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How to Stop Binge Eating at Night

How to Stop Binge Eating at Night

Are you wondering why you binge eat and how to stop binge eating at night? Night time is a really common time of the day to experience binge eating. This is for a number of reasons which we will dive into in this article.

Firstly, let’s discuss what type of binge you are experiencing. 

What is a binge?   

There is a difference between a ‘subjective binge’ (what YOU define as a binge), and an ‘objective binge’ (what a psychologist uses to define an Eating Disorder).

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is defined as regularly eating a large quantity of food in a discrete time period with a sense of feeling out of control (1). The binge eating episodes are usually accompanied with three or more following: 

  • Eating past the point of uncomfortable fullness
  • Eating alone due to embarrassment 
  • Eating faster than usual 
  • Feeling upset and guilty afterwards
  • Eating a large amount of food when not physically hungry

If you suspect you may have BED, I encourage you to discuss this with your GP.

What If I don’t meet the criteria for BED?

If you don’t meet the ‘criteria’ for BED, doesn’t mean you aren’t experiencing suffering or deserve help. A ‘subjective’ binge eating episode may still be accompanied with embarrassment, guilt, eating fast, eating a large amount of food…. but not enough food to be considered an ‘objective binge’ for a psychologist to diagnose a BED. A little silly I know.

In this article, I refer to some reasons why you may be experiencing binge eating, and in particular, we dive into how to stop binge eating at night. I also provide recommendations for how to stop binge eating at night. This article is targeted at those experiencing a ‘subjective binge’, without diagnosed BED. 

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Why do I binge at night?

There tend to be 3 common reasons that cause bingeing at night.

1) Restriction during the day

It is common in diet culture to label foods such as rice cakes and salad as “safe” to eat during the day and “not allow” more substantial meals such as pasta and sandwiches.  

Any time a food is out of bounds, it puts it on a pedestal increasing our desire to want to eat that food. There are two ways in which foods can be out of bounds:

  • Physically: the diet restricts it. 
  • Psychologically: we attach a moral value to that food and label it as bad, unhealthy. 

We then start to desire that food even more, because we tell ourselves we can’t have it. When we do have it, we’re likely to feel guilt and eat more () than if we’d just allowed it in the first place!

A 2001 study showed that when people were forbidden sweets that were considered “novel”, the attraction to eat them was heightened compared to people who were allowed to eat the “novel” sweet. This idea rings true for any food, not just high sugar foods. In another study, children were divided into groups and told not to eat either sweets or fruit. Both groups ate more of the restricted foods (including more fruit!) when they were given the opportunity, compared to a group who wasn’t restricted at all (7). 

2) Tiredness

  • If you’ve had a really long day or if you had a poor night’s sleep. 
  • If you’ve done a lot of exercise or if you simply have too much going on.  

Being tired makes it difficult to tap into hunger and satiety cues. Studies show that being unable to get a full night’s sleep (<6 hours) interferes with our hunger hormones. These hormones dictate how much we would eat in a day. Sleep deprivation causes increased ghrelin (the hormone that stimulates hunger) and decreased leptin (the hormone that tells us when we are full).

Research also shows that tiredness can increase food intake by 400 calories a day. A systematic review that analysed 11 different studies found on average that people who had between 3.5 to 5.5 hours sleep the night before ate an additional 385 calories that day, compared to when they’d slept at least seven hours. 

3) Hunger

Many clients I meet that are struggling to stop binge eating at night, are actually just hungry and haven’t tuned in to the sensations of hunger. That bowl of cereal at 8 am, and salad at lunchtime simply hasn’t cut it. Of course, they walk through the door ready to eat the house down. 

So this, coupled with our hunger hormone ghrelin being revved up in the evening, means we’re in a position where we’re likely to binge. If there are foods that you are restricting, you are more likely to binge on these. If when we get home from a long day there is food in the cupboard that’s “not allowed”, of course, we are going to want to eat it … because we’re hungry and tired!

 

Need More Self Control Around Food? 

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How to Stop Binge Eating at Night

Here I am sharing my experiences of working with 1:1 clients and a couple of the ways in which they have managed to stop binge eating at night. 

1. Meeting your basic needs

This means two things:

a) Get organised for the week so that you feel in control, can schedule regular eating patterns and eat according to hunger.  

For example:

– Making sure you have a stocked-up fridge with food that can be easily prepared and/or eaten without much fuss (unless cooking at night helps you to unwind!).

– Setting boundaries at work, or with friends/family, so you don’t take too much on. 

How?

If Sunday meal prepping is your thing, go ahead and make yourself a few days worth of dinner and lunches ahead of time. But if that doesn’t sound right for you, take yourself on a shopping trip (or do an online shop) and stock your fridge and cupboard with snacks and fresh produce that don’t require too much preparation. Ready-to-eat meals that you can easily heat and eat each weeknight are great too! 

