The Never Satisfied Stomach

Bingeing, Nibbling and Compulsive Overeating: The Black Hole of the Never-satisfied Stomach

People vary greatly in the kinds of food they eat during a binge and in the amount consumed. We define a binges any large amount of food that is eaten rapidly in an out of control fashion. Mild bouts of overeating. Are part of many people's lives and are not unhealthy. Other people don't exactly binge, but instead they follow a somewhat different pattern or overrating- so called grazing or compulsive overeating, i.e. someone who nibbles all day without being able to stop.

Why is my eating UNCONTROLLED?

Bingeing is not a result of being a weak-willed person. There are a number of important physiological and psychological reasons for bingeing.

Physiological Reasons

Bingeing can be the direct result of starvation. By giving you strong cravings for food, your body will tell you loud and clear that it is not getting enough nutrition. These cravings can be constant or intermittent. The harder you try to cut your food intake down, the more you will be prone to bingeing. Often people make things worse by cutting out meals after a binge to make up for having eaten so much. This will automatically program the next binge. Alcohol and drugs, which reduce inhibitions, may also make you binge more.

Psychological Reasons

Boredom, depression, stress, tension and loneliness often lead to bingeing, as food, at least at the start of the binge is comforting and eases these negative feelings. Sometimes a small sip from a rigid and inadequate diet may make you so demoralised that you decide to give up control completely and have a binge.

Physiological and psychological reasons for bingeing are not mutually exclusive and often occur in the same person at the same time.

How to stop binges

A lot of people feel that if only their binges could be cured, they wouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately bingeing as a symptom can't be treated in isolation. In trying to tackle the physiological aspects of bingeing, it is very important:

• That you work on eating regularly at meal times to give your body proper nutrition and thereby to reduce strong cravings for food that are going to set you off again.
• To try as hard as you can not to omit meals after bingeing as this will program the next binge.
• That you deal with the consequences of bingeing, e.g. Vomiting

If you treat these aspects of your problem, you will soon find that binges decrease in duration and frequency.

Am I Addicted to Sugar?

Many people without an eating disorder have a sweet tooth. However, for sufferers of bulimia, cravings for sweet things can be so powerful that it feels like an addiction to sugar. You may also have the experience that, once you have had some sweets, you need to have more and more and more reinforcing your sense of total powerlessness over sweets. Sugary foods are taken into our bloodstream more quickly than other foods. This increase in blood sugar leads to the hormone, insulin, being released, which facilitates the uptake of sugar into body cells, with the result that the blood sugar is lowered. Low blood sugar leads to the desire to eat more sweet things. This effect is particularly marked if you are undernourished. Also, if you drink large amounts of artificially sweetened diet drinks, your body will have learnt to associate the pleasant taste of sweetness with little nutritional value and will drive you to eat large amounts. Some sweet foods, like chocolaty things, lead to the release of  “happy-making” substances produced by the brain, making it very rewarding to eat this type of sweet.

There are many different patterns of bingeing. You may need to monitor yourself to get to know your own pattern.

• Once you have got to know your pattern a bit better, try to “play around” with it a little to increase your sense of control. Try to limit your binges to just one place. Alternatively try to restrict your bingeing to just part of the day.
• Figure out a list of situations that trigger your binges and find ways of dealing with them.
• Try to anticipate danger-zones. Weekends with a lot of unstructured time are prime bingeing time for many. Do pleasurable activities for the weekend and stick to it.
• Whenever you feel like bingeing distract yourself by doing something that is incompatible with bingeing, like going for a walk, phoning or seeing a friend. Watching television and reading are not very helpful in this respect, as it is very easy to binge whilst you are watching. Many of the adverts are designed to promote dissatisfaction with ourselves as we are or encourage us to consume more.
• Don't do your food shopping when you are hungry.
• Don't blame yourself if you have had a binge. Look carefully at your behaviour and spot the links that you could have broken. Work through your mind what would have happened if you had made a shift. You will have learned something for next time.
• A lot of people get very frightened if they haven't binged for a while. They feel that any binge would send them back to “square one”. To prove to yourself that this is not the case, it is often useful to have a planned binge. Remember, a small setback can't undo the good work you have done for weeks.
• Try to avoid people, places and things that are associated with bingeing for you.
• Get in touch with someone you know who has had bulimia and has been able to control it.

Coping with Cravings and Urges

• Monitor your urges to eat and rate their severity and duration
• Make a lot of what effect your expected eating would have on your thoughts, feelings and physical state.

Lapses

• Lapses will occur- they are a definite and important part of recovery. Simply regard them as challenges or learning experiences. The most important thing is to take them in your stride and not think that you are back to square one.

Sincerely,

secretwriter24 <3