5 Ways to Control Your Binge Eating

One very serious diet problem that many people battle from time to time as they go about their plan is binge eating. Binge eating can quickly cause you to take in hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of calories very quickly and completely run you off your track to success.

Binge eating isn’t something that only affects females either. Some people will come to believe that it is just a female problem but many males are also impacted by this problem and struggle with their weight because of it.

Binge eating is most likely to develop either when you’re on a calorie reduced diet because you are feeling deprived or when you are using food to comfort your emotions. Those who eat for emotional reasons tend to find that their emotional pain goes away while eating, but what’s worse is that as soon as they stop, the pain comes back only now it’s even stronger as it’s wracked with guilt from eating so much food.

So what can you do to help control your binge eating?

Let’s give you a few quick tips to think about so that you can put this problem behind you and get back on track to diet success.

1. Identify The Emotions Behind The Binge

The very first thing that you must make sure you’re doing is identifying the emotions behind the binge. If you are eating because of certain feelings you’re having, it’s vital that you pinpoint these so that you can work on them and get them under control to put a stop to any future binges that may take place.

Journaling is one excellent way to identify the emotions that are behind a binge. Simply take two or three minutes before you feel a binge coming on to write down what you’re feeling at the time.

Then look back over your journal and see if you can spot trends in how you’re feeling. Are you always eating for certain reasons?

If so, you know what it is that you need to work on.

2. Choose Lower Carb Diet Plans

Moving along, the second thing that you should be doing is choosing lower carb diet plans. This is another great way to stop a binge because low carb diets by nature will reduce your hunger levels, and hunger is often the one thing that drives your binge.

If you feel an overwhelming sense of hunger, you’ll be more likely to eat uncontrollably as a result. Carb-rich foods set you up for a cycle of endless hunger as they’ll cause insulin levels to quickly increase and then come crashing down.

While you don’t necessary have to go to a no carb plan – some carbs, provided they are the right variety can be included in your diet plan, you should be making a conscious effort to decrease all the refined and processed carbs that you’re eating.

3. Find Healthier Varieties Of Foods You Crave

The next thing that you should be doing is making sure that you find healthier varieties of foods that you crave. If you’re suffering from binge eating due to feeling so restricted on your diet plan that you never enjoy the foods you are eating, this will most certainly bring on a binge.

Start seeking out healthier varieties of food that will come close to satisfying the craving for the food you desire. For example, if you’re craving ice cream and often find yourself binge eating on it, then you might try and have some Greek yogurt instead.

Greek yogurt will be far healthier as it’ll provide protein and is virtually fat free, whereas ice cream only provides simple sugar carbs that will spike your blood glucose levels rapidly.

The more often you can come up with healthier varieties in your diet to have, the less likely it is that you will suffer from these intense food cravings.

4. Keep Your Triggers Out Of The House

The next vital thing that you must do to ensure that you continue to prevent binge eating is to make sure that you keep your trigger foods out of the house. If you know that you have cookies in the pantry, ice cream in the freezer, and cake in the fridge, how strong are the chances that you’ll be able to resist?

Obviously not strong at all. Most people will give into temptation if the food is right there and waiting, so making sure to get it out of sight will be important.

As the saying goes, ‘out of sight, out of mind’. When it comes to binge eating, this is an absolute must. Very few people will actually go out to pick up the foods that they’re craving, so this is a fast way to put an end to your binging.

5. Get Busy

Finally, the last way to control binge eating is to get busy. Start going out more in the evening hours if that’s when you’re most tempted to binge. Most individuals will have their binge eating episodes while at home and alone, so get out around others outside of the house.

This will put a barrier between you and binge eating, making it easier to stop.

In those times when you don’t have any place to go or people to see, it would be a good idea to have a list prepared of other things that you can be doing instead of eating.

Such examples could be reading a book, cleaning your house, or possibly performing a yoga video to reap additional fitness benefits as well.

So there you have a few quick tips to help get you started on quitting the binge eating habit. Binge eating is something that does set many people back in their diet and while some take it to much more of an extreme than others, it’s still an unhealthy habit that you should try and kick if you want to promote overall good health and well-being.


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