Check your diary at the end of each week for the week ahead to ensure you’ve not overloaded yourself. Schedule downtime, just like you would any other activity. 

If you’re struggling to eat according to hunger,  check out my FREE download with a recorded audio guide and actionable workbook which tackles this. 

b) Find activities/hobbies that make you feel good and check that you are meeting the basics. 

What is it that makes you feel amazing? 

Having a proper night’s sleep? Spending time out in nature? Making space for you time in the week? Curling up on the couch with a good book? Getting out in nature? A bubble bath? A pedicure? Sweating it out in the gym? Spending time with your fur baby? Spending time with your human baby? 

Whatever it is, ensure you are meeting your basics (sleep, setting boundaries, managing stress), but also doing things that fill your heart with joy and that helps calm your mind. These types of activities are a great way to make sure that we can deal with emotions such as tiredness, anxiety, boredom, loneliness or anger without using food to suppress that feeling. Emotional eating is very common and something I have written about in more detail here.

2. Stop labelling foods as good and bad

To create a healthy relationship with food, we have to stop describing food in moral terms. Because you know what? There is no one food that will make us healthy or unhealthy. 

Try to neutralise your language around food and label foods as what they are. If it’s a croissant, call it a croissant. If it’s a carrot, call it a carrot or vegetable. Neither are good, or bad. They are just-food.

Learning how to stop binge eating at night is a process. It takes time to figure out what triggers it and the sorts of things you can do to avoid it. But hopefully, after reading this, you have a few ideas up your sleeve. And just remember, if after reading this you still find yourself struggling, do not need to beat yourself up. Move on and be kind to yourself.

This is hard work and the first step is acknowledging it (which you clearly have if you are reading this). So, I encourage you to keep being compassionate and patient as you take these next brave steps to find how you’re going to do this important work.  

You can sign up for my 7 Steps to Find Food Peace and Food Freedom with an audio guide and workbook to get started on how to stop binge eating at night. 

How to Start Intuitive Eating – 5 Simple Steps

How to Start Intuitive Eating – 5 Simple Steps

I’m often asked by clients how to start Intuitive Eating. Learning how to eat intuitively after months or years of dieting and weight-loss attempts is usually a process. A wonderful, liberating, best-thing-you’ll-ever-do-in-your-life, but a sometimes tricky process. Whilst it isn’t as simple as following a prescriptive meal plan or diet, there are some clear steps you can take to get started.

Why get started with Intuitive Eating?

Eating is an evidence-based approach to health and wellness. It helps you tune into your body signals, stop the binge-restrict cycle, and heal your relationship with food. In the process of intuitive eating, you let go of the misconception that certain foods are good or bad, and over time you are able to eat what you want without feeling guilty. It is steered by internal body signals and wisdom (i.e. hunger, fullness and satisfaction) rather than external rules.

This may sound simple, but after years of diet talk and food rules, it is usually tricky to just, well, eat!

Here are five steps that you can follow that show you how to start Intuitive Eating.

 

Step 1: Allow yourself unconditional permission to eat ALL foods

A little scary, right? But also exciting!

This can be really hard to do when we live in a diet culture where food is given a moral value. That is, foods that are seen to be associated with thinness and “health” = good. And any other food = bad.  

That’s where we:

  1. Start restricting and forbidding the “bad” foods … ultimately leading to feelings of deprivation.  
  2. This leads to biological cravings for said forbidden food. 
  3. Which leads to a bingeing episode, guilt and starting another diet to be “good”. 
  4. And so, the cycle goes back to number 1. 

Does this cycle sound familiar? 

The only way to stop the cycle is to cut it off at the beginning. This means to allow yourself to eat ALL foods. No labels, no good or bad foods, because really, no food is morally good or bad. It’s all just-food.

Step 2: Stop trying to control your weight

Research shows us that up to 95% of people regain the weight lost whilst dieting within 2-5 years.

Why? Because of the setpoint weight. This is the weight that our body works very hard to maintain (usually within a range of 4-5kgs) to carry out all the necessary functions to keep us alive. When we’re not swinging between doughnut land (i.e. being bad), and diet land (i.e. being good), our weight settles at its natural set point. This weight range is already pre-determined, largely by genetics.

If we start messing with our set point weight through dieting, it starts to put a strain on our body and impact how well it can do its job.

In essence, diets make us work against ourselves and paradoxically, we end up achieving the exact opposite of what we wanted in the first place. Argh! 

 If you’re struggling with the idea of letting go of weight loss pursuits, this article might be helpful for you.

Step 3: Detox your social media feeds 

There is a lot of rubbish nutrition advice out there in the world.

Also, our social media feeds are usually going to represent thin, white bodies more than all the other wonderful types of bodies that are out there.

Research tells us that we need to avoid or challenge this type of imagery because of the association between being exposed to unrealistic images and body dissatisfaction.

