How to overcome the urge to binge eat: 8 practical tips

Eating is an essential activity that provides us with large doses of pleasure, satisfaction and happiness, however, some people may develop a negative relationship with food and everything that surrounds the field of daily food throughout their lives. For example, this is seen in the tendency to binge eat on a regular basis.

This maladaptive way of relating to food sometimes leads to eating disorders, and these can be varied and manifest in different ways depending on the psychological problems that each person may present. But even if the individual has not reached the point of developing this type of pathology, this is a significant problem that should not be overlooked. Therefore, here we will see several tips on how to overcome the desire to binge eat in everyday life.

Tips to fight the urge to binge eat

Luckily for people who suffer from it, there are a series of tips and behavioral or psychological guidelines that we can follow to avoid these binges and overcome the sometimes unstoppable desire to eat compulsively and without control.

1. Identify if there is an Eating Disorder

The first thing to overcome the desire to binge eat is to identify, assess and analyze if our problem has its origin in an eating behavior disorder . That is, establish whether we should try to solve the problem for ourselves at first, or if we need help as soon as possible.

Eating behavior disorders (EDs) are maladaptive pathologies that are reflected in a person's eating habits and usually have an intense effect both physically and psychologically, endangering the person's life in the most serious cases. .

That is why, whether we think we have an eating disorder or have been diagnosed with it, we should see a mental health professional as soon as possible to treat it in the shortest time possible.

2. Avoid restrictive diets

Any qualified nutritionist will strongly advise us to avoid restrictive diets or miracle diets that claim that it is possible to lose weight in a short time and by consuming little food for a short period of time.

These diets usually have a counterproductive effect on the body called the rebound effect , consisting of the fact that after following the diet, the person returns to their previous weight in a short time, even being able to overcome it, due to accumulated stress.

In order not to make misleading diets, it is highly recommended to consult a dietitian or nutritionist who will prepare a healthy, balanced, personalized and science-based diet for us.

3. Pre-cook what we eat

Another piece of advice that we can follow is to cook most of what we eat during the week, so we can organize our weekly diet in advance and ensure that our diet is healthy and balanced.

The other reason why it is advisable to cook what we eat in advance is to have complete meals available while we are working and thus we can overcome the temptation to eat less healthy processed food .

4. Practicar Mindful Eating

Just as Mindfulness helps us to reconnect with our body and mind, Mindful Eating is a philosophy of life that serves to get in touch and be aware of all the bodily and psychological processes in which eating behavior intervenes.

In short, Mindful Eating helps us to pay attention to our bodily sensations with food , both hunger and satiety, in the here and now, and allows us to eat while being aware of the process.

One of the main objectives of this technique is to carry out those healthy eating habits and learn to eat exactly what we need in the best possible way.

5. Apply self-observation

Self-observation applied to eating behavior consists of analyzing whether we eat out of hunger or if we do so because we experience emotional hunger (eating without hunger due to anxiety or unpleasant emotions).

Emotional hunger aims to compulsively fill an emotional void with food, and it is a problem that should be treated by a psychology professional specialized in eating behavior.

6. Apply a limit of calories to eat in the day

Applying a limit of calories to eat during the day can also help us to enter into a dynamic of eating only what we need and not to overdo it or be tempted to binge.

Likewise, this daily calorie limit should be realistic with our needs, that is, it should not be too high or too low. On the other hand, we must bear in mind that in specific cases we should break those self-imposed rules, not take them so seriously that they become an obsession, giving ourselves some whim (for example, once every two weeks).

7. Review feeding routines

It is also convenient to make a personal review of eating routines that are unhealthy; for example, the habit of snacking between work and dinner or eating late at night.

Reviewing these unhealthy habits we will be aware of them and we will be able to modify them for other healthier and more positive habits and not repeat mistakes over and over again due to simple inertia .

8. Avoid unhealthy foods

Avoiding foods with a lot of refined sugars will help us eat healthier and avoid the need to eat more due to the nutritional poverty of ultra-processed foods.

The truth is that these foods are full of components that generate artificial hunger , with the consequent need to eat at all hours and the risk they pose to health.

Some of the main foods that we should avoid are industrial pastries, industrial chips, sugary foods or foods with excessive chemicals, and carbonated drinks.