Besides being a problem when it comes to losing weight, binge eating can be a an addictive behavior with damaging physical, psychological and social consequences. What is involved in learning how to stop binge eating? Because it is often associated with addictive behavior, it tends to be treated in a psycho-therapeutic manner rather than through the use of pharmaceutical medications. For that reason, natural remedies are often used as a means of boosting positive behavior which will lead to success.
Be sure that you are following the advice and treatment program of a mental health or health care professional if you are seeking relief from a binge eating addiction. These remedies are not all inclusive cures, but aids for overcoming your addiction.
How to Stop Binge Eating: 15 Steps and Ideas
1. Control Your Environment
Learning how to control your environment is one of the first steps in how to stop binge eating. Controlling your environment involved a combination of several factors that help take your focus off of your addiction and turn it toward healthier behaviors.
What to do:
- Having certain foods that tempt you to binge readily available is counterproductive to your goal.
- Isolating yourself from family members and friends tends to make you more likely to seek comfort from binge foods.
- Being physically active and joining exercise classes can also draw you out of your isolation as well as take your mind off of binging.
2. Eat Breakfast
A major element in learning how to stop binge eating is as simple as eating breakfast. Studies indicate that those who take in a good breakfast with lots of nutrients tend to avoid eating breakfast. Meanwhile, those who are most often inclined toward binging skip breakfast.
What to do:
- Load up on nutrients from vegetable juices.
- Have plenty of proteins in you morning breakfast.
- Add some whole grains and some nuts and/or berries.
- Don’t worry about calories at breakfast, because you are more likely to burn them off throughout the day. But that doesn’t mean loading up on processed sugars, syrups and sugary cereals.
3. Nutritional Balance
Your body requires a wide variety of nutrients in order to function properly. When it doesn’t have those nutrients, you start to get cravings. 99% of the time binge eaters misunderstand those cravings and simply load up on food. Maintaining nutritional balance is an important aspect of how to stop binge eating.
What to do:
- Your doctor or dietitian can help you plan out meals and snacks that provide the most nutritional value.
- Stick to the dietary program they give you, and you will eliminate most cravings.
4. Coping Tools
When it comes to addictive behaviors, one of the most difficult processes is learning to cope with triggers and cravings. Coping tools are essential in the process of learning how to stop binge eating.
What to do:
- Don’t be too critical of yourself.
- Identify and be prepared for situations which tend to trigger addictive behavior.
- Look to positive role models for support and encouragement.
- Identify and utilize a trusted friend with whom you can be accountable, but who will not enable your behavior.
- Learn new and healthy ways to reduce stress and anxiety.
- Learn to journal your feelings and use that as an outlet for triggers and cravings.
5. Do Not Do Diets
One of the most beneficial pieces of advice for how to stop binge eating is to stop dieting. Most diets tend to have you obsessing over calories, what foods you can have, what foods you can’t have, when to eat them, how to eat them. Essentially, by focusing on food, you set yourself up for failure.
What to do:
- Recognize that you are striving for a lifestyle change and not following a diet plan.
- Focus on the positive, uplifting parts of your life rather than on your problem.
- Look to food for nourishment rather than comfort. Intuitive eating is a plan which many therapists advocate.
6. Stress Reduction
Stress and anxiety are major contributors to binge eating because they tend to be triggers. Not surprisingly, stress reduction is a major step toward how to stop binge eating. Binge foods are usually comfort foods and comfort foods tend to be used to reduce stress and anxiety.
What to do:
- Many of the coping tools listed above are specifically designed to help reduce stress.
- Find alternative relaxation techniques and have them readily available at all times.
7. Mindful Meditation
One type of stress reduction which is helpful is a technique called mindful meditation and it is very beneficial when it comes to how to stop binge eating. Mindful meditation refocuses your thoughts on something besides the trigger or the craving and helps lead you away from the binging temptation.
What to do:
- Breathing and counting techniques are often effective.
- Prayer and acts of faith tend to help pull your focus in a more positive direction. Plus, they work well as motivational factors, when you feel confused or sad.
- Some have had some success with yoga as well.