It’s time to get ruthless and unfollow anyone who: 

  • Promotes a balanced diet but say they need to “burn off the calories” after eating pizza  
  • Gives nutrition advice but does not have appropriate qualifications  
  • Uses terms like “eat clean” or eating “whole foods” 
reliable nutrition information

Step 4: Honour your biological hunger

It is extremely common after years of dieting and eating according to external rules to lose touch with what it feels like to be hungry or full. Don’t stress, these signals are still there and you can learn to hear them again. It will just take some time and a bit of trial and error. The best way to start tuning back in is to take a minute to pause before and after you eat to feel your hunger.

Hunger Fullness ScaleAs a starting point, see if you can figure out what a 3, 4 or 5 level of hunger might feel like. You could feel one or a combination of the following:

 

Signs of Hunger 

It usually feels good to start eating at a 3 or a 4, but explore for yourself, keeping a little diary using this free tool I’ve created. 

Step 5: Find movement that makes you feel good

When learning how to start Intuitive Eating, it’s key to ditch the rigid exercise plans and start moving your body because of how great it feels!

Our bodies are designed to love to move. If exercising has never been joyful, it may be for a few reasons: 

  • It was often associated with dieting. And when the diet failed, so too did the exercise. 
  • You had bad experiences as a child being made to exercise when you didn’t want to; and/or 
  • You were always pushed by others to exercise and therefore have always rebelled those people.  

Swap your mindset by focusing on how exercising makes you feel, rather than thinking about the calories that are being burned.  

After exercise, how do you feel? – Energy levels? Confidence? Stress levels? Sleep? Most people find that these are all improved with regular movement.

It is well established that physical activity provides positive health benefits over the long term. It has impacts on metabolism, bone density, preserving lean muscle mass and mental health. It’s time to start viewing exercise as beneficial for improving quality of life, rather than as a weight loss tool.

Find something that you enjoy and start out slowly. This could be:

  • going for a walk around the block while listening to your favourite podcast
  • walking to a bus stop that’s one stop further away from your destination.
  • dancing around the house

Summary:

Well that’s my top 5 strategies on how to start Intuitive Eating. It’s not about getting any of these things perfect, but instead chipping away so that barriers start to come down. Be kind to yourself and allow plenty of time to see how you can apply these steps each day. This is about making progress towards healing your relationship with food, not striving for a perfect diet (which by the way, doesn’t exist).  

If you would like more information on how to stop binge eating, how to stop food obsession, how to stop emotional eating, and how to start intuitive eating, check out my free audio recording. It provides you with 7 actionable steps on how to start intuitive eating, with an actionable workbook.   

Why you don’t need to stop eating sugar to improve your health

Why you don’t need to stop eating sugar to improve your health

First it was salt. Then fat. Then carbohydrates.  

Now we’re told to stop eating sugar.

All these foods have been demonised at one point or another over the years and we’ve been taught to fear them due to the implications they can have on our health. But sadly, this is more fear mongering, than fact. 

Let’s talk about the facts, specifically regarding sugar. 

Have some “wellness experts” left you believing that you need to “stop eating sugar” or that “you’re addicted to sugar“? Sugar is nothing to be feared, unless it is consumed in huge quantities (like anything, really!), or you have specific health conditions like Diabetes, where sugar intake needs management. 

The problem with the idea that we should “stop eating sugar” is that not all sugars are equal. If we stop eating sugar, we’d be quitting entire food groups and all the important vitamins and minerals found in them! 

Hang on, I thought sugar was bad, because it’s the stuff in cakes, biscuits and sweets, I hear you ask?  

Yes and no.  

Yes, there is sugar in our favourite sweet treats, but this is usually refined sugar (table sugar). Consuming this type of sugar in small amounts is not harmful to our health (1). It is recommended that we consume sweet foods with meals as much as possible to protect our teeth, however, cutting out sugar from our diet all together could backfire and we could end up feeling like we can’t stop eating it. Especially in those who want to stop food obsession, or who struggle with binge eating, feeling out of control at night, or want to stop emotional eating (2, 3, 4).  

The other type of sugar that shouldn’t be feared, is the naturally occurring sugar found in fruits, vegetables, dairy products and wholegrains. But more about these two things later.   

Let’s first look at what a sugar actually is. I apologise, but there is a little bit of chemistry ahead. 

The chemistry…

A sugar is something that is made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms (a sugar molecule). The number of these atoms and how they are arranged, will determine the kind of sugar it is, how it behaves in food and then how it interacts once it is in your body. 

There are many different types of sugars found in foods. 

For example, the sugar found in dairy products (lactose) is different to the sugar in fruit (fructose) – they are completely different sugars and digested in different ways, but they are sugars nonetheless. 

If we were told to quit eating sugar, we’d essentially be eliminating dairy and fruit out of our diets!  

And we’d also be eliminating cereals, pasta and rice … because the complex carbohydrates found in those foods are also made up sugar molecules – lots of them (hence the name “complex”).  

