Simple Habits That You Can Adopt To Reduce Your Likelihood Of Binge Eating

If you're a binge eater, it's important to get help from a mental health professional who specializes in eating disorders. Binge eating not only has the potential to harm your health, but it can put you through a lot of emotional turmoil when it has you in its grasp. Beyond getting professional help, there are some habits that you should try to adopt to gain the upper hand on this eating disorder. Although you might occasionally slip up, try to make these occurrences the exception, not the rule, and you'll be on your way to mastering this eating disorder. If you struggle in this area, even after adopting these habits, seek help at an inpatient eating disorder treatment center. Here are some habits to adopt.

Don't Buy Large Amounts Of Food

When you're a binge eater, it can be difficult to stop eating. This means that if you buy a family-sized bag of potato chips with the expectation of eating just a small portion of chips per day, the reality is that you may consume the entire bag in one sitting only a short while after you bring it home from the supermarket. Keeping your house well stocked with food can encourage binge eating sessions, so it's better to make frequent trips to the supermarket and buy just a small amount of food that you'll need that day or the next day. Buying from the bulk foods section can also be ideal, as you can buy a tiny amount of something.

Skip The Buffet

If your friends or colleagues at work are heading to a local buffet for lunch or dinner, you may be tempted to join them. A buffet, however, can be a nightmare for someone who struggles with binge eating. It can be difficult for the average person to avoid overeating at a buffet — but for a binge eater, this experience may make overeating almost impossible to avoid. While you can technically overeat at any restaurant, the availability of food at a low price at the average buffet is bad news and thus best to avoid.

Beware Of Eating Habits

One way to conquer binge eating is to be conscious of what you eat and why you're eating it. It's OK to eat when you're hungry, but it's a problem to continue eating past the point of being satiated. Watch out for habits that invite overeating. For example, if you routinely watch professional football with friends on Sundays, these gatherings can be problematic if there's a spread of food laid out for you. This could result in you eating for six or seven hours in one stretch, for example. If you can't watch football without the habit of overeating, it may be time to find a different hobby.