8. Seynani
Often used to curb cravings for sweet foods, seynani is often utilized as a weight loss aid. Seynani is a natural substance which tends to safely and temporarily block your tongue’s ability to taste sweetness. If cravings for sweet things tend to drive your binging, then seynani is an excellent tool to use in how to stop binge eating.
What to do:
- Purchase already prepared seynani and spray it on your tongue when you have cravings.
- Use seynani to allow you to have a taste of your favorite sweets. But limit how much you allow yourself to have.
9. Glucomannan
Another tool you can utilize in how to stop binge eating is glucomannan. Glucomannan helps make you feel fuller for a long period of time and makes cravings less likely. It is made from konjac, aka elephant yam and is a natural, water-soluble dietary fiber extract. It helps people feel more satisfied from eating a regular meal.
What to do:
- Purchase and make use of glucomannan (as directed) to help suppress your appetite and prevent binge eating.
10. Black Cohosh
More commonly associated with menopause regulation, a popular appetite suppressant among herbalists is black cohosh. Black cohosh helps balance mood through effecting serotonin receptors. Studies have shown that this herbal supplement is highly effective in its role of how to stop binge eating
What to do:
- Take 20 to 40 mg of black cohosh herbal supplement twice daily as directed by a health care professional.
11. L-Glutamine
Another tool for how to stop binge eating is an amino acid called l-glutamine. This amino acid supplement helps to increase levels of glutamate in your body and helps to eliminate sugar and alcohol cravings. It has been used mostly in the treatment of alcohol abuse since the 1950s, but is also effective for fighting sugar cravings.
What to do:
- Typical l-glutamine dosage is 500 mg three times a day.
- Only use this on the advice and under the direction of a health care professional.
12. Saffron
A potent little spice that might be in your spice rack is a secret ingredient in how to stop binge eating. That spice is saffron, which is most often used when cooking seafood, risottos, stews and tomato based sauces. Saffron has positive mood regulation effects by increasing endorphin and serotonin levels. This mood improvement often helps you turn away from moody binge eating.
What to do:
- Saffron supplements are available in dosages of 30 mg daily.
- You can make saffron tea and consume it to help improve mood.
- Add saffron to your cooking if you don’t already use it.
13. Spice It Up
Believe it or not adding more spice to your cooking is also beneficial in learning how to stop binge eating. A number of common spices in your spice rack help to modulate metabolic activities to suppress cravings, but they also normalize glucose levels and tend to reduce your appetite for sweets as well.
What to do:
- Add cayenne pepper, black pepper, curry, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom to soups, stews and salads.
- You can also add them into dips, smoothies or juices.
- Several of these are found in chai tea and other spiced herbal teas.
14. Peppermint Oil
A surprising remedy for how to stop binge eating is peppermint oil. Research has proven that peppermint stimulates the brain’s satiety center, which helps curb cravings and suppresses appetite. In addition, peppermint aids in digestion so that your body gets the most out of the nutrients you put in it.
What to do:
- Peppermint oil in a diffuser can help curb appetite.
- Drinking 3 drops of peppermint oil in a glass of water before meals can also be used.
- Peppermint tea is also a great choice which has a pretty satisfying flavor all its own.
15. Stress Busting Essential Oil Blend
Since fighting stress tends to be a major factor in how to stop binge eating, making use of a blend of essential oils designed to fight stress certainly can’t hurt. This oil blend is highly effective at reducing nervous tension and anxiety and promoting relaxation.
What to do:
- In 2 Tbsp of coconut oil, blend 40 drops each of copaiba, lime and vanilla essential oils.
- Add in 20 drops each of lavender and cedarwood oils and a few drops of cinnamon bark oil.
- Massage a drop into each of your wrists and couple drops on the back of your neck to help relieve stress.
Wrapping Up
Because binge eating is an addictive behavior, utilizing only one or two of the remedies listed above is probably not going to bring the results you need or desire. For learning how to stop binge eating, you really need to be engaged in a psycho-therapeutic program which targets all of the various aspects of the problem.
Our remedies are meant to help supplement those treatments or give you a boost if you are a borderline binge eater. Please leave questions, comments and success stories in the section below.
Images: depositphotos.com & pixabay.com.