Sugar, at its most basic level, is what our body needs for fuel.

But what about blood sugar levels?

One reason why there is fear surrounding sugar is because of its impact on our Blood Glucose Levels (BGLs). You might have heard someone say “oh don’t eat that, it makes your blood sugar spike”?? This is semi-true. Yes, dramatic spikes in our BGLs can affect our energy levels. Also, eating foods that are high in sugar and low in fibre could cause hunger to reappear more quickly after eating. But this all depends on the type of the sugar that is in the food and what we eat the sugar with (e.g. protein and fats).   

We can measure how quickly a carbohydrate food makes your BGLs rise by using an international standard called the Glycaemic Index (GI) (5). Carbohydrates are rated on a scale between 0 – 100 depending on how quickly the body breaks it down to be used for energy.  

Foods with a higher GI are broken down more quickly and can cause a sharp rise in BGLs – things like a glass of sugary drink on an empty stomach, white bread, white rice and white potatoes. However, who just eats a plate of white rice, or a whole lot of bread without a topping? No judgement if you do, but most of us prefer these with other foods most of the time. We usually eat these foods with some proteins and fats which naturally lower the GI.  

Foods with a low GI number break down more slowly and help to keep your BGLs stable – things like wholegrain bread and pasta, fresh fruit, lentils and legumes, yoghurt and milk. In fact, chocolate is low GI because it contains a high amount of fat and protein… I bet you never realised that!  

So, what’s important is the type of sugar and what we pair it with, to determine its nutritional quality and impact on your body, rather than tarnishing all sugars with the same brush!  

Naturally occurring sugars vs “free sugars”  

Now that we know what a sugar is, we can talk about naturally occurring sugar vs “free sugars”.  

Natural sugars, as the name would suggest, are those already found in the food. These often come with a host of other beneficial nutrients. For example, milk and yoghurt contains the sugar lactose as well as calcium and protein. Fresh fruit contains fructose, as well as vitamin C and fibre.  

So, what exactly are “free sugars”?  

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines it as those that are added in by either the consumer or the food manufacturer and the sugars naturally found in fruit juice, honey, syrup and fruit juice concentrates. Things like bakery items, cakes, cookies and soft drinks. It also includes the table sugar you add to your coffee in the morning.  

The WHO recommends limiting free sugars to no more than 10% of total daily energy intake (about 10 teaspoons) to reduce the risk of dental carries, chronic disease and poor diet quality (6). 

What about alternative sweeteners then?  

If we’re told that we need to reduce our sugar intake, additives and preservatives, should we turn to sugar substitutes instead? Well there are loads of sugar alternatives being used, many so that recipes can claim they’re “sugar free”, but it’s difficult to know whether they’re any better than just your regular old table sugar. 

Let’s have a look at some. 

Maple Syrup 

What it is: More commonly used as a weekend breakfast item, but it is also used in recipes as a table sugar replacement. The syrup is formed after the sap is extracted from the wild maple tree and concentrated. 

Nutrients: Contains traces of vitamins and some minerals such as potassium, iron and calcium. 

GI: 54 (7).  

Brown rice malt syrup 

What it is: An expensive replacement often used by people who follow a “sugar free” lifestyle. It is produced by cooking brown rice flour or starch and breaking it down into simpler sugars to produce a liquid.  

Nutrients: It is low in fructose and could be a suitable replacement for people with fructose malabsorption.  

GI: 98 (7)  

Agave syrup 

What it is: A very sweet sugar alternative with minimal impact on BGLs. Processed from the agave plant grown in the south west of the USA and northern parts of South America. 

Nutrients: Is high in fructose, which could cause digestive distress for people with fructose intolerance. Has slightly higher calories than table sugar, 60 calories per tablespoon compared to 40 calories for the same amount of table sugar (8). 

GI: 10 (7).  

Dates 

What it is: A whole fruit  

Nutrients: Contains fibre, potassium (essential for maintaining fluid balance in the body and controlling electrical activity in the heart) and magnesium (essential for proper nerve function, muscle contraction and regulation of blood glucose level and blood pressure) 

GI: 50 (7) 

Stevia 

What it is: Made from the leaves of a native plan in Paraguay in South America, is often used in coffee as a replacement for table sugar in coffee.  

Nutrients: It is much sweeter than table sugar, with negligible calories and does not raise blood sugar.  

GI of 0 

Coconut sugar 

What it is: Made from the sap in the flower buds of a coconut palm. The sap is boiled to allow the water to evaporate and then dried to form a concentrate. It is  

Nutrients: Contains potassium, iron, zinc, and calcium according to research conducted by the Philippines Government research body, but you need to eat a lot to make a difference (9). It also contains the same number of calories as white sugar. 

GI: low GI of 54 (7) 

So, while there are many pros and cons on just this short list of the many alternatives that are available, the reality is that they are all still sugars and most of them contain energy, with little vitamin or minerals (10). And whilst sweeteners are low in calories, there is some evidence that sweeteners may actually increase our appetite (11). 

