BINGE EATING: LEARNING &

FINDING MEANING
IN LETTING GO
Whilst most people feel uncomfortable or guilty after a binge episode, it can
be a powerful and meaningful learning experience to reflect after the event.

Before What seemed to trigger the episode?

Was I vulnerable?
Too hungry
Too stressed
Overscheduled
Too tired

Do I have unrealistic expectations?

Did I have automatic negative thoughts (ANTs)?

Did I have a need that I was not willing to give myself, such as?
Permission to take a break or a nap
Set limits with work, family or friends
Permission to say ‘no’

During Did you stay present and connected to the experience?

Did I taste the food with each and every bite?

Was there a point when I realised that the food didn’t taste good?

After What could I do differently?

Respect my vulnerability
Say ‘No’
Change my environment
Make sure I eat consistently enough
Ensure I get adequate sleep
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In Alignment Coaching 2022

5 Steps to Food Neutrality
Food neutrality is an outlook towards food where food is taken off the
pedestal and it is dissociated from being either morally “good” or
“bad”. It means adopting neutral emotions towards food instead.
The idea is that you don’t need to eat perfectly to be healthy. Rather
when we develop and foster a positive relationship with food, the
sense of restriction naturally fades and the emotional responses we
associate with food dissipate too.

We often accumulate various ‘food rules’ over the course of our life
that persist in our way of thinking and we may not really know where
they came from, if they were founded on science, or perhaps if they
are out-of-date or are based on misinterpreted data.
Food rules can be irrational, contradictory and ultimately burden your
relationship with food to often lead to feelings of guilt if you ‘rebel’,
self- judgement or shame. This eventually results in what is called the
restriction-binge cycle, where you decide ‘to hell’ with all your efforts.

Here are a few steps you can take to start re-introducing foods that
you restrict and develop a more neutral emotion towards them.

STEP 1. Write a list of your food rules

Include foods you restrict or consider “bad” or “naughty” to have.

STEP 2. Select ONE food from your list

Be specific, pick the brand and the flavour that you want to work
towards giving yourself guilt-free permission to have it.

STEP 3. Make a plan

Decide when and where you will have this food.

STEP 4. Eat mindfully, without judgement

STEP 5. Tune in to your hunger and fullness cues

Ask yourself how much? Too little? Too much? Eat it until you feel
satisfied.
 Systematic Habituation:
Make Peace with Food
There are many ways to ‘make peace with food’, but it may go more
smoothly is you use a systematic process using the same food, the
same brand, and same flavour before moving on. For example, if you
wanted to make peace with ice cream. Choose one flavour, such as
chocolate, rather than buying a variety of new flavours. Varying the
flavour (or even the brand) extends the period of excitement – it’s
almost like starting anew with each flavour, even though it’s the same
type of food.

The goal of unconditional permission to eat, is not to ‘burn-out’ on

food, so that you’ll never eat it again (that is actually a form of
deprivation). Rather, the objective is to remove the excitement of the
forbidden fruit syndrome.

Prepare to the Make the Best of you Experience

Choose a specific food (brand and flavour)

Decide how and where you eat the food
Home//Out// Other
Decide when you plan to eat it
What do you need to feel safe? Consider self-care issues and
stress
·
Check-In
Before:
Take note of how you feel before you eat (excitement? Dread? Worry?
Curiosity?)

During:
How is the taste? Texture? Flavour? Is the taste and flavour meeting
your expectations?

After:
Any surprises? Overall, did the experience of eating this food meet
your expectations? Would you do anything differently?