Binge Eating
I’m writing this one in hopes that when I come back and read it a year from now that I might have an answer! I have been thinking about this all day today. What makes us eat past the point of it being enjoyable? I mean common. If you eat a dozen warm homemade chocolate chip cookies, they truly didn’t even taste good after about number 3! I’ve done it many times, I know! It doesn’t even matter what it is or how good it is. If it has sugar in it, I can eat it until I want to heave! That is so twisted! I can think of many times that I have bought a box of Little Debbie snack cakes and ate the whole thing! I can’t even eat one of those anymore without my stomach doing flip flops in protest. It’s like my tummy knows that I can’t eat just one and it is crying already that it will be hurting in a matter of minutes.
I guess I am thinking about this today because we bought tons of candy last night at the store for Halloween. I bought the kids off this year to not go trick-or-treating. Told them I would be happy to buy them each enough candy to make them puke! They probably won’t though. They will stash it and I’ll still be seeing it after the new year. I’ve been thinking of all the times that I have bought a bag of candy, and sat and ate the whole thing in one evening. I didn’t even like it, so why did I do it? I can say I know better now, but I knew better when I was doing it too! Didn’t stop me though. It will this year. I can thank the baby for that. Small doses of sugar is too much these days!
I just would love to have an answer as to why we do this? I know from being around this website that I am not nearly the only one that does this. I also know that every single person on here KNOWS BETTER. It isn’t a secret that it will make us sick. We figured that out really young I’m sure! Do we secretly want to punish ourselves for liking it? It certainly isn’t enjoyable, I do know that!
Anyway, that is my ramble for today. I mainly wanted it in my blog history so I could think about it some more after I get my head on straight. I can dream anyway! 
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This is some pretty good reading on that very subject:
http://www.healthyfood.co.nz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=161&Itemid=59
Here’s another one (I’ve got files full of this stuff) LOLOL
http://www.angelfire.com/co4/bodychemistry/
This is perhaps the best article that I can relate to on why I myself binge on sugar. Since I have started eating healthier, balanced nutrition and my body getting what it needs, I don’t crave it near as much, and it is easier for me to turn away from it… but then there are those days…… LOL
http://www.womentowomen.com/insulinresistance/cravings.asp
Well it makes me feel a little better just knowing that I’m not the only one and BS has made me realise that. It doesn’t cure it, I still fall off, but not as often - and I pick myself up quicker, too. So I guess, at least in my case, guilt has something to do with binging. But mine are sugar-driven. They’re emotion and stress driven and can be anything. The latest was half a loaf of bread with half a package of ground dessicated hard cheese pasta sprinke. Yuck.
Just hang on, dear. What helps me is that I go straight to bed and end the day sooner - if you can afford that luxury…
I know I binge on sugar laden high carbohydrate foods and I feel they actually drug me like a tranqualizer. I went to an aa meeting with a friend once and they said it is the sugar that is in the alcohol that the alcoholic gets addicted to. That is why when heavy drinkers arent drinking they binge on sugary foods too.
Little Debbie snack cakes…you do know I am the muse for them don’t you? She looks exactly like me at age 10.
Why do we eat like that. I don’t know but the more you do the less you feel anything. It’s kind of like a desensitizer. Makes you oblivious to your plight. That is the only thing I can figure. It’s a temporary fix for those of us who are addicts!
I don’t do it with sweets but put a pizza or a buffet in front of me then I eat past the point of full. I wish there was an easy answer to it all. They say to eat slowly. Have the children hide their candy. It’s what we did with ours.
I am with you. I have done that a few times. I snack sometimes like it is my last meal. Then i feel sick later and that lasts longer than the enjoyment of the food does. It wasn’t until I started losing weight and seeing it on the scale and in my clothes that that behavior stopped. I am not sure why we do it, but it is annoying. Glad to know I am not alone.
Beebee, I too am a ‘binge’ eater, though I do not purge. (Thank God) I don’t do it always, but at buffets I have to strictly limit myself to going to the salad bar FIRST or I know I will regret ever having stepped in the restaurant in the first place. I am the same with pizza. I will eat the whole thing if I let myself. Waaaaaaay past the point of comfort. The same with Chineese. I am the same with chocolate. Whoever decided peanut butter and chocolate go well together should be shot!! (I looooove reeces) For some reason I cannot put them down once I have them. But for me, it doesn’t have to be pizza or reeces that cause me to over eat. I will do it even with salad. Why can’t I STOP!!?? Why is portion control such an issue? I agree that I mostly crave carbs and sugars, but I will also over eat on a well balanced meal too. I watched a pbs program called “Ghost in your Genes” the other day that I thought was interesting. it concerned epigenitics and how they are turned on or off by our early childhood development and how they shape our actions and reaction to different stimuli. It touches on the subject of obesity as well. If you all have time, check it out. http://www.pbs.org search for “Ghost in your Genes” I think it certainly gave me added insight on the reason WHY I am the way I am.
It may not be a complete answer to binge eating, but it certainly helped me wrap my brain around the possiblies.
A disease called “addiction”, I firmly beleive that. I’m still learning too, and that is why support is so important! Huggs!
Im not sure why we eat to we are misserable. I am guilty. Since I started this journey, I have tried to stop eating when I feel full, and that is hard to know when because I am so used to eating everything on my plate and I think that has something to do with it also. I can recall when I was a child, my parents telling me to clean my plate that there were starving children in thrid world countries so I ate out of guilt, then my stomache became so used to eating it all that I just didnt really ‘think’ about it. Now, since I seriously started this weight loss idea, and started counting calories, I have more dicipline, only because I really didnt realize how fattening some stuff is. I used to grab for the ‘fat free’ stuff and one day I read the label, which is important. I love orange slices candy, that is the only candy, other than choclate at valentines and around christmas that I really really have a weakness with, the orange slices say fat free, and I can eat a bucket in two days if I dont pay attention, they are so good, but one day I read the calories on them and I almost fell over, when you figure in the entire bucket, you could of eaten a whole day of calories in one bucket. Its just my take on the whole thing, but I think that we dont ‘think’ about it so we can deny the calories. I also think Im not the only one who was told to clean my plate and I find myself spitting the words out of my own mouth sometimes to my own kids and I have to make a concious effort to not do it. Now when I start to feel full, I stop. sometimes it is really hard, because I still see food on my plate and I dont want to waste it. The only way I get around the guilt of wasting it, is to take smaller portions and also drink lots of water with dinner that will help you feel fuller. So overall I think binge eating has differnt causes for everyone. Hang in there!!
I am officially answering your question from my blog on your blog ! Last night I felt overly hungry ! It started innocently enough ! But you’re right I knew I shouldn’t have but, did it anyways ! I was upset at the end of my binge cuz I knew I ate junk ! Hunger was what kicked this whole ugly thing off! I just truly at first made a poor choice for dinner and it spiraled from there !So thanks for kickin’ my butt for it ! I will truly, try to change this habit ! Kimmi