How to Stop Binge Eating in 25 Helpful Ways

Around 1.25 million people in the UK have an eating disorder. This is why lots of people are currently searching for ways on how to stop binge eating.

Many reasons can cause you to start binge eating. It could be out of boredom, depression, or even stress and temptation. Binging on foods that you crave will not make you feel any better in the end.

It will just leave you frustrated and depressed as well. This article will aid you with the tips and skills you need to stop binge eating.

What is Binge Eating?

It’s a condition characterized by individuals eating abnormally increased food intake in short periods. Binge eating behaviour is one of the most common eating disorders in today’s world.

It may cause other mental or physical problems or serve as an addiction to food. To understand the answer to what is binge eating, one must first understand what type of eating behaviour it is.

Binge eating is a severe and complex eating disorder. It is a condition in which a person loses control of their eating, and eating becomes the focus of their life.

Symptoms of Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating is one of the most prevalent eating disorders globally, but awareness about it remains sparse. One of the main reasons for this is that it’s challenging to recognize the symptoms.

Some of the major symptoms are;

1. Feeling out of control while eating
2. Losing track of time while eating
3. Eating more rapidly than normal
4. Similarly, another symptom is eating large quantities of food when not feeling physically hungry.
5. Eating alone because of embarrassment over how much you are eating.
6. Feeling depressed, guilty, or disgusted with yourself after overeating and a binge episode.

Effects of Binge Eating

Binge eating disorder (BED) is a complicated issue. The effects of binge eating are profound and deeply personal to the sufferer.

Binge eating is a condition where you feel compelled to eat a large amount of food in a short period. The feelings, causes, and behaviour associated with it can be different for each individual.

The binge eater usually eats fast and does not chew the food enough. The results can be dangerous to your health. Eating large amounts of food without controlling it can affect your heart, liver, kidneys, and other body functions.

Binge eaters usually face profound health implications in both the short and long term. One of the reasons is that it leads to severe obesity and cardiovascular diseases.

Some of the effects are;

1. Binge eating increases the risk of diabetes
2. The effects create psychological problems
3. Binge eaters have higher cholesterol levels
4. Binge eating can cause nausea, tooth cavities and gum disease.

25 Helpful Ways on How to Stop Binge Eating

Binge eating is, without a doubt, one of the most challenging problems to deal with. Whether you are a woman, man, young adult, or child, there is a way out. If you want to change your life, I will share some tips that can help you eliminate binge eating.

1. Analyze Why You Binge

The main reasons people binge are when they are in a time of great stress or emotional upheaval, feeling like they want to numb or celebrating.

Determine what is causing you to feel like binging. Get rid of your emotional triggers, and make changes to your life to reduce the stress and improve your overall well-being.

Get enough sleep

2. Avoid Eating When You Are Tired or Stressed

The most important thing you need to remember to cure binge eating disorder is to avoid eating when you are tired or stressed. When you are stressed out, the chances of eating disorders increases by almost 15%.

3. Do Some Sort of Exercise or Yoga

Indulging in physical activities has been scientifically studied to improve mental health and boost social interaction. This is specifically helpful for individuals with binge eating disorders. It reduces stress in these individuals and increases their self-esteem.

4. Don’t Skip Meals

Skipping meals in your BED recovery causes the body to go into starvation mode. This makes it more difficult to control cravings and lose weight.

5. Track Your Binge Eating Time

Track the times you feel most likely to overeat and strategize to head off the feeling whenever it shows up.

6. Eat Before you Start Craving Food

Eat a small amount before you have urges to binge so that you won’t binge.

7. Keep Healthy Snacks Readily Available

It is pretty standard for individuals suffering from binge eating disorders to prepared large quantities of unhealthy food before binging. The storing of unhealthy food in the refrigerator can disrupt a healthy lifestyle. Keeping these items out of sight will eliminate this problem.

8. Have a Stern Conversation With Yourself

One of the best ways to stop binge eating is by sitting down with yourself and having a stern discussion with yourself. The conversation should be about your future and what it could hold if you continue on this path.

9. Determine Your Triggers

Binge eating can be very hard to detect. Often the only person that knows you have a binge eating problem is you. That’s why determining your triggers and warning signs will help you keep it under control. Find out what makes you binge and tackle the issue from the root.

10. Start With Small Goals

If you are looking to stop binge eating, small goals can help you get your life back on track. Focus on the small goals, and don’t think about it as stopping binge eating forever.

