im your average teenage cliche

You learned it when you are in pre-school: STOP, DROP, and HYDRATE. Okay, so maybe you didn’t learn exactly that, but this little play on “stop, drop, and roll” can help you with your binge eating.

• Identify a Binge: When you’re halfway through a box of Oreos, you’re binge eating.  Identifying it and labeling it as a binge can help you out.  If you have found yourself scarfing down pieces of pie like it’s your job (a job that you feel horrible about), you are binging. Tell yourself, “This is a binge, and I can choose to end it now.”
• Emotions: Don’t expect a binging problem to go away overnight.  Binge eating is usually extreme emotional eating.  It is a disorder, and chances are, you will have to deal with the emotions first.  For me personally, I binged whenever there was any kind of emotional stress - even extreme happiness.  Food was the ultimate reaction.
• Stop dieting. Stop counting calories. Stop, stop, stop: This is HUGE if you want to overcome your BED.  Every time you choke down a 1/3 of a cake, you tell yourself, “It’s okay because i’m never going to eat sweets again after this.”  Trust me, you will eat sweets again. I don’t care how hell-bent you are on NOT eating them, you will! It’s normal and healthy to do so!  So instead of giving yourself an excuse to continue eating, realize you can have that food anytime you please. You’re no longer on a diet, so no food is off limits or too high calorie for you.
• Nothing is off limits, except for Artificial Sweeteners & Diet Drinks: These are not your friends.  They’re the backstabbing friends that seem really innocent and nice at first, but are doing horrible things behind your back.  These trick your body into thinking it has had sugar, and when the body never receives sugar, it freaks out.  It goes looking for the sugar, leading you to have strange cravings or sugar/refined carb binges.
• Out of Sight, Out of Mind: This was by far the most helpful tool for me while I was learning to stop binge eating.  If there was no chocolate in the house, I wasn’t able to binge even when I wanted to.  Of course it sucked sitting there in my house CRAVING a binge.  But when for weeks on end I wasn’t able to binge eat, when I finally was given chocolate, I wasn’t able to eat as much.  It was too sweet and too satisfying.
• Identify Your Triggers: Another big point.  My triggers? Anytime I was home alone, when I got home from school, late night binges, eating while drunk (HUGE binges), and anytime there was a large variety of food.
• Once I had identified these triggers, it was easier for me to work with.  For awhile, I avoided being home alone until I knew I could control myself.  There are still times I get the urge to binge eat while home alone, but I can stop it dead in it’s tracks now.  At buffets, I realize that I can eat that food whenever I want, so I take a tiny bit of everything I want.  Late night is another time I still have to fight the urge to binge, but again, i’m able to do so.  And the problem of binge eating while drunk? Don’t drink so much!

I hope this helps some of you suffering with BED.  It’s a horrible, vicious cycle that can seem like it will never end.  It’s a true emotional roller coaster, but I promise that you will come out on the other end happier than ever.  If you ever need help, or want to ask questions, my ask is open any time of day or night :)

I know I should study and go for a run and do strength training. But right now I just want to sit and watch gilmore girls for the rest of my life. But since I can’t do that without feeling lazy and failing my exam I’m going to make a plan. In the next half hour I am going to go:

• Run (20 - 30 minutes) 
• Strength Train (30 minutes)
• Shower (As long as I please)
• Eat a chicken sandwich
• Study for forever

breakfast: kashi honey sunshine, soy milk, half a grapefruit
lunch:  whole wheat macaroni with crushed tomatoes, spinach and part skim mozzarella, mixed greens with vinaigrette 
dinner: chicken and salad with tomatoes, cucumber and vinaigrette
snacks: an orange, taste of nature nut bar, carrots, toast with sugar free jam.

1. You will have more peaceful and restful sleep
2. Enhance mood levels and calms “reacting” impulses
3. Strengthen your bones
4. It can be an escape from school, work, etc…
5. Improves posture, makes clothes fit better
6. Decreases appetite for junk food (more self-control)
7. Make wiser food choices
8. Reduces emotional steam, eliminating stress
9. Allows for occasional indulgences
10. TO STAY HEALTHY

breakfast: 1 egg + 1/3 cup of egg whites, whole wheat piece of toast, half a grapefruit, strawberries 
lunch: greek yogurt with cinnamon and kashi go lean crunch, spring mix with tomatoes, cucumber and balsamic vinaigrette 
dinner: whole wheat macaroni with crushed tomatoes, spinach and part skim mozzarella 
snacks: vanilla protein shake with strawberries, broccoli and cauliflower, an orange