Binge eating is whereby one consumes a large amount of food than usual. It is a psychological condition that needs a medical professional to design a treatment plan. These conditions make one eat unusually large amounts even when they don’t feel hungry. A sense of shame or guilt is felt later.
Binge eating can lead to weight gain, leading to health conditions like heart disease and diabetes. Some strategies can be used to overcome binge eating with the help of a professional or at home.
Some methods that can be used to overcome binge eating
1. Stay hydrated
An effective way to stop overeating and curb cravings is by taking a lot of water during the day. For calorie intake and hunger issues, a study shows that this can be reduced by increasingly taking water.
Various factors can be considered to determine the amount of water that each person consumes daily. Thus, to ensure that you stay dehydrated, one should drink water when you feel thirsty and listen to the body. When you take more water, you stay full, decreasing calorie intake and preventing binge eating.
2. Take breakfast every day
Binge eating might be reduced by taking a healthy breakfast by preventing eating later during the day. To lower the ghrelin level, the hormone that arouses a sense of hunger, one can introduce a fixed eating pattern.
Eating a few fiber-rich foods, such as vegetables, fruits, or whole grains, with a great amount of protein can prevent overeating. To stay satisfied throughout the morning, eat a protein-rich and fiber-rich breakfast.
3. Ditch the diet
Binge eating habits can be triggered by diets that are very unhealthy. Fasting, abstaining, or eliminating from certain foods is related to a higher risk of binge eating, for it increases overeating and cravings.
One should focus on making a healthy change rather than reducing calorie intake significantly or cutting out the food group entirely. Eat unprocessed food such as vegetables, fruits, and whole grains, moderating your intakes rather than excluding them from your diet completely.
4. Protein intake increase
Foods rich in protein helps control your appetite and keep you feeling full longer. They also lead to significant bodyweight reduction and fat mass. Also, daily calorie intake reduces.
Take Proteins such as eggs, seeds, meat, legumes, or nuts in each meal when you feel hungry to fight cravings. These suppress appetite, reduce calorie consumption, and improve the feeling of fullness.
5. Keep a mood and food journal
To promote healthier eating habits and identify food triggers and potential emotions, one needs to keep track of what you eat and how you feel. Using a journal, you can record what you eat and how you feel.
6. Avoid skipping meals
To overcome binge eating effectively, you can set a regular schedule of eating and stick to it. The risk of overeating can be increased as well as cravings by skipping meals. Eating three meals per day reduces the stimulation of the hunger hormone ghrelin and the level of blood sugar than eating one large meal in a day.
7. Try Yoga
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Yoga practices include specific pose, breathing exercises, and meditation to enhance relaxation and reduce stress, anxiety, and depression both in mind and the body. It can help in reducing the risk of emotional eating and inspire healthy eating habits.
8. Clean out the kitchen
It is much easier to binge eat when you fill your kitchen with junk food or trigger foods. Keep healthy foods and limit the number of unhealthy options, and this will reduce your risk of emotional eating. Food like candies, pre-packaged convenience foods, and chips should be replaced with vegetables, nuts, protein-rich foods, and fruits.
9. Get enough sleep
Appetite and hunger levels are affected by sleep deprivation, and this may lead to binge eating. An average of 8hours per night can help to keep on a check of your appetite and risk of binge eating reduced.
10. Visit the gym
Exercises can assist in preventing binge eating by decreasing stress levels and preventing emotional eating by enhancing mood.
12. Eat more fiber
Fiber keeps you feeling full for its movement during digestion is slow. This reduces appetite, cut cravings, and reduce food intake when taken in large amounts. Fiber keeps you full, thus reducing feeling hungry and reduce calorie intake.
13. Practice mindfulness
Listening and paying attention to how you are feeling in your body is referred to as mindfulness. To improve self-awareness and eating behavior, one can combine cognitive behavioral therapy with mindfulness. Try to enjoy and eat slowly to promote healthy eating behaviors and also listen to your body to recognize when you are not hungry.
14. Find someone to talk to
Talking to reliable persons or peers when you feel like binging may most likely reduce overeating. Social support system reduces the impact of stress, which may help decrease other surviving habits like emotional eating.
15. Meal planning
Prepare nutritious meals, measure the portion sizes, and put away the remainder of the food to help you avoiding binge eating. Reduce the frequency of binge eating by sticking to a regular eating pattern and ensuring that healthy ingredients are inclusive. The diet variety and quality are improved by meal planning.
16. Seek help
The above strategies can be more helpful, but sometimes a professional is needed to design a treatment plan that can help to overwhelm binging. The underlying symptoms and causes can be treated by involving different types of medications or therapy to help in controlling binging.
Some of the therapies that are used to treat binging are: exploring the connection between your feelings, thoughts, and eating patterns; cognitive behavior therapy, and developing strategies that will modify your behavior, interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectical behavioral therapy, and behavioral weight loss therapy.
Some medications though not evaluated for long-term effects, can be used to treat binge. These medications are antiepileptic drugs, antidepressants, and certain stimulants.
In conclusion
with healthy lifestyle modifications and the right treatment plan, it’s possible to overcome binge eating.
Millions of people around the world are affected by binge eating disorder, which is recognized as a psychological condition.
