The urge to overeat is called binge eating and it can be overwhelming. The first few bites are guaranteed to feel good but the regret and guilt will follow instantaneously. There are many binge eaters here in Singapore. It is time that we pay attention to this eating disorder and understand it to help those who are struggling from such.
The good thing is that we can ask for the help of professionals. There are many professionals here in Singapore that can help us but they tend to entail cost. Getting through this disorder is easier with the help of many people, right? However, if we want to explore other possibilities (aside from medical or psychological treatments) on our own, we should start by disciplining ourselves. We can consider the followings in curbing our binge eating:
- Follow a meal plan: It is important that we strictly follow a regular meal plan. It should be regular meaning consistent. We have to remember that food restrictions or under eating in an attempt to lose weight or making up for a binge often pushes people to feel hungry thereby overeating or binge.
- Concentrate on health not weight: People who are trying to avoid binge eating only see losing weight as their goal not being healthy. That is not quite right. If losing extra pounds is only our goal, we will just get stuck in bingeing cycle. We have to concentrate on its effect to our overall health so our actions will be long-term.
- Lean our triggers: We have to learn our triggers so we can curb it before it actually happens. We need to discover our urges to binge from our feelings, interactions, moods and relationships. This is where professionals come in. A therapist can help by identifying our triggers.
- Remove temptation: Naturally, if we want to keep away from binge eating, the most basic thing to do is remove the temptation. Why should we keep finds that we like to binge on? It will only tempt us and it is difficult to challenge a temptation and not all people are successful to get out of its claws in time.
- Explore other things to do: According to researchers, people who binge eat have underlying depression. Eating is their way of getting pleasure and feeling good. If this is the case, we have to look for other non-food sources of inclinations – perhaps badminton or painting. For improving mood, the most powerful treatment is doing more physical activity.
- Change our mindset: Everything mentioned above will be wasted if we do not change our mindset. We have to keep silent and focus on our inner voice. If we notice the urge, we have come to our senses and change gears right away.
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