How Distraction Can Help with Urges to Binge

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Contributor:  Leigh Bell, BA, writer for Eating Disorder Hope

There’s a cheesecake in the fridge. A delicious cheesecake covered in plump cherries and rich sauce, and it’s all you can think about. You. Just. Want. To. Eat. It. All of it. But seconds after doing it, you’ll feel terribly guilty and ashamed. You just know it.

The Mental Struggle

Eat it. Don’t eat it … The mental battle is full force. You can almost hear bad conscience throwing some punches, right? It’s time for the good ole art of distraction. They say take one day at a time when we’re trying to stop a bad habit, but sometimes, we need to take it one moment at a time. If you continually refrain from a binge for one moment, and then the next moment, too, you’re on the way to recovery.

  • Distract your thoughts.
  • Read a book.
  • Call a friend.
  • Clean the living room.
  • Journal.
  • Play Candy Crush.

Group of Young Happy Friends in sport wear relaxing in parkIn fact there are few apps designed specifically for people wanting to recover from an eating disorder. Recovery Record tracks your meals, feelings, and triggers, and then shares it with your therapist, who can see your struggles and successes. Body Beautiful is filled with body-positive quotes, essays, and stories.

You don’t have to do something so productive. The idea here is just to distract that desire to eat a cheesecake. Maybe you need get out of the house, farther away from the cheesecake that, dangit, is causing all this angst.

  • Go for a drive.
  • Go for a walk.
  • Visit a friend.
  • Window shop.
  • Go to the bookstore or library.

Or knit. One study found the act of knitting actually reduced preoccupation with food in women with eating disorders. Knitting has also been shown to calm people down. It’s good to get your hands involved in something else so you’re not eating.

This may be the hardest thing you’ll do. Binge eating isn’t caused simply by a lack of willpower. It’s a serious disorder with complex causes, which include past and present stressors, genetics, and biochemistry. 

Binge eating disorder is defined by recurrent, persistent episodes of binge eating – consuming unusually large amounts of food beyond fullness – without compensatory behaviors, like purging. BED is the most common eating disorder in the United States, where about 3.5% of women and 2% of men have the illness.

So don’t beat yourself up. Believe you can do it.

 

Community Discussion – Share your thoughts here!

What tools have your utilized in your recovery from disordered eating to distract you from triggers?

About the Author:

Leigh Bell holds a Bachelor of Arts in English with minors in Creative Writing and French from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. She is a published author, journalist with 15 years of experience, and a recipient of the Rosalynn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism. Leigh is recovered from a near-fatal, decade-long battle with anorexia and the mother of three young, rambunctious children.

The opinions and views of our guest contributors are shared to provide a broad perspective of eating disorders.  These are not necessarily the views of Eating Disorder Hope, but an effort to offer a discussion of various issues by different concerned individuals.  We at Eating Disorder Hope understand that eating disorders result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors.  If you or a loved one are suffering from an eating disorder, please know that there is hope for you, and seek immediate professional help.

Last Updated & Reviewed By: Jacquelyn Ekern, MS, LPC on September 21, 2015. Published on EatingDisorderHope.com