Before I gave up sugary junk food early this year, I used to have binge like episodes, not what a lot of people would recognise as a binge because I've never been able to eat large quantities of food as my stomach protests painfully ( not a bad thing lol) but it would take the form of hours of on/ off grazing on small size but high calorie foods usually chocolate, sweets and biscuits. I went cold turkey on the sweet junk, and managed to lose my craving for it, and very pleased that it hasn't returned. Last week I knew was going to be a lot of eating out and it didn't throw me, I just went for food that I consider healthy and also really enjoy, a lot of fish and salad, and only gained a tiny bit of weight, so was ok with that. Yesterday there was a birthday lunch at work for a colleague which I had forgotten about. I had planned to pop home for lunch between visits so wasn't at all prepared, so just ate what was there and it flipped some sort of trigger and I was off on my graze- binge again all afternoon till mid evening. I'm glad I still didn't want or eat sugary food, it was the refined starchy carbs that got me, a lot of bread, breadsticks, chips even after they'd gone cold! Savoury biscuits, then when I got home I even started in on the ryevitas!!!!! I'm a bit shocked that this behaviour was lurking so near the surface, I hadn't imagined I was "cured" but didn't expect it to appear out of nowhere with a vengeance 😟 feel like I've got a hangover today, luckily not at work till 9.30. Anyone else had this happen, and did you manage to work out why?
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Fran182716
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I don't think any of us need scratch the surface very deeply before having a very ugly monster emerge to pull us back into our old behaviour I would like to think we get "cured," of our bad eating habits, but I dont think they're ever really gone, just gone into remission. My ex husband who hasnt taken alcohol for
33 years refers to.himself as a Dry Alcoholic - meaning he is dry - but he will always need to be aware. It must be something in our human psyche. I remember Phil Lynott declaring on tv that he was off drugs, and months later he's blown his brains out with drugs and died.
I know these conditions are more deadly than ours, but the same rules apply.
Don't be hard on yourself - work on putting that monster to sleep again but sadly, never forget that it doesn't take much to wake him up
Hi Libby and thanks for reply, I think you're right about being aware of the monster, I though he was banished to the back of a cave somewhere but he was closer than I thought! With a day's hindsight I think this happened because I was unprepared, shows I need to keep on my toes! ☀️
It hasn't actually happened to me yet, but I imagine it could very easily.
I too went cold turkey on refined carbs and after a few days of feeling like death, emerged the other side feeling so much better.
It's great not to be controlled by those very foods that do the most damage, so whilst I can say a piece of chocolate would be nice, I'm not screaming gimme the chocolate now!
I just hope I can be strong enough to resist the urge to "taste", because I'm very aware the sugar monster is lurking on the sidelines, ready to take hold of me again
Hi Fran, I eat so much if I drink wine, ...bread and refined sugar makes me feel so sleepy...it really helps me because I prefer to feel well...hope you're feeling better now and good luck for the coming week!
Hi Portlandprincess, I'm feeling much better now thanks having got through a few pints of water over the day, and about 7 portions of veg I think I've cleared it out of my system!, thanks for your reply☀️
Hi Concerned, your right about the addictive nature of sugar, my cold turkey was not all carbs but was giving up chocolate and sweets back in March/ April, and I have been doing really well eating small portions low gi carbs with moderate protein and increasing natural fat, it's worked excellently for the last 6 months so this is why what happened yesterday surprised me so much! I've hopefully learned my lesson though, felt like c**p all morning, and been craving water and vegetables so at least my body's trying to repair the damage! ☀️
Bread, crisps, crackers ... anything like that I can potentially eat and eat and eat ... So I no longer buy them as I know a loaf of bread is not safe in my cupboard if the binge monster is upon me. Yes, I can go weeks without it happening, months sometimes. But then for no apparent reason - boom! With nothing left in my cupboard of that nature to eat, when it happens now, I attack the cereal box.
So ... You are not alone! But no, I've not been able to pinpoint particular reasons for why I get a sudden urge to binge.
Hi Oolou, thanks for your reply, I used to put it down to stress eating, but I wasn't particularly stressed on Wednesday, and I was very stressed at work earlier in the summer but it didn't happen then which is why it came as a bit of a shock! Your plan of not keeping trigger foods in the house is a good one. I'm obviously going to have to be more on my guard at work! ☀️
Strikes a chord unfortunately! I have been good without trying very hard for the last 6 weeks - and feeling that my approach as been very "grown up" with the aid of all you other nice people to keep my head straight. Haven't felt the need to transgress - allowing myself little treats (and I mean little, and very infrequent) when on hols - not worrying too much when other people have made a meal for me - just being sensible. So far so good.
Saturday 100 cal treat was to be an Aldi mini magnum - not a problem. But the additional two eaten in short order were less helpful! I threw the rest back in the freezer, but tbh I could easily have eaten the boxful.
I haven't been feeling like that at all so it made me pause for thought...
I think no choc may be the way to go - perhaps I have no off switch for chocolate.
Yes, I had given up unhealthy eating habits. Then sat around eating sandwiches at an afternoon works do the week before Christmas, and that seemed to trigger a return to some unhealthy eating, and over the next few days I ended up scoffing shortbread and chocolates which had been given as Christmas presents by colleagues, but which normally I would have given away. I had been circling around the 12 stone mark at the start of December, but now am 12 stone 4 pounds, so really hope I can get back on track again. All the Christmas food has gone now, and I have been eating normally for the last day or two.
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