The Secret To Overcoming Binge Eating!
posted on: April 05, 2017. posted in:
We've had a question sent to us privately...
"Hi Liam been listening or rather reading what you have to say on your Facebook page. You do make sense but I'm intrigued as to how to stop binge eating. I have been a yo yo dieter all my life. I am now 67 years old. Go to aqua classes 3/4 times a week. I have just signed up to your bronze package to see where I'm going wrong is it to late at my age.? I'm 14 stone 12 lbs and my BMI is 34.2 obese. My largest weight I was 17:11 so have managed to keep my weight down from that over the past 4 years but want to get better at controlling by binges. Looking forward to hearing from you."
Hi there
Thank you so much for signing up! I'm very grateful and happy that you've got the faith in me to take that step 😊
So how do you stop binge eating?
The short answer...
You don't.
What we need to do, and what I can help you do, is change your perspective on binge eating.
Right now, you are a victim of the slimming industry. And they have brainwashed you to believe that "binge eating" is a bad thing. Something that you should feel guilt or shame for. Something that suggests you're out of control or lacking willpower.
So my job is to work on your mind, and help you see the world, your weight, your body and your binging from a different perspective. A healthier, happier, more positive perspective.
You ready?
_________
Imagine an air tight glass jar.
Like the one in the picture above.
Now imagine hopping in that jar, sealing the lid, then slowly and gradually running out of oxygen. And as you start to struggle to breathe you are left with very little choice.
You need to leave the jar.
But nobody just leaves the jar, right?
They leave the jar in a complete PANIC, and desperately gasp for air, trying desperately to catch their breath.
Why?
Because the environment within the jar is lacking oxygen. And although you can exist in that environment for a short time, there comes an inevitable point where that environment threatens your survival. You will literally run out of air and die.
If you tried to rely on WILLPOWER to remain in the jar, you might remain in that environment for a little bit longer. But eventually you will run out of willpower and your body's natural instinct to breathe and survive will drive you to escape the jar.
Now what if ever time you left the jar, someone told you...
"You're weak!"
"You lack willpower!"
"You're not sticking to the plan!"
Would you believe them? Would you berate yourself? Would you feel ashamed of yourself, or feel like some kind of failure, for not being able to stay in the jar long term?
Of course not.
You would understand that the environment of the jar is not one in which you can survive. You would understand that it is perfectly normal and natural to want, need and fight to escape the jar. And that if you gasped when leaving the jar, it wouldn't be because you are "greedy for air", but simply "desperate to survive".
The slimming industry is the jar.
Except when you enter the "slimming jar" it isn't oxygen you are being deprived of, but CALORIES.
It isn't a "low-oxygen environment"
It is a "low-calorie environment".
Just as the longer you stay in the low-oxygen jar, you inevitably need to leave it, gasp for air, and replace all the oxygen you've been deprived of...
The longer you stay in the low-calorie jar, you inevitably need to leave it, binge, and replace all the calories you've been deprived of.
In this way, "gasping for air" and "binge eating" are both very similar behaviours. They are both examples of your body replacing nutrients that are essential for survival.
OXYGEN and FOOD.
And so...
Should you feel guilty for binge eating? Should you feel ashamed of yourself for overeating, almost uncontrollably, the moment you inevitably leave the slimming jar?
Of course not.
You should change your perspective.
From one of GUILT, to one of AWARENESS that when you deprive your body of something, be it oxygen or food, it takes it back in excess.
The longer you hold your breath, the more you gasp.
The longer you diet, the more you binge.
That's why, age 67, you're struggling with binge eating more than ever. Because you've been hanging out in that slimming jar, entering and leaving, starving and binging, for a long, long time.
It's time to leave the jar.
And for the first time in a long time.
NEVER. GO. BACK.
There's a whole world out there outside of that jar, and that world is rich in nutrition. Giving your body the fuel and nourishment and calories it needs to survive, meaning it no longer needs to binge all the time.
Just like being in the open air, you can finally breathe naturally... leaving the slimming industry means you can finally EAT NATURALLY.
The take home message?
We gasp for air when we restrict our oxygen. We binge on food when we restrict our calories. Learning how to fuel your body, rather than starve your body, is the secret to overcoming binging.
Liam
p.s. If you'd like to learn more about nutrition, we'll be covering this subject and many more on the bronze package of our next mission Beach Body™, take a look!
