Beyond the Bite: Understanding & healing from binge eating disorder

In todays episode, we talk about binge eating disorder and ways to cope with these episodes. Including self-compassion and an exercise to help you identify triggers. 

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Transcript

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Everyone has these two boxes in their brain and one of them, so let's say the first box is what we should be doing. Um, and then the second box is what we're actually doing. When those two things don't align, we can experience guilt and shame Hey guys, I hope that you're doing well and I'm so glad to have you here with me on this episode of Landing Imperfect. I'm your host Jen Lander. I'm a psychiatric nurse practitioner who's been helping or who has been specializing in eating disorders for, um, Five years now. So I've been helping people along their journey of treatment and recovery. Um, so today I wanted to talk a little bit about understanding and coping with binge eating disorder. This is going to be a quick episode. So I hope in further episodes we can dive a little bit deeper. It's just been a wild June for me. So very, very busy summer so far. Um, but I do have all the intention to dive deeper, especially if you're interested in this episode, learning more about binge eating and ways to kind of cope with that. So, uh, I'll I wanted to first say what exactly binge eating disorder is. So unlike bulimia, there's no purging after a binge. People can fall into yo yo dieting or they can restrict pretty heavily after they binge and then later the next day or, you know, the following days they may engage in binge eating behaviors, but there's no compensatory behaviors that follow binge eating. Um, as far as purging goes and overexercise, none of that's happening. Um, so these binge eating episodes are very intense and they're marked by a loss of control, rapid consumption of large amounts of food, and deep emotional distress afterwards. Um, I will say that behind binge eating disorder, it goes, far beyond willpower. And I want to be clear about that because I think a lot of people are invalidated when it comes to binge eating disorder. And they might hear things like, well, just stop eating or like, just don't eat so much, you know? I mean, that is completely invalidating for what's truly going on underneath the surface for someone who's struggling with binge eating disorder. So there is I mean, let's imagine your brain's reward system as a reward center at an amusement park. In healthy brains, completing tasks or eating a satisfying meal triggers the release of dopamine, which is that feel good chemical. This keeps us motivated and regulates our appetite. But in people who have binge eating disorder, the reward system might be a little glitchy. So dopamine releases. Dopamine releases. Might be blunted, making it harder to find pleasure in everyday activities. Food, however, can become a reliable source of that dopamine hit. This creates a cycle of binging for temporary emotional boost, followed by guilt and shame. And I try to explain this that, and it's not just people who have binge eating disorder. Everyone has these two boxes in their brain and one of them, so let's say the first box is what we should be doing. Um, and then the second box is what we're actually doing. When those two things don't align, we can experience guilt and shame. So if someone has a rule in their minds, in their brain, I don't binge eat. We don't binge eat. That's bad. And then they binge, they have an episode of binging, then that's not aligning. And then they start to experience shame and guilt around the binge eating episode. Um. There are a couple things that you can do to help your binge eating episodes. So identify your triggers for one. So what situations, what emotions, or even the time of day typically lead you to binge? So think of It like pinpointing potholes on your emotional road. Once you know your triggers, you can start to develop ways to cope to avoid following it, falling into binge cycles, and then practiced. Practice mindful eating. So slow down, pace is a really big thing here. So try savoring your food and focus on taste and texture. So be very intentional on what you're eating. Mindful eating helps you to connect with your body's hunger cues and stop before overeating. And challenge distorted thoughts. So often we have critical inner voices that fuel shame and guilt after a binge. Mindful challenge these thoughts. Would you talk to a friend this harshly? And remember compassion is the key to building a healthy relationship with food. When, when we're thinking about recovery and our treatment, when it comes to binge eating, when we have guilt and shame based off of like the motivation to stop binging, it's, it's going to be very, very difficult to have long lasting recovery. But when, when, recovery mindset is based off of self compassion and being compassionate towards what you're going through. That is where you can really start to see some long lasting changes. So it's not motivation behind shame. Like I'm going to talk trash to you, you know, to try to get you to stop binging. That's not going to help. Long term, it might help temporarily for some people, but it's not going to be that long lasting change. There has to be some self compassion that's going along with what's happening when it comes to these binge eating episodes. So there's a quick exercise that you can try to identify your triggers. I want you to grab a piece of paper and draw a large spider web. So in the center, write binge eating. And now I want you to draw, to draw lines that are radiating from the center and write down situations. Write down emotions, or even the time of day, like we were talking about before, that typically triggers your binges. Analyzing this web can help you identify patterns and develop coping mechanisms. So, sometimes, if some of these things aren't aren't working for you, it doesn't mean that it's helpless and there's always hope, but you may need more support. So it's reaching out to a therapist or a psychiatrist, if you can, or an eating disorder facility that can help you help give you an assessment to see if there's a different level of care or different support that you may need. And. Just know that, I mean, there are, there of course are resources out there. There's incredible books, podcasts, you know, that, that cover this topic, but sometimes we just need more accountability and we need to be able to talk through what's going on emotionally. That's causing some of these binges with a trusted professional, a therapist, you know, someone who can really guide you and help you through what's going on. So. Know that you are amazing, even if you don't feel like it. I know that you are. You, uh, you deserve, you know, treatment because, not because you're like incredible or special or unique or anything like that, even though I'm sure that you are, but you just deserve it because you are human, just like everyone else. It's that simple. You deserve. Treatment, help, support, guidance, if you're really struggling on something like this, just simply because you're human. And I wish you all the best and I hope that, you know, soon in further episodes we can dive deeper into this topic because I think it's really important and there's many, many people out there who do struggle with binge eating disorder. And I hope that you just give yourself some, some compassion and I will see you next week for the next episode. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of landing imperfect. I truly appreciate you being a part of this community and sharing this journey with me. If you do want to connect further, then don't hesitate to follow me on Instagram at Jen dot Lander. I would love to hear your thoughts, any questions or any stories that you want to share. So, DME there, I also have a website. It's a landing and perfect website where I share a blog post about my podcast, and then you can join my email list. I have a PDF that provides anxiety and stress management tools that you can. And use as well when you join my email list. So check it out. My website will be linked in my show notes. So don't hesitate to reach