Those of us with binge eating issues spend an awful lot of time in our heads – even someone like me who recovered years ago.
The combination of our inherent nature and our experiences means we’re inclined to rumination.
We’re also often disconnected from our bodies.
Abuse, trauma, body shaming – they all leave us afraid to inhabit our bodies. We struggle to find a sense of safety within. For respite, we detach and seek comfort in food.
Trigger warning: description of binge eating.
A few nights ago, I went out for dinner for the first time since lockdown lifted here in the UK.
After months of being stuck at home, I sat in the restaurant with a big grin on my face, soaking up the atmosphere.
I was quite hungry but, as usual, took my time exploring the menu. Like a buzzard circling its prey, I was on the lookout for the dish that would truly satisfy me.
Continue reading “How Calorie Labelling Impacts People with Binge Eating Disorder”
This is the time of year when most New Year diets have failed.
Yes, The Eating Silly Season is coming to a close. To be fair, Eating Silly Season is now all year long, but in January it’s especially silly as Diet Culture stages its annual Grand Parade of Bullshit and Misinformation.
Look – there’s that “celebrity doctor” shamelessly promoting disordered eating on social media in the name of “science”. There’s that “diet guru” on TV forcing people who are Not Thin to lose weight rapidly with zero regard for their psychological wellbeing.
Then there’s you.
How are you doing with all of this?
The path to a peaceful relationship with food can be long and twisting.
And many things can try to pull you away from it.
Maybe someone at work raves about losing weight on the latest diet and you consider joining them for yet another “quick fix” attempt.
Maybe you go clothes shopping and nothing fits well or looks right, and you decide your body is to blame.
Maybe someone snaps a photo of you and your Inner Bully has a field day pointing out all your “defects”.
There’s one thing, though, that’s perhaps more disheartening than anything else.
“Our ancestors did not have a constant supply of food. When a large animal – a whale, a bison, a woolly mammoth or an elephant – was killed, everyone feasted, gorged… it might be weeks or months before another big kill, so large amounts had to be eaten quickly and then stored in the body for the times of scarcity that were sure to come.
This is an ancient or atavistic memory that calls us to eat all we can now, even if we are not hungry, just in case there won’t be any food tomorrow… there is something deep in our primitive brain that still fears starvation, scarcity, famine.” – Jan Chozen Bays, “Mindful Eating”
Remember the panic-buying we witnessed when the Covid-19 crisis first hit?
Continue reading “Expert Insight: Dieting and the Fear of Famine”
If dieting never existed, what would your relationship with food be like?
Just think about it for a minute.
How would you eat if you’d never learnt to diet?
Would you wake up feeling confused and stressed about food?
Would you feel guilty and ashamed about eating something you “shouldn’t”?
Would you still binge? Label food as “good” or “bad”? Hate your body?
Julie de Rohan 