How to Control Binge Eating

You can control binge eating.

Many people struggle with binge eating without recognizing that it is an eating disorder, just as anorexia and bulimia are eating disorders. The person gets an uncontrollable urge to eat very large quantities of food and feels powerless to stop the binge eating. You can control binge eating by learning how to use more positive coping mechanisms to manage your painful emotions.

Instructions

1. Acknowledge that binge eating is an eating disorder. People who struggle with binge eating are not just “gluttons” or lacking in self-control. They are battling a serious eating disorder. By recognizing that binge eating is an eating disorder, a person can better understand why he has been unable to control his binge eating.

2. Recognize why you binge eat. You are binge eating to manage your painful emotions. By binge eating, you are “stuffing down” the pain so you do not have to face it. You choose to binge eat because binge eating makes you feel better emotionally.

3. Admit that you have underlying pain. Binge eating does not happen in a vacuum. Your binge eating is your response to deep emotional pain that you need to process. Many trauma survivors, such as people with a history of abuse or neglect in childhood, binge eat to manage their emotions.

4. Permit yourself to eat what you want. Be honest with yourself: You are already binge eating and then feeling guilty about it, which is only fueling the fire. If you give yourself permission to eat whatever you want, you stop the cycle of binge eating, feeling badly about yourself, and then binge eating again. After a week or two of binge eating on junk food, your body will begin to crave healthier foods.

5. Use positive coping tools to manage your emotions. Try exercising, talking with a friend, doing yoga, playing a musical instrument or anything else that helps you manage your emotions in a more positive way. As you gain confidence in your ability to manage your emotional pain in others ways, you will gain control over your binge eating.

6. Process your emotions instead of “stuffing them down” with food. If you will permit yourself to feel your strong emotions, such as anger or grief, then you will find it much easier to control your binge eating.

7. Take a 15-minute “cooling off” period before you binge eat. During that 15-minute period, try using other coping mechanisms to see if they will soothe your emotions without needing to binge eat. As you wean yourself off binge eating and onto other more positive ways to cope with your emotions, you will be better able to control your binge eating.

Tips & Warnings

• Learning how to control binge eating takes times, so be very patient with yourself.

• Do not judge your progress with a pass/fail standard. Instead, celebrate any progress you make in controlling your binge eating, such as binge eating 2 courses instead of 3.

• Finding a qualified therapist with experience in counseling people with the issues fueling the binge eating will help you to control your binge eating. Your therapist can provide you with additional tools to control binge eating.

• Never go on a diet. Depriving yourself of food often triggers the urge to binge eat. Instead, manage your weight through making healthier food choices and exercising. For some people, just controlling the binge eating is enough to move toward a healthier weight.