Summary

So, with all the scaremongering around sugar being harmful, the reality is that a diet that has a limited intake of sugar (whatever sugar that may be) is not harmful for a healthy individual.  

There are many foods with naturally occurring sugars that contain nutrients that are highly beneficial, so let’s not go cutting those just yet.

And then as for those free sugars which have little nutritive value? Well, a little bit of honey on toast or glazed on roast carrots can fit into a healthy diet. These foods are there for the enjoyment and satisfaction of eating and cutting them out completely could backfire and result in food obsession and binge eating. After all, who was it that once said a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down?  

If you want to learn more about how to have a healthy relationship with food, reduce food obsession, and feel more in control around sugar, learning about Intuitive Eating is a good place to start. 

Note: this article is not designed to replace individual advice from your healthcare provider.  

References 

  1. The British Dietetics Association. (2017). Sugar. Retrieved from https://www.bda.uk.com/foodfacts/sugar. Accessed on 1/03/2019.  

2. Keeler, Chelsey L., Richard D. Mattes, and Sze‐Yen Tan. “Anticipatory and reactive responses to chocolate restriction in frequent chocolate consumers.” Obesity 23.6 (2015): 1130-1135. 

3. Konttinen H, Haukkala A, Sarlio-Lahteenkorva S, Silventoinen K, Jousilahti P. Eating styles, self-control and obesity indicators. The moderating role of obesity status and dieting history on restrained eating. Appetite (2009): 53:131–4.  

4. Jansen, Esther, et al. “From the Garden of Eden to the land of plenty: Restriction of fruit and sweets intake leads to increased fruit and sweets consumption in children.” Appetite 51.3 (2008): 570-575.

5. International Organisation for Standardisation (2010). Food products — Determination of the glycaemic index (GI) and recommendation for food classification. Retrieved from https://www.iso.org/obp/ui/#iso:std:iso:26642:ed-1:v1:en. Accessed on 1/03/2019.  

6. WHO. (2015). Sugar intakes of Adults and Children. Retrieved from. https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/guidelines/sugars_intake/en/. Accessed on 3/03/2019. 

7. The University of Sydney. (2017). Search for the Glycemic Index. Retrieved from http://www.glycemicindex.com/foodSearch.php. Accessed on 1/03/2019.  

8. Web MD. (2014). Agave: Calories, Nutrition Facts, and More. Retrieved from https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-agave#1. Accessed on 1/03/2019.  

9. Medical News Today. (2018). Coconut sugar. Is it good for you? Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323047.php. Accessed on 1/03/2019. 

10. NHS Choices. (2016). Are sweeteners safe? Retrieved from https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/are-sweeteners-safe/. Accessed on 1/03/2019.  

11. Web MD. (2018). Is there such a thing as healthy sugar? Retrieved from  https://blogs.webmd.com/food-fitness/20181004/is-there-such-thing-as-healthy-sugar. Accessed on 1/03/2019.  

“Why I Can’t Stop Binge Eating”

“Why I Can’t Stop Binge Eating”

Are you often wondering “why can’t I stop binge eating?” or “how do I stop eating compulsively”.

When go to our head to decide what we “should” eat, (e.g. asking “do I deserve this”, “will this fit into my calorie limit”, “is this good”), rather than eating what’s going to truly satisfy us (e.g. asking ourselves  “am I hungry”, “will this satisfy me”, “will I feel deprived if I don’t eat this”), we create a disconnect between the mind and body, and run into trouble.

When clients first come to me asking “why can’t I stop binge eating”, they want to keep the restriction, but stop the binges. 

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that. 

Physical restriction (e.g. not eating enough) and mental restriction (e.g. placing a moral value on foods) can contribute to binge eating.

It’s often the foods people are actively trying to avoid, like sugar, that they find themselves binge eating on (sugar cravings anyone?). And if restriction is not working for you, then it might be time to look for a different approach.

So, what if I said to you that it was time to ditch all these rules and give yourself unconditional permission to eat whatever you like?  

If you’re thinking…

“ummm, you mean everything like full fat dairy, chips and pastries? But, but, but … what about my health?”

You’re not alone. 

This article will help you to understand “why I can’t stop binge eating”. Also, about how we can incorporate food in your life in a mindful, conscious way, without fear of eating chaotically and feeling out of control around food. 

In order to create a healthy relationship with food one of the most important things is removing the moral value we attach to foods and giving ourselves permission to eat all foods. That’s right. All foods. Without restriction.  

Internationally run self-care retreat, Green Mountain at Fox Run, states really nicely that: “many women aren’t totally sold on the idea that we’re allowed to eat what we want at first, thinking, “That’s exactly what brought me here to begin with.” But they do usually all agree that the alternative approach of restriction and deprivation hasn’t worked so well either.”

