Binging is horrible. I know a particular woman in Paris who is a fiber artist that binges uncontrollably. It's ruining her relationship with her husband and children. She'll eat like 15 clementines, 6 banannas or apples, an entire kilo of salad, and think it is "healthy" but it isn't. She does not purge. She is very, very large by Parisian standards and on the larger end of US standards.

You need to stop this behavior now.

OP I have been on a dietary change journey this last year or so, going through stages of letting go of unhealthy eating habits.

What’s really worked for me is keeping nearly all refined sugar and ultra processed food products out of the house. That eliminates most of the foods that are hyper palatable and encourage bingeing behavior. I have some raw unfiltered honey in the house and use that sparingly and I allow myself (but don’t always use it) a single portion of very dark (70%+) chocolate per day. Sweet treats these days are mostly fresh berries or other fruits in whole form.

I also cut way back on meat and dairy consumption - I still use some cream and Parmesan cheese and sour cream in sauces but not large quantities compared to prior consumption habits. Saturated fats also inclined me to binge and they are linked to insulin resistance so I cut back on them.

My diet is very focused on consuming the RDA or higher of fiber every single day from whole food, not supplements. Getting that much fiber means lots of whole grains, beans, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds. These foods feed healthy gut bacteria which in turn creates short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that cannot be gotten in any other way, only from having healthy gut bacteria and feeding them the food they need - FIBER.

Sugar, emulsifiers, saturated fats feed a whole different set of gut bacteria - bad ones which don’t make SCFAs and which instead over time can cause leaky gut and many other issues most importantly metabolic disorder.

It helps to think of your body like a precision engineered luxury automobile. Would you pour sugar in the tank if such a machine? Would you pour in so much extra gas that it spilled out all over the paint job? Would you throw gunk and grime into the works? No, you would give it the very highest quality fuels in just the right amount. That’s the best way to think about a healthier relationship with food. Or at least that’s helping me.

I still want my food to be delicious and I’m learning how to do that with healthy whole food recipes. Today I made whole grain penne with sautéed asparagus and homemade sundried tomato pesto sauce topped with Parmesan and toasted pine nuts.

I think this is probably because you're dieting too hard.

I am very good at being careful about what I eat, and like to excercise, but was always frustrated because as I've aged, weight loss has gone slower and slower, I would have days and days of fantastic eating and then would binge and it would all come back.

Then I got on Noom and actually started tracking how much activity I was doing and what I was eating. I was right that I was eating pretty healthy—it wasn't hard for me to work out a 1500-1600 calorie a day diet, but what I didn't realize until I saw it charted out on the app, is that as a large man, and one who is quite active, I was actually coming in TOO LOW.

My body was hanging onto fat because my intake was too low, my activity was causing cravings and when I indulged them my body would store it all away as fat.

I had heard the theory and didn't really believe it, but when out of frustration I gave it a shot and started adding a small bowl of ice cream at the end of the day, which brought my daily calorie intake up by several hundred, but still kept it at the low end of an appropriate weight loss range (even without activity) the weight started dropping.

I'm not actually an ice cream fan, so I started giving myself late night snacks of protein that I like, like grilled chicken or eggs. It's going well.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Eating disorder therapist here. Binging is usually a symptom of restriction. Become interested in your eating habits and look for patterns, cause/effect, etc. One of the most important things you can do is to regulate your eating (3 meals, 3 snacks a day at regular intervals). When I am treating a patient with binge eating disorder I used CBT-E, which is the gold standard for adult eating disorder treatment. Also consider reading Overcoming Binge Eating by Fairburn

NP. How does one find an eating disorder therapist? Especially one who does CBT-E? I've tried two therapists that had eating disorders listed as a specialty but the one focused on intuitive eating, which didn't really work for me (and was mostly just filling out worksheets) and the other was a bit too something (meek? hip?). Like a PP I am also in my 50s with a history of binging (but not bulimia or purging).

Hi- sorry for delay. I'm the ED therapist.

If you want eating disorder treatment, I'd find a therapist who works at a practice that focuses on that specific work. Many therapists may list eating disorders on the list of things they treat, but you need very specific training and understanding of treatment protocols to successfully l delivery this kind of therapy. I'm not from the DC area so I can't recommend a local practice, but I'd ask potential therapists if they have training in CBT-E. I'd also recommend reading Overcoming Binge Eating by Fairborn.

I have a tendency to binge too. I also have had a pattern of "Well, I gained 3 lbs so it's gone to shit so I can just binge now because I'm a total failure."

This is what has been working for me since I lost 60 lbs about two years ago. I eat a good amount of protein with every meal. I do not restrict veggies or fruits at all. I need to feel full after I eat so if that means I eat a big bowl of cherries at lunch, that's fine. It makes me feel like I haven't restricted too much which means I can eat a sensible meal later on. I eat out on the weekend and while I don't go crazy I allow myself a cheat day.

It happens to me when I'm dieting when I've restricted too much and I'm overtired. Sometimes it cured by a good night sleep.

Also, artificial sweeteners like Diet Coke make me overeat