Binge eating is when someone goes through an episode of extreme over eating. This episode is generally quite brief but the person binging consumes huge amounts of food during the episode. Most people have had some sort of binge eating on occasion but it becomes a serious problem if it is a frequent occurrence. When also accompanied by purging (making oneself vomit), laxative use or other similar behaviors, it has crossed the line to an actual eating disorder.
For those who eat due to emotional reasons and start binge eating, stress management techniques could be very helpful. Many, many people eat due to stress in their lives and stress doesn’t have to be overt. Depression causes stress, relationship problems cause stress, even overeating itself can cause stress. That’s why for so many who find themselves binge eating, stress management can make a world of difference.
Particularly for binge eating, stress management will start with identifying what is causing the stress. One way of identifying the stressors that trigger binge eating is to keep a food diary for a week to a month. Jot down everything you eat, along with the time, and what you are feeling when you eat. This will enable you to look back and spot the danger signals of an episode of binge eating. Stress management can then be tailored to help find alternative ways to reduce stress other than eating.
Once you’ve identified what is stressing you out to the point of binge eating, stress management techniques can offer a new way to handle the stress. Techniques such as meditation, deep breathing, and exercise can help you avoid binge eating and discover new ways to relax. Naturally, the first thing is to try to eliminate as much stress as possible.
Eliminating stress isn’t always possible but you can replace the binge eating with other activities that are healthier. Meditation is very effective at relieving stress and can also help you get in touch with your spiritual side. Part of meditation involves learning how to clear your mind of all the negative thoughts and harmful energies. When you get good at this, it can eliminate the need to eat in order to feel better.
Deep breathing stems from a yoga practice and is a good way to help yourself relax and clear your mind. As a matter of fact, that can help you get into the meditative state but deep breathing can also be practiced by itself as a relaxation technique. One way to do this is to take a deep breath and imagine that you’re pulling the air through your toes and up through your entire body, then exhale slowly. Do this ten times and your whole body will feel more relaxed.
Exercise is always a good stress management technique. Not only does exercise release endorphins, the ?feel good? hormones, but it also helps to tone muscle and lose weight. As time goes on, you start seeing and feeling the results which gives you encouragement to continue and lowers the desire for binge eating. Stress management comes from the good feelings at the time of the exercise and continues on when you see the welcome effects.
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