How an Eating Disorder Can Affect 5 Main Areas of Your Wellness & Tips for Binge Eating Help
Struggling with binge eating is rough. I know. I was stuck in it like a saber toothed tiger in a La Brea tar pit in Los Angeles, California. What we often don’t realize is how binge eating affects all areas of wellness. Whether you live in NYC or Atlanta, or Denver or Chicago, feeling sucked down by the black pits of the binge eating cycle and shame spiral sends you into despair. How to get out of it? First, identify the areas of wellness bingeing food hits. Second, do something to change the negative effects.
Area of Wellness #1: Sleep
Individuals commonly binge between 3p until the time they go to sleep. I would say the majority of adults do so after dinner. I’ve heard so many stories of people waiting until the kids go to bed before they break out the food and watch Netflix or reality TV (yes, I’m a Bravo fan. 😉). What ends up happening is that bedtime gets pushed back later and later until folks become seriously sleep deprived. When we are sleep deprived, our cortisol levels raise and (guess what) we need more food to help us make up for the lost sleep. I remember in college during finals week the parents would send us care packages with lots of quick glucose energy boosts (re: candy) to keep us going. That was fine because it was a short period of time. If this pattern of sleep deprivation continues over many months or even years, it can seriously affect your health.
Takeaway Tip: Assess your sleep. Identify the amount of time you really need to get a good night’s rest. If you’re not getting it, prioritize it. Schedule it. Set alerts. Get accountability from your partner, best friend, family member. It’ll make a huge difference in your recovery.
Area of Wellness #2: Hygiene
Hygiene is vital for mental and physical health. It is also (weirdly enough) not typically discussed when folks address wellness. Yet when licensed eating disorder therapists and binge eating coaches like me consider how an individual is coping with life, hygiene is something we assess. When people get caught in the binge eating cycle, day after day, they can neglect pretty big parts of their lives, especially when it comes to their bodies. It’s in part because binge eating disorder often coincides with negative body image, and sometimes it’s difficult to look at your naked body when you take a bath or a shower. Another barrier to regular bathing can be depression and lack of motivation. Struggling with binge eating is stressful, and it it challenging to motivate yourself to take care of your body when you feel so overwhelmed.
Takeaway Tip: Use an app like Streaks or Habitica to built a daily habit of taking showers or baths. Do it for 30 days, and it’ll become a no-brainer. Also, if you don’t feel like bathing, use the dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skill of opposite action. It means that no matter what you’re feeling (like not bathing), do the exact opposite of it (bathing).
Area of Wellness #3: Relationships & Binge Eating Help
With any disordered eating behaviors, it’s easy to slip into isolation. With my eating disorder therapy clients, I find out the degree to which they are interacting with friends. If they are deep into the binge eating cycle, it’s likely that they aren’t spending much time in their relationships. That’s why scheduling friend time at least once per week (preferrably more; you can begin with one) is vital. Why? It’s because researchers have shown time and time again the importance of social interaction to our physical and mental health. This world can be tough. it’s essential to connect with other people so that we feel less alone.
Takeaway Tip: Not sure where to begin in connecting with other people? Start small, like scheduling a coffee date or even a phone call. Then graduate to doing other things, like lunch, mani/pedis, time in a park, etc. Looking to expand your friend network? Join an online eating disorder support group. There may also be an in person one close by.
Area of Wellness #4: Nourishment
Yes, I know that you are binge eating and you may feel as though you’re getting enough food. The question is, are you NOURISHED? Being nourished means that you feel satiated when you eat. It also means that you’re covering all food bases so that you can have plenty of energy throughout the day. There’s typically an assumption that when people binge eat, they are getting too much food in their system and therefore need to eat less. That’s often not the case. If you are binge eating, you are most likely restricting. It could mean that you’re not eating certain categories or foods, it could mean that you have cut back in calories during certain parts of the day (typically mornings to mid-afternoons), or it could mean that you’re fasting (either intentionally or unintentionally for a part of the day. What that does is build up a glucose deficit so that by the time you do eat, you eat a lot. Which of course you do. It’s like trying to stop a bullet train. Your body is really good at surviving, so it’ll make up the caloric or nutritional deficit.
Takeaway Tip: Eat regularly throughout the day. Begin by eating breakfast within one hour of waking. You’ll boost blood sugar, improve mood, increase energy, and feel more settled in your body.
Area of Wellness #5: Intellectual engagement
I never considered intellectual engagement as part of wellness until my friend Olga from Olga’s Wellness brought it up during our Instagram Live. I then realized that YES, activating the brain in a positive way can be a HUGE component of our well being. I get that naturally through my online binge eating coaching programs, plus my interactive binge eating recovery course. Bringing the research about how best to recover from binge eating to people who are really struggling fulfills me greatly. Whether it’s engaging with an online binge eating recovery course, going to a museum in Chicago, learning how to ice skate in NYC, or connecting with people mindfully in San Diego, engaging your intellect will prevent boredom and create new neuropathways in your brain. You literally transform your brain by learning things and practicing new skills! That’s pretty badass.
Takeaway Tip: Begin by picking one thing you can do to engage your intellect. It may be reading a biography, learning to crochet, or even doing a deep dive into the Star Wars Universe. Whatever it is, choose something in which you’re really interested so that you feel fulfilled and happy while you’re doing it.
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*The INEVITABLE BINGE EATING RECOVERY COURSE is online binge eating education and private virtual group support via a Facebook Group. The aim of this course is to help people reduce and eliminate any type of distressed eating, such as binge eating or binge/purge behaviors via education, behavioral changes, and mindset shifts. The INEVITABLE BINGE EATING RECOVERY COURSE is not a clinical eating disorder therapy or eating disorder treatment programs and is not intended to serve as such. In them, Dr. Marianne Miller works from her role as a binge-eating coach, not as a binge-eating therapist.
**The ELITE BINGE EATING RECOVERY METHOD is virtual binge eating education and LIVE virtual coaching support. The goal of this program is to help people stop any type of distressed eating, such as binge eating or binge/purge behaviors via education, behavioral changes, and mindset shifts. The ELITE BINGE EATING RECOVERY METHOD is not a clinical eating disorder therapy or eating disorder treatment programs and is not intended to serve as such. In them, Dr. Marianne Miller works from her role as a binge-eating coach, not as a binge-eating therapist.