Yes, allowing all foods to be consumed may sound scary and downright crazy, especially because diet culture has led us to believe that some foods are “good” and some are “bad”. But it’s important to remember that by becoming an intuitive eater is not about letting go of your health.  

It’s about making all foods normal, so you can enjoy eating all foods in moderation without episodes of binge eating or feeling out of control.  

Having rigid rules around forbidden foods, paradoxically leads to greater restrictions, which then increases the chances of binge eating, leaving you to continue asking “why I can’t stop binge eating”. However, if we remove the food rules and allow all foods (especially previously forbidden ones) in our life the urgency and intensity to eat decreases (1). This phenomenon is called habituation, where repeated exposure to something eventually loses its appeal. Habituation can actually be experienced in other facets of our life. For example, when you buy a new car and first drive it out of the dealership, it’s exciting. But eventually, the novelty of the new car wears off.  

This can also be applied in the context of food. So, for dieters, this means that the more a certain food is restricted, the higher the desire it is to eat because of the lack of exposure to it. If we can give ourselves full permission to eat all foods, then the “eat-this-now-before-you-never-let-yourself-eat-this-again” mentality is likely to dissipate.  

Interestingly, studies show that people who follow food rules generally display perfectionist traits (2). And that makes sense, considering that perfectionism is where a person will place large emphasis on organisation and preciseness, set high personal expectations and be self-critical if personal accomplishments are not met (2).  

So now that we understand why we need to give ourselves unconditional permission to eat, let’s break it down into simple steps of how to actually do it.  

Step 1: Change of mindset: No food is morally better than another 

Food is food! Let’s not label it as “good” or “bad” or demonise calories. This does not mean all food is nutritionally equal, however, it does mean all food is morally equal. Seeing all foods as equal, means your choice to eat a certain thing is not emotionally driven. So that means deciding to eat a cookie is equal to deciding to eat a salad. Neither one of those food choices has a higher moral value. If you want to eat the cookie, eat the cookie. If you want to eat the salad, eat the salad!  

Step 2: Identify your “forbidden” food and practice giving yourself permission to eat it 

Is there a particular food that you’ve previously not allowed yourself to have? It’s likely the food you find yourself bingeing on. Let’s name an example. Say your once “forbidden food” was ice cream. It’s now time to give yourself full permission to allow ice cream back into your life with a huge dose of curiosity. 

For some clients, this is scary. They feel that if they give themselves permission to eat their forbidden food, they may never stop eating it. But keep an open mind, and follow the steps below.

So how do we manage this?  

Firstly, when giving ourselves permission to eat, don’t do it when hungry! Because it’s near impossible to stop eating when you’re biologically hungry. So you could try this 30mins – 1hour after a meal. Also, perhaps try this in an environment where you feel safe, such as at work, in a restaurant, at someone else’s house, before bringing it into the home.  

So, let’s use the ice-cream example. When you desire ice-cream, pause and check in with yourself about what is driving this desire. Are you sad, tired, angry, bored? Is it just convenient to have it?  

Then have a think about the quality of the ice-cream. How will it make you feel afterwards?  

Once you’ve checked in on these things, if you still decide to eat the ice–cream, then do so mindfully. That is, slowing down, getting rid of any distractions and truly tuning in as you take each mouthful. As you take bites, think about the texture, taste and smell. Try to really be in the present moment throughout the whole eating experience. If you tell yourself you’re never going to stop, it can be come a self-fulfilling prophesy. So keep an open mind.

Then once you’ve finished, carry on with your day and don’t give it another thought. A big part of this process is not allowing food to occupy our minds and think about it anymore than we have to.  

Step 3: Make a plan for how you’re going to include the “forbidden foods” back into your life 

Now that you know you can have your ice–cream whenever you choose, plan out when you would like to practice eating mindfully with it. This helps to avoid eating it impulsively. And remember, this is practice and it’s normal to not get it perfect! Some days you may end up eating more of the ice–cream than you would have liked, but that’s perfectly fine! This is about gaining confidence that you can trust your body and discover that no one food has power over you.   

Giving yourself permission is a process. And it takes practice. If there are days where you overeat, instead of being critical, get curious about what was going on that day. The key is not to beat yourself up over it! After all, there are much worse things you could do than eat past the point of comfortable fullness…

If you’re still wondering “why I can’t stop bingeing”, and you’re looking for more information on how to stop food obsession, emotional eating, stress eating, yo-yo dieting, and how to start intuitive eating check out my FREE download. This will guide you through some of the first steps to support you through your food problems. You will learn how to stop food obsession, and how to start intuitive eating. 

References 

  1. Tribole E, Resch E. Intuitive Eating, 3rd ed. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press; 2012 
  2. Brown, A. J., Parman, K. M., Rudat, D. A., & Craighead, L. W. (2012). Disordered eating, perfectionism, and food rules. Eating Behaviors, 13(4), 347-353. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2012.05.011
Hitting Diet Rock Bottom

Hitting Diet Rock Bottom

There will be a time in your life where you will eventually feel that “enough is enough” with trying to lose weight and keep it off long term (dieting).

