes from Latin America) 95% of chocolate companies use coco beans that were produced by slave trade, child trafficking or child labor (which is sometimes forced) From 2008-2009 150 children were rescued from coco farms by Interpol Empty Promises from Hershey, Nestle, M&M/Mars and Others In 2001 eight of the world's biggest chocolate manufacturer's signed The Harkin Engel Protocol.  This was an agreement between Nestle Chocolate & Confections, M&M/Mars Inc, Hershey Food Corporation, Worlds Finest Chocolate, Guittard Chocolate Company, Archer Daniels Midland co (ADM), Blommer Chocolate Co.

African Americans Are The Largest Group Affected By HIV/AIDS in the U.S.

Recently a statistic was released stating that Atlanta Ga now has the highest incidence of HIV in the United States.   This picture taking from Instagram, has been floating all over social media. 1 in 51 people living in Georgia are expected to have HIV in their lifetime.  According to some these statistics are on the same level as African Countries. Dr. Anthony Faucia from the National Institute of Health, has been making medical strides against HIV/AIDS for the last 30 years. Recently he held a conference with statistical slides unveiling information that African Americans are most affected by HIV/AIDS in The United States. According to Dr Faucia when AIDS first came out patients died within 1-2 years.  Now with medication patients can live an additional 50 years.   With the antiretroviral medications available in this country there is noway people should continue dying of AIDS. There is a realistic possibility to vanish HIV/AIDS by 2030 according to Patric