Conquer Bingeing

I am a night-time binger. When all the world’s dark, and the doors are closed, and there’s no one to watch, I stuff my face. Chocolates, cheese, crackers, pastries, noodles, biscuits… anything that’s in the kitchen is fair game. It’s a miracle I’m don’t weigh two hundred pounds.

I’ve tried enough solutions to bingeing to authoritatively tell you from experience that the following methods work. The secret to controlling bingeing is to realise that you will be tempted very often, and to create a situation where even if you give in, you are relatively protected.

1. Clear your fridge

It may be painful to clear out your fridge initially, since there are probably lots of chocolates and other delicious snacks you’ll have to throw out. Make it easy on yourself by looking at the stuff you throw away not as money or food down the drain, but fat in your body that hasn’t actually entered your body yet. Don’t you wish you could pinch an inch off your waist and just throw it away? Well, here’s you chance. It’s all still in the fridge instead of your waist.

An alternative is to give the snacks away to friends or neighbours. Make sure you give these to someone who is either completely selfish or utterly clueless, so that they won’t have the courtesy to return the favour and give you snacks too, which will bring you back to square one.

2. Stock up on healthy snacks

You are allowed to keep some snacks in your fridge, of course. Life has to go on, right? Just keep only healthy snacks there. Any kind of raw fruit or vegetable counts as a healthy snack, even bananas. Although some people say bananas are high in fat, the point is that after eating a few bananas, you will be too full to eat anything else. This makes it a safe binge food.

Other relatively safe foods are pretzels, hard boiled sweets, biscuits made wiith flour rather than butter, dried seaweed, and plain yoghurt. Essentially anything that’s low in calories but takes time to chew will help you to contain the aftermath of the binge.

3. Drink something

If you can drink without snacking at the same time, then this is a good option. A tasty drink made of malt or milk can soothe your sweet tooth while going easy on your digestive system. You may prefer a glass of wine or a mug of beer. The ideal drink though, is one without any caloric content. Herbal teas are best since they also don’t have caffeine and won’t keep you up late at night so you have even more time to be tempted to binge.

Sip on the drink for as long as you can. I like to make a pot of hot herbal or green tea, since I have to wait for each cup that I pour out to cool before drinking it. If you can last ten to fifteen minutes on just drinking, often the urge to snack would have passed by then.

4. Brush your teeth

This works surprisingly well. When your mouth feels clean and fresh, some part of us wants to keep it that way and will resist putting food into it to dirty it again. If you’re in the habit of brushing your teeth before your sleep (which you should be), then brushing will also send a signal to your brain that it’s bedtime and not dinner time.

Go the whole hog and floss, brush and gargle with a mint-based rinse every time the urge to binge comes on. You’ll feel so refreshed and well-groomed that you’ll remember how gorgeous and attractive you are. We tend to eat less when we feel attractive.

5. Stand on the scale

If all else fails, then drastic measures are called for. It’s easier to binge when we’re in denial (”one little chocolate won’t make much difference”) and much harder when the number on the scale reminds us that we’ve already eaten a hundred chocolates too many.

You may want to announce to whoever is at home what your weight is, or call a friend if you live alone. Voicing out your weight will give it more reality, and make it a real force to reckon with. It’s going to be that chocolate on one side of the ring, and that number on the other. Without the number, it’s a walkover for the chocolate. At least this way, you have a fighting chance.

6. Visualise the body you want

This is probably the most effective long-term measure. Find a picture of your ideal body. Sports magazines may be a good place to start. Paste this picture on your fridge or wherever you usually are when the urge to binge seizes you. Look at it as often as you can, several times a day if possible.

What you’re doing is programming your mind to make that picture a reality. The subconscious mind is very obedient and will strive to achieve whatever image you give it. Once it has registered that its job is to give you that body, it will start to filter out information that does not achieve that aim, and focus on information that does. You’ll start to find, miraculously, that the apple actually looks more delicious than the chocolate bar. This is serious science, in case you think I’m pulling your leg.

I still binge now and then, but it’s under control. Your body has something like a thermostat or set point when it comes to weight. The occasional binge is alright since the weight that you put on will be quickly lost again as the body adjusts back to its set point. It’s uncontrolled and regular bingeing that does the damage since over time the constant net intake of food causes your body to register a higher set point.

Now excuse me, I have to go look for some chocolate. I mean, an apple.

This post was featured in the Weight Management and Fitness Forum.