It could be days, months or years before you get there.

It will most likely be after repeated attempts of dieting or restriction, only to become more and more frustrated with the results.

It will most likely make you feel like you’ve failed the diets (when in actual fact, the diets have failed you).

You will most likely never want to look at a diet again.

This is what we call hitting ‘diet rock bottom’.

It is an important step, because more often than not this is the time when you are truly ready to break up with dieting forever. 

Do you think you’ve hit diet bottom? Let me paint you a picture of what it might look like for some people.  

Meet Emma.  

She’s a hard-working woman in her mid-50s with three children, an adoring husband and dog named Barry.  

The thing about Emma is that she’s always dieted. It started as a young teen when she had to suddenly stop dancing competitively due to injury.   

Without dancing in the picture, she became increasingly worried about her figure so took it upon herself to jump on the scales every day to monitor her weight.

She noticed the numbers increase and started to copy what her always-dieting mother would do at meal times. Emma stopped having toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and potatoes at dinner because “carbs are full of calories” her mother told her.  

And this was the beginning of her relentless pursuit to make those numbers on the scale go down by dieting. 

Throughout her teens and then in her 20s and 30s, Emma followed every diet out there. Each one with the same result – initial weight loss, then weight regain.   

She couldn’t understand why. She would follow the diet’s rules precisely… for days and sometimes weeks. That was, until she would crave the foods that the diet said she couldn’t have. And those cravings would get more severe the longer she kept restricting. Which eventually led to binge eating on the foods that she’d deprived herself from eating.

Then after overeating, she’d feel guilty. She’d hate herself for failing her diet. She’d tell herself she had no willpower. But then she’d pull herself together and promise that the next day would be a clean slate to start the diet again…

And this would be repeated each and every time she was on a diet. 

Now in her mid-50s, the effects of dieting have taken their toll. As a result of yo-yo dieting, Emma is now so preoccupied with food that she’s anxious at meal times and constantly thinking about what she can and can’t have.  

She doesn’t like exercising. 

She eats less food but weighs more than ever before. 

She’s uncomfortable in her body. 

She doesn’t trust her body. 

She feels completely at a loss about what to do around food and can’t stand the thought of going on another diet.  

She has hit diet bottom.  

And this is not Emma’s fault. It is the world of dieting that has failed Emma.  

This scenario is experienced by many of my clients.  

The problem is that we live in a world where it is ideal to be thin. This culture (also called diet culture which you can read more about here) drives us to believe that dieting is the norm and being thin is the key to happiness and success.  

But unfortunately, dieting is the very cause of health issues such as disordered eating, weight gain and decreased psychological health.  

And it’s not until we hit diet bottom that we truly see this.  

When we see this, we can open ourselves up to the alternative to dieting, which is Intuitive Eating – a mindful, evidence-based approach that teaches us how to respond to internal body cues and eat according to our individual needs. Intuitive Eating is the proven method to help people break up with dieting and heal their relationship with food and their bodies. You can read more about it here.

If you feel like you’re at diet bottom, I’d love to hear from you. Or if you’d like to learn more about how we can work together, sign up to receive my free download below!  

How to spot diet culture: unpacking the less obvious diets

How to spot diet culture: unpacking the less obvious diets

At the start of a new year, we’re bombarded with health information. Some people tell us to start this new, exciting, “long-term solution” diet. Others tell us we don’t need to diet. And some tell us that we just need to make small and consistent “lifestyle changes”. All of these messages can make it darn right confusing as to how we can improve our health. 

Research tells us that weight-loss doesn’t work for the majority. Whether it’s jazzed up a ‘lifestyle’ but is still selling weight loss, it’s a diet. Sadly, 80% of people who lose weight regain it (and often more) by 5 years (1).

I’m not here to ruin your fun and I am not anti-weight loss. Rather, I anti-pursuit of weight loss as I have witnessed the miserable side effects of pursuing it – there is also a load of research that have identified these miserable side effects too. 

I therefore, believe it’s important for you to understand whether you are subconsciously wrapped up in a diet. To understand the damaging effects of dieting, and to be able to point out who is selling you a diet, before jumping into the next diet trap. 

So, are you subconsciously wrapped up in a diet? 

Well sadly, diet culture is everywhere. It teaches us that we’re not good enough as we are. That we have to live a life of constant monitoring, controlling our bodies, restricting ourselves, and over exercising. It promises that when we’re thinner, we will fit in, be smarter, happier, more loveable and more worthy. 

We can see how prominent it is when we look at different types of eating personalities.  

Firstly, there is the Careful Eater. This can be someone who thinks they’re not following a specific diet, but instead chooses a certain food because they think it is healthier than something else. 

