How To Halt A Binge in Its Tracks
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Georgie: [00:00:00] It's 4 p. m. and you're sitting at your office desk answering emails, the last person in the office. Then you hear the shriek of the building's fire alarm. You roll your eyes, annoyed that fire drills always seem to happen when you are time crunched. But then you smell smoke. Your annoyance instantly turns to fear. Your mind races to the fire extinguisher in the hallway. As you grab it, you can see the smoke is coming from the break room door, which has been propped open. You look inside and see the toaster oven and a stack of paper plates next to it are totally engulfed in flames. You pull the fire extinguisher's pin, aim at the fire, squeeze the trigger, and sweep from side to side, and the fire goes out. You sink to the floor, flooded by relief.

Christina: If only we had a binge extinguisher, right? A way to smother a binge before it snowballs, stopping it from gaining momentum, and spreading it to destroy your day, weeks, or decades. Well, we actually are going to talk about exactly that in today's [00:01:00] episode.

Georgie: This is the breaking up with binge eating podcast, where every listen moves you one step closer to complete food freedom hosted by me, Georgie fear and my team at confident eaters.

Christina: Once a binge has started, one of its defining characteristics is that it includes a sense of losing control, and that can be scary, but you are not in fact helpless in this situation. You are capable of extinguishing binges. In fact, you're the only person for the job.

Georgie: You can also imagine that a lot of people would have stood there, looking at a fire, feeling helpless, feeling powerless, while the flames engulfed more and more of the break room. Maybe they didn't know where the fire extinguisher was. Or maybe they didn't even know [00:02:00] their office had one. They might have thought, I'm not a firefighter, I can't put out a fire. Or maybe they stood there, watching the flames, going, Oh no, oh no, I'm gonna die. And didn't even think about maybe leaving the building, or closing the door to the break room. Logic can and does desert intelligent people in such situations. And you may have recognized in yourself that during a binge, your thought loops of stop, stop, stop, don't actually make you stop. So let's get into what you can do to prepare and be ready so you can halt your next binge, not just stand there witnessing it. Handling something as intense as a fire or binge capably requires preparation. Knowing where the fire extinguisher is and how to use it has to be done before you smell the smoke. Fire drills, while annoying, Are helpful because rehearsing what to do before a high adrenaline moment decreases the odds of [00:03:00] standing dumbfounded and still when the event actually happens. So listening to this podcast right now, not being mid binge is a perfect time for you to map out a plan for stopping a binge.

Christina: Most people who struggle with binges intimately know the thoughts, excuses, and mental patterns that occur before and during a binge. When the idea of binge eating enters your mind, there is some delay before food enters your mouth. It may be only seconds or it may be minutes, for example, if you typically drive to the store. It can be hours long, such as if you plan to binge after work. The thoughts you have during this time gap are opportunities to stop the binge before it starts. Some common thoughts include, I'll get food. That will make this better.

I can't handle this. I need to eat. I might as well, I already screwed up the day. Just this one last time. If you go along with these thoughts, it's kind of like standing and watching [00:04:00] sparks jumping out of the fireplace onto a wooden floor, but doing nothing. Intervening sounds like, I'm upset, but overeating is going to make me feel worse. I need to find another option. Or, I made a mistake, but I am not going to quit on myself and say screw it.

Or, no, I'm committed to getting the binge out of my life. I am not going to give myself a free pass to do it today. Plus, it's never the last time. I've said that so many times, and I know it's BS.

Georgie: For one reason or another, you might miss the opportunity to stop a binge in this contemplation stage. If you've already started to binge eat, however, you still can take steps to mitigate the damage Slow down and stop the binge. What I want you to visualize here is someone standing, watching a fire burning in their home and thinking, no, no, no, or stop, really stop it. Is it effective? Not at all. [00:05:00] When it comes time to take action, you need to take action. The only way to stop a binge is through physical movement. You have to interrupt the physical hand to mouth automatic repetitive motion with another physical, intentional motion. With a fire, effective actions might be deploying the fire extinguisher, leaving the building, pulling a fire alarm, or putting a fire blanket over the flames. There are several good options. If it's a binge you want to extinguish, there are also several effective actions. Hold your breath. Put your hands in your pockets. Walk out of the room. Or, pick up the phone and dial or text someone. My personal favorite is drop the food. Leave it out on the counter, whatever. Just walk away. Treat it like you discovered a fire. Back away or walk out of the house.

Christina: Stop, drop, and roll.

Georgie: I thought of that a hundred times.

Christina: [00:06:00] All of these have the same theme. You take control of your limbs and physically prove to yourself that they work and they are under your control. Nobody else's and not the foods. As people recover from binge eating disorder, they typically learn to start using actions like these to end a binge earlier and earlier.

If you realize at some point you aren't willing to physically intervene, ask yourself again in a minute or two. Am I ready to intervene yet? And keep doing that.

Georgie: We already spoke about the time interval between getting the idea of binge eating and actually starting eating. This contemplation stage is a great place to step in and redirect yourself. But preventing binges even earlier than this step is not just possible, but it makes recovery easier and faster.

Christina: Many people have success in reducing their binges by not keeping particular foods at home or not putting themselves in situations where they have access to binge [00:07:00] foods in large quantities while being alone. But prevention also takes the form of stress and emotional management. Most people don't binge when they're feeling calm, confident, and happy.

Feeling lonely, sad, self critical, or otherwise lousy are more likely the backdrops of your binge eating. So protecting and caring for yourself becomes especially vital in these states.

Georgie: If you listen to our subscribers only episodes, you've heard me work through this with Brian. And some of the free episodes will also give you ideas for better managing your stress and regulating your emotions. To keep yourself on an even keel and, improve your ability to stay calm through tough circumstances, check out the episodes titled how to jump tracks from a bad day, no matter how far you've gone. WTF is stress management anyway, and how to not beat yourself up and still be a high achiever. So when you get the idea or are considering binge eating [00:08:00] practice, stepping in and countering those thoughts. If you need to extinguish a binge in progress, you got to get physical. I recommend moving your limbs to intervene. If you'd like to try one on one coaching, or just want to know more about how it works, send me an email at georgiefear@gmail.Com. Whatever you're doing today. I hope you can find some peace and comfort in knowing we care about you and you're not alone. You can do this.