11. Set a Budget for Food

If your budget for food, it is easier to control what you eat and stop binge eating. Once can make budgeting for food, then you can stop eating so much junk and get healthier. Setting up a budget for food starts with tracking your food choices and calories in vs calories out each day.

12. Get Active

In order to stop binge eating, you must be physically active. When a person is trying to lose weight, they often turn to exercise in order to burn off extra calories. Getting active doesn’t always mean indulging in exercise. It involves indulging in other activities to keep you occupied.

13. Develop a Routine Before Going to Bed.

Develop a routine before going to bed to stop binge eating and it can change your life. By creating a healthy routine before bedtime, every night, you are setting yourself up for success. It distracts you from food and keeps your mind occupied.

14. Try Eating at the Dinner Table

Eating at the dinner table is one way that can help you stop binge eating.  Sometimes, eating mindlessly in front of a television or computer can have negative effects on your self-esteem and on your health. Eating at the dinner table with your family helps to foster good eating habits in everyone.

15. Eat at the Times you Have Previously Binged

If you want to stop binge eating at night, then focus on eating at the times you normally do. By doing this, you’ll be able to significantly reduce the number of binges you have every week.

16. Drink a Lot of Water

If you are someone who can’t stop binge eating them try drinking a lot of water. You will find that drinking water will help you feel full and help your body flush out everything that it doesn’t need.

17. Add a Lot of Fibre to Your Diet

Fibre is known to decrease your food intake and make you feel fuller for more extended periods. Eating the right kind of fibre can curb your appetite, which is often the cause of binge eating.

When you introduce fibre to your diet, it increases the bulk of your food that takes longer to digest. This means that you feel full for longer and you eat less.

18. Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating is a practice that involves slowly and methodically paying attention to your food as you eat. For some people, mindful eating is just another way of learning to eat healthier.

However, for others, it can be the difference between binge-eating and making progress towards their goals. Research has shown the value of mindfulness-based eating as one of the training for the treatment of binge eating disorder.

19. Enroll in a Gym

Working out at the gym might be an excellent strategy for reversing the binge eating cycle. It works by substituting it with a different behaviour pattern. Getting enrolled in a gym means you will have a structure for getting fit and staying fit.

20. Do Not Skip Breakfast

Breakfast is the most important meal of the days, yes it true. You may be skipping breakfast because you want to control your weight. On the other side, skipping meals can lead to aggravated binge eating.

21. Increase Protein Intake

The solution to binge eating is to keep your blood sugar balanced and steady. This happens by consuming plenty of lean protein throughout the day. Proteins help regulate your blood sugar levels, which will help your cravings for unhealthy carbohydrate-rich foods subside over time.

22. Learn to Manage Stress

Stress can lead to binge eating, and binge eating can lead to stress. The two are inextricably linked. Reducing your stress levels is one simple way of reducing binge eating. A few small changes in your behaviour can lead to a more relaxed, stress-free life.

23. Join a Support Group

If you’re trying to stop binge eating, why not join a support group? There are groups that are online only.  You may also find some that are in your local area. Either way, you’ll find people who want to help you learn ways to stop binge eating. They will be more than willing to get involved and it will help you feel less lonely while you’re giving up the habit.

24. Chew Slowly

When bingeing on food a lot of the food is in your stomach before it has had time to make its way around your mouth and stimulate those taste buds. Your brain receives a message that you’re full much sooner than when you are chewing slowly.

25. Get Professional or Medical Help

If you’re an individual who has been struggling with a binge eating disorder, then it would be a good idea to seek professional help. Binge eating disorder may not cause long-term damage, but the emotional toll and the suffering that this disease causes, make it worth considering.

If people understand their illness and have someone they can talk to about that particular issue then they will be in a much better place to overcome this disorder.

Ways to Treat Eating Disorders

Some good ways to treat eating disorders are; family therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectical behavioural therapy treatments.

The way you can treat these types of disorders depends on the kind of disorder. However, there are three essential tips to guide you to success in treating binge eating disorders.

1. Find out how to stop binge eating- Do this by following up on the above tips on stopping binge eating.
2. Don’t make excuses for your actions
3. Try reading up on nutrition

Finally, binge eating is a severe condition that might require medical attention.

Learning how to stop binge eating is a great way to start recovering from this disorder. However, if there is no improvement after adopting the practical tips above, seek medical help.