Self sabotage

[Philfran]

I’ve just started reading posts again after years off. Someone said something negative on a thread & I couldn’t face opening myself up to more of the same.

I find that every time I start to make progress, I shoot myself in the foot. If I lived alone, I could just not have stuff in the house. As it is, I binge eat on stuff I don’t even like. Life is stressful at a copeable level a lot of the time but a little bit of extra stress pushes me over the edge. The last few days were very stressful & so last night I binge ate: bread, peanut butter, chocolate, biscuits & more. 1 kilo heavier this morning. Some of that will be water retention but some won’t.

As I crammed another ginger nut into my mouth last night, I was thinking “you need to stop, you don’t even like ginger nuts” but it was like being an automaton. I couldn’t stop.

Any ideas other stress eaters have found useful?

[ary88 Restart June 2024]

We are all different with different problems. You could be me re the binge. I'm taking each day, to not sabotage,. If do, you then have I take special care of myself following the binge to understand and carry on with my definite positive menu plans and enjoy my meals, which I find I have to put the time in and prepare what I've planned.,and make sure I enjoy it. If not, something different maybe beans on toast or fillet steak, no matter.

[Frenchfields Restart Jan 2025]

I had this problem a lot years ago, once ate a whole big packet of chocolate digestives even though I was feeling sick halway through. Occasionally it creeps up on me but its not usually sweet stuff, cheese, quiche, that kind of thing. My family have a strong history of type 2 diabetes and associated complications so I started really moving away from sugar and other 'empty' carbs some years ago, started label reading . It wasn’t easy so initially I cooked substitute sweet treats, tons of recipes available. With regard to having to buy these things for others my advice is don’t. If you are the shopper then just don’t buy them. If someone else shops ask them to keep their sweet treats away from you -in a plastic box for example away from the kitchen. If you can share about your bingeing/self sabotage with your family then that would also help -difficult maybe. My final suggestion is don’t weigh yourself every day -I weigh once a week, same time, same day, our weight will fluctuate daily anyway and weighing after bingeing is just loading on more misery. Hope you have a good week.

[motherofboys 3kg]

I could have written that post. I settle into a routine by myself by keeping those foods out of the house, then my university age sons return home, those things come back and I lose it. Life has been very stressful over the last five years, which is how I got to my current place. I know I need to find other ways to relieve stress than chomping on rubbish in the kitchen. Getting outside is one good option for me - but isn't a great option when it's dark cold and rainy. Doing embroidery also helps - as I get absorbed and can't do it with greasy hands. What would your best distractions be?

[Philfran Visitor in reply to motherofboys]

I wish I could still sew but arthritis in my hands gets in the way. I’ve found it helps to ‘block’ activities. If I can spend most of the day doing one thing, getting absorbed in it (eg gardening, sorting out the attic) then hours can pass. If I have to stay aware of the time because I need to do something else, then I lose focus.

[Zephyre 3kg]

I had to stop buying Maltesers long ago for a similar reason. I was given a large tub of chocolates and I picked out all the Maltesers, ate what I could until I was feeling physically nauseous, waited for it to subside and started devouring them again until I finished the lot. It was the same with other stuff too. They are there so why not...

I eventually realised it was mostly because I was bored. I found cooking boring and doing the dishes, cleaning the kitchen... all boring... ( I was much younger). I eventually found something that I enjoyed doing and now, I have to remind myself to eat as I get so distracted I keep forgetting.

I hope you can find your way this time around and if you do get negative comments, an Admin can probably help you out. Don't lose hope or let others demotivate you.

[Eryl Visitor in reply to Zephyre]

It has been recently found that there's a sugar detector nerve in the gut. This sends a signal to the bran via the vagus nerve. The brain then releases dopamine so once you start eating sugary foods you can't stop. The answer is not to start eating sugary foods even sweet fruit like bnanas and apples..

[Philfran Visitor in reply to Eryl]

Interesting. Doesn’t explain the peanut butter though! And I hate peanut butter the rest of the time. Cheese has just joined the list of things I binge on. I no longer buy dried fruit for the saa as me reason. Thanks. I agree with the chocolate theory though.

[Eryl Visitor in reply to Philfran]

The cheese binging can be explanined by the fact that cheese is mainly produced from the casein protein in the milk, the casein is a large molecule which is broken down by the digestive system into fragments called peptides and some of these peptides partly fit the opoid receptors these are known as casomorphins so some people can get hooked on cheese. I recently found that one of the casomorphins from cows milk just makes me nauseous which explains why I've never liked cheese and I found that cows milk gives me brain fog while goats milk does not because it doesn't contain the particular type of casein that ends up as the most powerful casomorphin.