Binge Eating Help - Learning to Beat Bulimia by Enjoying Food Again
When I was at the height of my experience with Bulimia, I can't remember ever enjoying my food.
All I can remember is the frenzied rush of trying to eat as much food as possible and generally without anybody seeing or suspecting.
I don't remember what it tasted, smelt or felt like.
Most of the time I didn't sit down to enjoy a meal, but basically just devoured as much as I could while standing at the fridge or the pantry.
Since recovering from Bulimia I have learnt that this compulsive binge eating was serving a purpose by blocking out all the hurt and pain I had experienced in my life.
But the short term fix of eating was never enough to get rid of the despair, guilt and loneliness I felt after each binge.
This naturally compounded the problem and ensured the cycle continued.
When I was recovering from Bulimia, I was introduced to a process called "Natural Eating".
In effect you learn to listen to your body again so that you can eat what you want to eat when you are actually hungry.
By tuning into your body you can then make the appropriate food choices based on what your body actually needs.
Similarly, you then listen to your body so it will tell you when it is satisfied and when to stop eating.
There are several strategies to help you actually listen to your body; the key one for me was to actually learn to enjoy food again.
It is essential to start eating exactly what your body wants and not what you think is healthy or will help you lose weight! So start choosing food that you actually enjoy and you get satisfaction from.
Your body knows what it wants if you give it the chance to tell you.
We need food for different reasons, i.
e hot, cold savoury, sweet or salty.
Ask it what it wants and then listen.
It is normally the first thing that comes into your head.
Don't change it to something else because you will more than likely end up eating both choices anyway.
This will ultimately cause you to go into a binge because you really wanted the first option.
Sit down in a calm environment and start to enjoy the food.
Smell it, eat it slowly, savour it, notice how it feels in your mouth and as you are eating it.
If you eat slowly and notice how you are feeling you are not likely to over eat.
Start enjoying your food again and it will give you the chance to learn how to stop binge or compulsive eating.
All I can remember is the frenzied rush of trying to eat as much food as possible and generally without anybody seeing or suspecting.
I don't remember what it tasted, smelt or felt like.
Most of the time I didn't sit down to enjoy a meal, but basically just devoured as much as I could while standing at the fridge or the pantry.
Since recovering from Bulimia I have learnt that this compulsive binge eating was serving a purpose by blocking out all the hurt and pain I had experienced in my life.
But the short term fix of eating was never enough to get rid of the despair, guilt and loneliness I felt after each binge.
This naturally compounded the problem and ensured the cycle continued.
When I was recovering from Bulimia, I was introduced to a process called "Natural Eating".
In effect you learn to listen to your body again so that you can eat what you want to eat when you are actually hungry.
By tuning into your body you can then make the appropriate food choices based on what your body actually needs.
Similarly, you then listen to your body so it will tell you when it is satisfied and when to stop eating.
There are several strategies to help you actually listen to your body; the key one for me was to actually learn to enjoy food again.
It is essential to start eating exactly what your body wants and not what you think is healthy or will help you lose weight! So start choosing food that you actually enjoy and you get satisfaction from.
Your body knows what it wants if you give it the chance to tell you.
We need food for different reasons, i.
e hot, cold savoury, sweet or salty.
Ask it what it wants and then listen.
It is normally the first thing that comes into your head.
Don't change it to something else because you will more than likely end up eating both choices anyway.
This will ultimately cause you to go into a binge because you really wanted the first option.
Sit down in a calm environment and start to enjoy the food.
Smell it, eat it slowly, savour it, notice how it feels in your mouth and as you are eating it.
If you eat slowly and notice how you are feeling you are not likely to over eat.
Start enjoying your food again and it will give you the chance to learn how to stop binge or compulsive eating.
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