5 tips to say NO to Compulsive Eating

Your boss insulted you, and you reach out for that hefty cheese burger; you're buried under an unreasonable pile of work and you gulp down a large mocha; you're scratching your head over repaying credit dues and bingo! Binge upon a spicy pizza or crunchy fries; you’re feeling unworthy or your spouse seldom nurses your bruised heart and a big tub of chocolate ice cream makes its way to your home, that very night. Dreading your current job, procrastinating a project because you’re scared to either fail or succeed or putting off doing the most irksome tasks? Why not wolf down some doughnuts and cupcakes to fill in the emptiness?

Heaven! This has to stop or it could stretch till eternity.

Let's face it, when we're stressed, anxious, hurt or depressed, we crave certain foods or substances. What’s worse is that often, the unhealthiest foods give us the most enchanting highs. Ironically, the “high” we get quickly fizzles out, crashing our high spirits too, in the process. Soon, we start craving the same food or substance in larger quantities, little realizing that we're falling prey to compulsive eating.

Irrespective of how harmless it may seem or sound, compulsive eating is a disorder, which if ignored, has grim consequences if not devastating. No matter how soothing a solution food appears to be for our problem, we can almost always be sure of feeling crappier, a couple of hours after eating. Why? Because now we are sitting with two problems – the initial one along with the guilt of binging on sweets, junk foods etc.

Ofcourse, this is not true for the ones who indulge in such kind of eating occasionally. The focus here is on habitual compulsive eaters, who feel powerless over their food cravings, cannot exercise portion control and often lead a life of secrecy, shame and low self-esteem.

Having struggled with compulsive eating for quite a while in the past, I have found the following tips to be quite effective in recovering from the same.

Quit fighting

Going by what I’ve experienced, anything I try to fight, fights back even harder. So, I have eventually come down to a gentler approach of befriending my cravings. Having a mental conversation with our feelings can sometimes be a surprising solution for our problems.Tell them, “I’ve had a good time indulging into foods you tempted me to indulge into. However you’re no longer serving me positively. Hence, I now choose to let go of you.”

Focus on what you ARE going to eat from now on, rather than saying you will NOT consume a particular food or substance. This way, the mind stays away from the deprivation mentality, therefore remains peaceful. When we’re able to maintain our peace of mind, we’ve already won half the battle since we mostly won’t get cravings.

I have also noticed that when I bless the food I eat (which is praying over the food and feeling appreciation in my heart for the same) I feel full quicker. When we’re fulfilled by what we eat, our unhealthful cravings will eventually sit aside, peacefully.

Accept your emotions

When we’re sad, it is not only okay to accept it, it's healthy. Running away from our feelings and emotions usually escalates the problem and it then catches us at a point where it has become gigantic or beyond repair. 

Being upset is not a license to overeat and abuse our body. Own up to your feelings and deal with the same. Just because you don’t want to deal with the cause of your anxiety, depression or restlessness, does not qualify you to gobble up junk food. And frankly, if we do that, we have no right to complain when our mind generates toxic thoughts and body goes out of shape. It’s acutely unfair to blame our mind and body for the repercussions of our own wrongdoings.

The Magic of Mindful eating

Without any attempt to sound philosophical, I’d say that being aware of the foods we eat, as also the time and way in which we consume the same, determine our food intake up to a large extent. Eating while sitting in front of TV, laptop etc takes our attention away from eating thereby making us eat more. Having our meal in peace sends a signal to the mind that we are eating. Only when the mind gets that signal can it further transmit the message to the stomach of being full.

Also, make a conscious attempt to eat raw salads and fresh fruits as natural foods have an amazing power to curb sugar and caffeine cravings.

Carry snacks

While this tip may sound hard for emotional eaters to follow, it’s worth a try. Being a former emotional eater myself, I’ve actually seen this tip working. Carry snacks like bananas, raisins, apricots, prunes, dates, roasted peanuts, raw nuts like cashews, almonds, walnuts etc, in your bag. Stock them up at home as well. This is a perfect way to substitute our cravings for rich and delicious foods. Indulging in a handful of cashews and raisins or a couple of bananas is way better than reaching out for a pint of ice cream.

Sweat the physical stuff

Exercise. There are no two ways about it. Walking, jogging, cycling, aerobics, swimming, gymming, yoga or whatever works for you. The essential point is to get your body moving.  Personally, I have found staying active the most effective way to reduce or eliminate my tendency to binge. With the release of endorphins, we naturally feel happy and satisfied. Hence, the need to find our joy, fun, peace etc in foods reduces or sometimes vanishes completely.