This person may scrutinise food labels or seek reassurance from a waiter in a restaurant that a meal is prepared exactly as they like it (I.e.: is it grilled rather than fried?). The Careful Eater can spend most of their days thinking about what they’re going to eat and even become a little anxious about it.  

The problem with this type of eating is that while it’s great to make informed food choices, it can adversely affect your relationship with food and your body. If you’re only eating “safe” foods and not really what you care for, it can lead to bingeing episodes later on due to deprivation of what you actually want to eat. 

The second eating personality is the Professional Dieter. As you’d imagine, this person can be easily identified. They’re the ones who are clued up on the latest dieting trends. They can tell you calorie content of most foods. They are then always pursuing another diet after the previous one didn’t work out. They diet and eat for the pursuit of weight loss, rather than health.

It’s not unusual for this person to engage in Last Supper eating (I.e: bingeing on foods that they don’t think they’ll ever be allowed to eat again) and starting their new diet the next day with a “clean slate”.  

The problem with this is that chronic dieting is not an effective or scientifically proven method to lose weight. In fact, it is a surefire way to develop other harmful effects such as disordered eating, slowed metabolism and decreased mental health.  

The final eating personality is the Unconscious Eater. As the name would suggest, this person will eat while being distracted by something else, such as watching television or being on their phone. There are sub–types under this category.  

The Chaotic Unconscious Eater is the busy person whose life is so hectic that they’ll eat anything that’s available at the time. They can go for long stints without eating and whenever they finally do eat, they’re ravenous. They can end up losing the ability to recognise biological hunger signals. 

The Refuse-Not Unconscious Eater is someone who will eat food that’s in sight regardless of hunger and are usually unaware of what or how much they’re eating. Attending cocktail parties or buffet style events can be tough for this group. 

The Waste-Not Unconscious Eater is the person who will not leave anything on their plate to ensure they can get as much value for money as they can. It can be common for this person to eat other people’s leftovers to ensure nothing is wasted.  

The Emotional Unconscious Eater eats food to soothe an emotion, whether it’s sadness, loneliness or frustration. This person often thinks that eating is the problem as opposed to getting to the root cause that’s driving them to eat in the first place. The problem with being any subtype of Unconscious Eater is that it can lead to overeating. A classic example is having a large packet of crisps at your desk while writing a report and before you know it, the packet is empty because you were completely engaged in the report writing, rather than the eating.

It is not anyone’s fault that they have become one or several of these types. This is the effect of living in a society where there is a $66 billion weight loss industry out there profiting from the people who will do anything to pursue their “ideal” body (2). 

And this industry continues to thrive because the same people go back again and again. That’s because the diet or weight loss aid failed them… not because of their lack of willpower as diet culture would have you believe. 

Does any of this sound familiar to you? 

If so, rejecting diets and becoming more of an Intuitive Eater may be best for you. 

An Intuitive Eater is able to make choices based on biological hunger and make food choices without experiencing guilt, or an ethical dilemma. They honour their hunger, respect their fullness and enjoy the pleasures of eating.

How do you spot diet culture? 

Unfortunately, there has been a recent trend of “health professionals” claiming under false pretences to be non-diet. They talk about body positivity and “anti-diet this” and “non–diet that”, which seems legitimate, when in actual fact is not.

Instead, they still push dieting and weight loss. This is a problem, when we know the side effects of any pursuit of weight loss are pretty miserable. 

In order to help shed some light on how to spot diet–culture, I have identified some key phrases. These are notoriously used by these people who are trying to sound like they’re not selling diets, but actually are. 

  • This is a “wellness approach”  
  • “It’s a lifestyle not a diet” 
  • “This food is ‘good’ and this food is ‘bad’” 
  • “You can only have X serving size and amount of meals/snacks/points in one day” 
  • “You can only have X grams of carbs/fat/protein per day” 
  • “You can only eat at certain times of the day” 
  • “Detox your fridge”  
  • “This is a cleanse in a healthy way” 
  • “You only have to eliminate x, y, z foods for 30 days to change your life”  
  • “Let’s work together to shift habits” 
  • “This is all about clean, energising eating” 

So essentially, if it looks like a diet, sounds like a diet and smells like a diet, it’s most likely a diet. And it’s important that we call these people out. The reason being that even if you have the best intentions of stopping dieting, you could still have a little bit of unconscious diet mentality (called Psuedo-dieting). This could make you susceptible to the diet trap.  

But this is not your fault. This is the effect of the insidious diet culture we live in.  

That’s why we need to make sure you can spot diet culture being perpetuated by people cashing in on it. Together, we can call them out, and help the world to see that dieting is not the answer.  

For more on ending dieting and how to start intuitive eating, check out my FREE download. 

References 

  1. Anderson, James W., et al. “Long-term weight-loss maintenance: a meta-analysis of US studies–.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 74.5 (2001): 579-584.
  2. Rothblum, E. D. (2018). Slim chance for permanent weight loss. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 6(1), 63-69. doi:10.1037/arc0000043