“Do you ever still binge?” a friend asked me recently.
After some thought, I answered, “No.”
Please keep in mind that I have 45 years of experience in the binge department. If you have any doubt, just take a little peak at my “Before” picture. Rest assured that, indeed, I know a great deal about bingeing.
It’s not that I don’t ever have the urge to eat everything in sight. It’s not that I never feel frustrated, angry, bored, or stressed. It’s not that I never want to medicate myself with food. It’s not that I never feel so empty inside that I could devour a whole pizza, a family-size bag of potato chips, and a gallon of rocky road ice cream.
I’m human.
I have bad days.
But in the past two years, I’ve learned some strategies to help me deal with the urge to eat everything in sight.
Strategy One: Eat small meals frequently throughout the day. I have learned, and continue to learn, to listen to my body. I don’t allow her to go hours and hours on end with no fuel. I rarely allow her to become famished, for I know that when I become really, really, really hungry, I may end up eating everything in sight. And when you add emotional stress and physical exhaustion to hunger, you’ve got yourself a recipe for a high-quality binge.
Strategy Two: I love to run. And this running thing I’ve got going on is a big motivator to eat small, frequent meals. If I know I have a long run scheduled for Saturday morning, I’m probably going to pay attention to how I fuel myself on Friday night.
Strategy Three: This brings us to the issue of food being fuel. Food can’t hug me. Food can’t laugh with me. Food can’t listen to me. Food can’t cry with me. Food is fuel, not love. People are love, not fuel.
It’s not that I never have a bad day and want to eat. But during those bad days, I ask, “What will bring me the most pleasure?” And in many cases, food is not the answer to that question.
I also ask myself, “What do I really, really, really, really want?”
For me, I really, really, really, really want to maintain my current weight.
I really, really, really, really want to continue to run long distances.
I really, really, really, really want to sleep well at night.
And I really, really, really, really want to continue to be in a super-loving, super-supportive relationship with my body.
What do you really, really, really, really want?
Up Next: “But What Did You Do?”
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