» Stop Binge Eating

Brand New Updated Edition is Now Available

Nadine Ann — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 02:19:33 +0000

August 16, 2010

After completing an exhausting update of The BreakAway Program, the new Step-by-Step Binge Eating Disorder Treatment Program is now done.

The entire 425 plus page program has been printed in color and is now in 5 hardcover binders (one for each module) so that our clients can make notes, highlight paragraphs, use the journal in each module easier and go back to review the program easier. It’s wonderful! The eating disorder treatment program now covers more ground with more examples and lessons.

The website is updated for new clients but existing clients can still use the member login area to view the workbooks.

Best wishes for healing!
Nadine

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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Start Y’er Wrappin

Nadine Ann — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:08:00 +0000

It’s Monday and I only have a few days left before Christmas to do my wrapping. My 8 year old is in school for the next few days so I am going to get it all done while she is there. I hope. I bought the fancy wrapping paper cutter from Scotch and I bought the pop up tape dispenser that goes on your hand so I am armed and ready to go. Now I just need the motivation. I supposed I could have taken my own advice when it comes to setting goals and just done a few at a time so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed but clearly it’s 3 days before I need to have them completely wrapped and I am sitting here typing this! Okay, so I will head up stairs right after this and do a few. Then later do a few more. Maybe I’ll get into a groove.

I’ve been kind of “wrapped up” with my own thoughts lately about women and cancer because two of my friends were just both diagnosed with stage 1 ovarian cancer. Both of them…can you believe that? And it’s within 5 weeks of each other. I have been struggling with how I can help them. I am the type of person that needs to help those around me whom I see struggling. I guess it’s just who I am and I like that about me because it is rewarding when you help someone but there are some things I just can’t fix. And for these two women, I don’t know how to help them.

Sometimes I do too much when I should let them figure it out on their own. For example, my 20 year old daughter and her boyfriend are trying to save their money for a trip we are all taking in February to Las Vegas. Her boyfriend, Chris, came by the house after work one night frustrated beyond frustration! He was hoping to make enough money to go out for dinner but he still hadn’t finished his Christmas shopping so they were disappointed that they had no money. I wanted to go upstairs and get the $25.00 gift certificate I bought to the Olive Garden to put in her Christmas stocking so that they could go out and be happy. I am a fixer. I am EXACTLY like my mom and she drives me nuts sometimes when she tries to fix things! So I withheld my instinct to make everyone happy and let them figure it out themselves. It certainly isn’t going to kill them to have to stay in for a night and eat soup.

I’m not sure what my friends will need but I am always going to be here as a friend for them. I have a feeling if I can just be patient enough, I’ll know what they need from me because they are simply going to tell me and that’s the best thing I can do for them.

I feel the same way about binge eating. When you are ready to get help tell the people around you exactly what you need. Tell them because trust me, they don’t know how to help you. They don’t read minds. They may care so much about you that it may seem like they are trying to “fix” it but I will go out on a limb and say that they truly want to help you but they don’t know how so they are guessing on what you need. It’s the same thing for my friends with cancer. I want so badly to “fix” it so they won’t be unhappy. But I am not in a position TO fix it. I am only in a position to be a friend and do as they ask me.

Well, I’ve put off wrapping long enough! Take care and please say a little blessing for my friends.

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.