Many clients come to me because they binge eat and they don’t know why they can’t stop eating. Sifting through how they eat, they tell me they skip lunch or eat very little during the day. Some clients have coffee and a protein bar and then nothing else until they get home from work and then they devour everything in sight.
They are hungry.
Sometimes they don’t feel hungry though. Their bodies have shut down hunger cues and signals. Their bodies are like: "why keep calling or texting, she never picks up." Turn it off the body says.
Keep the emergency broadcast system on though. When that alarm sounds, that’s the moment your body starts eating in a frenzy. It feels reckless and out of control. You then feel guilty and ashamed and wonder what is wrong with you. You then do the same thing the next day to “make up for it.” Don’t eat all day, then binge again.
Then repeat for weeks at a time.
Or months.
Perhaps years?
Sound like you?
If so, Principle 2 was written just for you to re-learn your hunger cues. To learn the signs of hunger and to learn to eat again, you have to understand what is interfering with your ability to be hungry: your beliefs about hunger, the physical sensations of hunger (not just grumbles in your tummy), distractions, rules about food (i.e. drink water so you eat less), or not putting your needs first.
When people water intuitive eating down to “eat when you're hungry and stop when you're full,” they are missing how complex people’s relationship to food is or how damaged it is from dieting for so long. Read more about diet culture in my post: Reject Diet Mentality
Hunger is complex and at the heart of it is believing you are important enough, your needs are important (like feeding yourself), and as a grown ass woman YOU can trust your body when it tells you, “I’m hungry, please feed me.”
Moms are the absolute worst at self-care. Somehow we have belittled mothers into believing that putting their oxygen mask on first is selfish and uncaring; the definition of a “bad mother.” The real definition of a bad mother is rooted in abuse NOT self-care. Self-care is putting your oxygen mask first, so you have the air you need to help others put their oxygen mask too.
You can’t mother from a place of burnout. And diet culture is rooted in perfectionism. And perfectionism directly causes burnout.
While Principle 2: Honor Your Hunger seems simple. It’s not and in session I can help you unwind that burnout mindset, re-learn your hunger cues, and feed your body consistently so binge eating is a thing of the past.
To get your journey started and learn to honor your hunger cures, book a free 30-minute consult here.