» compulsive overeating

New Years Resolutions

Nadine Ann — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:08:32 +0000

I’ve been thinking about what New Years Resolutions I might want to make and so far I have the same list as I always have every year! Which by the way I never keep.

1. Firm up this saggy body using weights.
2. Make a huge amount of money and eliminate debt. (yeah right…)
3. Exercise more.
4. Love more.
5. Spend less money.

Yup that should just about do it. I would love to say that I will keep these resolutions but really it’s just like starting any other goal. I have set it WAY too big and never bother to break it down. Maybe I am just not that serious about it then or I am overwhelmed with it so I discard them and say it’s too difficult.

So let’s do this together and set small goals that we can accomplish. Take my first resolution to “Firm up this saggy body using weights”. I could break this down and set my goal to be “I will do 3 arm curls on each arm today” and do that for 4 days. Now really, how simple is that! I can do THAT.

Then I would make the goal be “I will do 6 arm curls on each arm today”. Easy.

Do this with me friends…take your resolutions and break them down into tiny goals. We might actually have a shot of ACHIEVING them!

Three ways to stop overeating … for good – The Herald Dispatch

Nadine Ann — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 14:24:47 +0000

TITLE: Get Healthy Tri-State: Three ways to stop overeating … for good – The Herald Dispatch

NEWS Get Healthy Tri-State: Three ways to stop overeating … for good

December 26, 2009 @ 12:00 AM

The Herald-Dispatch, Huntington WV

Next time you’re obsessing about another holiday eggnog or chocolate bombe cake a la mode, ask yourself this: “Would you shove that stuff into a friend’s body?” Mouth too full to answer? Use these strategies to nix bad habits and eat right:

1. Get lost (in your mind). When you want to eat to feel better, walk around the block (go ahead and put on your boots; we’ll wait) and think about the bad feelings that are driving you to the fridge. Maybe you can start sorting them out instead of hiding them behind three extra inches of abdominal fat. If the walk isn’t enough, try meditation or prayer. In some people, these calming focusers quiet the subconscious drive to eat.

2. Plan. Big decisions about food need to be made in the supermarket, not in your kitchen. Avoid filling your home with junk, and it’s easier to eat right. Shop the edges of the supermarket rather than the middle.

3. Pay it forward. One of the keys to waist-size success is how you balance two competing forces — immediate gratification (those chips) versus delayed gratification (a better body, better sex, fewer wrinkles, not to mention a longer life!). It’s tough, because immediate gratification is hard to resist. So try flipping the immediate gratification into a long-term consequence, and turning the delayed gratification into an immediate, visual picture. Like this: Think hard about the negative consequences of the chips (picture a clogged artery). Now visualize yourself two sizes smaller with all the grandchildren you want (or just Brad Pitt or Megan Fox lying next to you).

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Does Diversion Work to Avoid Binge Eating?

Nadine Ann — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:15:55 +0000

I have to laugh because when my daughter was little, like 2 years old, I used diversion A LOT to get her to stop doing the unwanted behavior she was doing! And for the most part it worked. It would have done me no good to try to reason with her because her undeveloped brain would have laughed me out the door.

So would it be safe to say that diversion should work for adults who want to stop doing the behavior they are doing because their brains are highly developed?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! It’s why diversion WON’T work.

Diversion is only going to last for so long and then your highly developed brain is going to realize it has some major unsolved issues it needs to deal with but isn’t, and your brain is going to tell your body to go ahead and binge to cover it up.

So forget the cover ups, forget avoiding dealing with crappy situations and stress at home and work and get to the root cause of binging so you can go out and play golf for the fun of it!

-Nadine

The Secret Shame of Binge Eating

Nadine Ann — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:05:26 +0000

In Thursday’s post from the study USA Today did on Binge Eating Disorders, there was a sentence that read, “estimates of eating-disorder cases are probably low because people are very ashamed of these and tend to under-report them”. I can only imagine what the true number of cases would be if everyone reported it.

The secret shame the study mentioned is so very real. I had incredible shame and hid my binge eating from everyone including my husband. What’s funny (not in a haha way though) is that I hid my disorder from the people I knew would NOT judge me! But there is this secret feeling a binge eater has inside that tells her to hide because if people saw what she really ate they would be repulsed and lose respect for her instantly.

Now I know if you are reading this and you are a family member of a binge eater you are shaking your head saying, “I would never do that!”

I know.

But if you have never walked in the shoes of a binge eater you simply can’t know the secret shame.

Now I ask you if you are a binge eater why you think we can’t admit this to the people we love? Is it because we are not ready to begin healing? Or that we think they will kick us in the ass instead of help us? Are the relationships we are in that bad for us that we feel we cannot speak of a food disorder that affects millions of people around the world? Are we just not educated enough about the disorder?

I think in the end it is up to each one of us to decide on WHAT we want to feel, WHEN we want to feel it and HOW long we want to feel it for.

Think of what your life would be like if you did not have an eating disorder or secret shame.

-Nadine Ann, C.N., H.H.P.

5 Tips to Stop Binge Eating

Nadine Ann — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:27:53 +0000

Tip #1Give yourself permission to eat when and what you want. There is nothing like saying you “can’t have this” to make you want to have more of it! If you are binge eating you feel shame and guilt on top of all the calories you are consuming which is causing you to binge even more. When you get to the root cause of why you are compulsively over eating you can then work on a healthy eating plan.

Tip #2 Develop positive coping skills to use for managing stress. Stress is a huge concern for binge eaters because negative or bad stress leads to unhappy feelings and emotions which leads to wanting to soothe those feelings which lead to binging. That is a typical binge cycle. Practice assertiveness training if you are having trouble dealing with stressful situations.

Tip #3Acknowledge your feelings and emotions. People who binge eat sooth their feelings with food because they don’t know any other way to deal with their painful emotions that they do not want to face. By dealing with your feelings you can face them head on instead of burying them in the sand. What is it that you are running away from? What is causing you pain? Binge eating has nothing to do with being out-of-control but everything to do with not facing your true feelings.

Tip #4Use the power of your brain to bring about changes. It’s called the Law of Attraction. When you focus on what you want instead of focusing on what you don’t want you will get more of what you want. In other words if I said, “I want to be happy, healthy and confident” versus “I don’t want to binge anymore or feel bad”, what is my brain actually hearing? In the first sentence it hears happy, healthy and confident and in the second sentence all it hears are negatives. Your brain does not hear the word “don’t” so change the way you talk and you change the way you think.

Tip #5Grab a journal and start keeping track of exactly when, where, and why you are binge eating. See if you can determine what feelings you were having so you can deal with those feelings. Were you stressed out? Did the boss tell you he wanted to see you? Did you not make a deadline? Did you get in a fight with your boyfriend? What are you having trouble dealing with? All these things can help you better understand what triggers your binge cycles so you can become more aware of them.

Nadine Ann, C.N., H.H.P.