Let's thank our Binge Eating for helping us

This probably seems like an odd sentiment.

When you are trying to heal your relationship with food and your body, binge eating behavior can seem like the ultimate failure. Of course it feels like a failure because binges usually feel out of control, secretive and/or painful. They very often end with feelings of regret and shame. So why would we thank our binge eating, ever??

There was a reason that binge eating started.

Here is a story that I relate to and one I hear over and over again in session: Young person has a stressful home/school/community environment. Young person is experiencing trauma on some level. Young person sees important adults around them dieting, complaining about their body or criticizing young person’s body. Young person is either put on a diet by an adult or starts dieting as a result of poor body image. Food restriction begins a cycle of dieting and bingeing, gaining and losing, self hatred then more self hatred.

There are different ways that a binge is the body's way to help us.

Bingeing had a purpose and an important one when it developed. Physiologically, the body perceives any type of food restriction as starvation. This means that even IF you were eating enough calories, restricting certain types of food (sugar, dairy, etc.) causes your brain to believe that it was starving. Actual or perceived starvation leads to the body kicking into survival mode. Hunger cues increase, cravings increase and a sense of fullness can decrease. This is all a body's effort to save you from dying from starvation. Isn't this protective reaction amazing?

Bingeing helped in coping with trauma.

When a person is experiencing trauma, the body looks for ways to survive with the least amount of harm. Bingeing is a tool to decrease emotional distress and what we call “fight or flight”. Those who live through regular trauma in childhood are often in high alert and this is extremely stressful emotionally and physically. Stress hormones are higher, basic body functions like heart rate, breath, muscle tension, etc. are all increased for prolonged periods of time. The calming effects of a binge helps calm the mind and body down and make survival just a little easier.

Bottom line: Bingeing was your body's way to keep you safe.

Think about the ways in which you and/or others have caused harm to your body and yet it has always tried to protect you. It may be true that bingeing no longer serves a purpose. Perhaps you have learned better ways to cope or at least are ready to start. Perhaps you've given up dieting and disordered eating. Perhaps both of these are true. Either way, your body has been with you on your journey through life with your best interest at heart.

Healing can start when we can thank our body for all that it's done for us.

This means that we look back on our bingeing with compassion and understanding. We feed and meet our body's needs as they arise. We tell ourselves that we are safe and that we are worthy no matter what we have eaten or what we weigh. And we thank our body for doing everything it can to help us survive through bingeing.