'Binge eating .. is it possible to ever stop?'

This week I had a question on instagram that read…

'Binge eating.. is it possible to ever stop? I am so lost’

Quick caveat - I am not talking about binge eating disorder here characterised by complete loss of control - I will always refer you to a specialist for this.

I am talking about overeating.

Eating more than you had planned to…

Which you absolutely can stop or at least reduce.

Overeating is a very normal human drive. Hence why so many people struggle with it! In fact, let’s be real… EVERYONE overeats on occasion. There is no need to pathologise it. Nor do I think that is helpful when trying to change.

You could actually argue it’s more surprising when people don’t over eat.

Eating when food is available is one of the most natural human instincts & was pretty essential to survival throughout evolution when food was usually a scarce resource.

Does it serve us in our current environment where food is always available? No, absolutely not.

But it will certainly help if you appreciate it’s a normal human drive & take the shame away from it.

Changing this behaviour is not easy but there are 5 key factors:

1) Figure out why you are overeating - how do you feel when you overeat? how did you feel right before? rushed? emotional? overly hungry? tired? sad?
2) Figure out when you are most likely to overeat - is there a certain time of day, time of month or day of the week?
3) Curate an environment that will help you reduce the occurrence of overeating - don’t surround yourself with temptations. One of the most underrated ways to change your behaviour is to change your environment
4) Break the habit of overeating - often overeating has become habitual e.g. you tend to overeat every night in front of the TV
5) Get out the cycle of over restriction following overeating which is usually the cause of the next bout of overeating.

If you need some help with this click here & tell more a little about you and what you’re struggling with - if its over eating then I have just the person for you!

Em x